While mice will probably forever be prevalent in our houses, foraging for cheese and leaving droppings all over our kitchen counters, the computer mouse may soon be nonexistent when the touch screen takes over. The recent release of Microsoft’s Windows 8 platform showed that touch screen computers are the wave of the future. With tile designs and screens made for swiping, the Windows 8 OS aims to expand on the popularity of tablet computers which have brought the touch screen technology into the mainstream. The question remains to be answered though, will people stick with the left and right clicking they’ve become accustomed to or will they go the way of the ATM machine and let their fingers do the talking.

The Case Against Touch Screen Computers

Imagine you’ve finally successfully taught your grandmother how to use the traditional computer mouse to check her email and update her Facebook page. That task literally took 2 years and now you expect people to adapt to a touchscreen? The familiarity with the traditional mouse and keyboard is one of the biggest obstacles touch screen computers will have to overcome to be #1 on the market.

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Food and Touch Screens

Another scenario – like many people you enjoy a delicious greasy Chicago style pizza while browsing your email and surfing the Internet at night. While your slippery mouse might be hard enough to navigate, a smudgy touchscreen computer filled with pizza sauce can cause headaches and downgrade the computer usage. Not only when you’re eating, touchscreen computers are prone to smudges and finger swipe marks that require frequent cleaning.

You Have to Be in Arms Length

Bad ergonomics is another reason that critics slam the touchscreen computers. When zombies and their perpetually outstretched arms finally overthrow us then the reviews in PC World will go up but to the standard human constantly having to reach up to the computer screen to navigate can get tiring and uncomfortable.

Touch Screens Can Be Inconvenient

Finally, the touchscreen technology itself hasn’t advanced far enough to be a viable replacement for traditional mouse computers. The touchscreen is thicker and thus adds weight to laptops that are increasingly aiming to be the lightest possible. Also, the touchscreen computer is a large application that significantly lowers the life of your battery which can be inconvenient on the road. Last, the added cost of having a laptop equipped with touchscreen doesn’t currently correlate to its added benefits.

Why Touchscreen Computers Are Likely The Wave Of The Future

Sometimes with standard laptops our limits are constrained by the reach of our trackpads. Not necessarily bad for general page navigation but if you’ve ever had to highlight a specific area of text or play certain trackpad centric games you’ll know the frustration. Touchscreens open up the whole desktop area, whether it be for word processing, games and other activities.

Increased Efficiency

Also, touchscreen computers help increase efficiency because of instead of having your brain use a pointed device to tray and open a program or select an area of the screen, touch screens enable that in a millisecond. This is especially important for those that use their computers for graphic design, editing programs or CAD software. Also, touchscreens allow more control with the “pinch to zoom” technology and offers easier general navigation.

360 Degrees and Climbing

Another factor that many touch screen computer users love is the ability for the monitor to swivel on a 360 degree angle and fold up just like a tablet. Laptops are already super-convenient but now when they can convert to a single screen without the keyboard and not give up on functionality the possibility are enormous. Imagine a screenwriter typing out their novel while waiting on a subway bench then flipping their laptop screen around to email out drafts and browse the Internet while standing up and riding on the train. Convertible touch screen computers allow for all your work to be composed on one device instead of switching between PC’s, laptops, and tablets for convenience.

The Summary

Right now, the decision to purchase a touch screen computer or not totally depends on what industry you are in. There’s probably no doubt that touchscreens are the next generation of computing but if you aren’t in dire need now, wait for the technology to define and refine itself and get in when the price goes down. Also like all good technologies, the touch screen isn’t necessarily making standard computing practices extinct, if anything it’s only going to complement them so that mouse isn’t going anywhere in the near future – which the same thing could be said about our homes. Have you ever tried getting rid of mice with those home sonar devices? It’s like those things play romantic music that makes them breed more!…but I digress.