Touchscreen laptop sales jump 52%, making up for a tenth of units shipped in Q1

Dave LeClair

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touchscreen laptop windows 8

Many of the stories regarding PC sales data since Microsoft unleashed Windows 8 upon the world have been negative. But amid declining sales there's at least some good news for Redmond's latest operating system. A new report from DisplayBank, a division of market research company IHS, suggests that about 10 percent of all laptops sold have a touchscreen.

The report claims that 46 million laptops shipped during the quarter, and of those, 4.57 million had touchscreens. If the numbers are correct, that means the amount of touch-based devices sold increased by 51.8 percent over a single quarter. Almost every major PC maker offers a touch-based option, so the numbers certainly makes sense.

The most interesting part of this report is that while the price of laptops continue to decrease, many users are willing to play extra for a feature that could be considered unnecessary.

The number of laptops with touchscreens are likely to keep growing, as companies like Asus and Lenovo continue to push models with them as options. In addition, Intel's former CEO has said that he believes the price of touch Windows 8 machines could fall down to $200 for the cheapest models, removing the price barrier for many users still on the fence.

Of course, an increase in touchscreen penetration is a good thing for Microsoft and Windows 8, but it doesn't change the fact that PC sales are declining. That said, if more users decide that touchscreens are how they want to interact with their PCs, at the very least it will help boost Windows 8 adoption.

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The one thing they don't mention is that laptops in the $800-$1200 range do not usually include touchscreens unless sacrifices are made to the graphics card and processor. You either get a regular i5 dual core or a low voltage processor that barely can play video if you want a touchscreen. Until they put quad core i7s alongside dedicated graphics with a touchscreen, I will not buy one.
 
Take any product with luxury features that most of us don't need and you'll find that about 10% of buyers opt for the premium experience. This is because rich people rarely have to change their buying habits no matter how bad the economy gets. And really, is 10% of a declining market segment that much to celebrate? (Yes, laptops now make up the majority of new PC buys but PC shipments overall are in the crapper).
 
It's a bloody no-brainer to touch your laptop screen. It still boggles my mind as to why it wasn't integrated much sooner. I'm so used to working on my Surface and touching the screen in touch-mode for Word that I instinctively reach for other non-touch screens if I ever have to use them. Touch is second nature. Of course it's going to catch on, drawbacks to performance or not.
 
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