Should I buy a computer with a touch screen?

Touchscreens are pretty cool, there is no denying that we live in a time when it feels like it’s the modern standard for displays.  Your smartphone and tablet rely on the screen for almost all of their input.  So, why wouldn’t you want a PC with a touchscreen too?  It turns out there are a lot of reasons.

Let’s start with the most obvious, touchscreens cost more.  If there are two otherwise identical laptops and you add a touchscreen to one, then the price goes up.  When you break one, they are also more expensive to replace!  Touchscreens consume more battery life, so you’ll get less time between charges.  And have you seen what screens look like after they have fingers poking at them all day?

I’ve found many instances where a faulty touchscreen was causing glitchy behavior in performance.  People reported that their computer was acting crazy and the mouse pointer was jumping around the screen.  Or their screen kept scrolling uncontrollably.  Sometimes, the fix was as simple as cleaning the screen. Other times, you many need to disable the touchscreen in the device manager.

The biggest reason for not getting a touchscreen is probably the least obvious.  You won’t use it.  Windows is simply not designed to work well in a touch environment.  I’ve talked to many people who bought a touchscreen because they thought it was a good idea but soon found it was not practical on a PC at all.  So, unless you have a specific application that you know you will use, I would advise to think twice before opting for the touchscreen display on your next computer.