Your opinion on touch screens: Dell Precision vs Lenovo Thinkpad

Hello,

I am considering buying either a Dell Precision or a Lenovo Thinkpad.

What is your experience with touch screens on these models?

Thank you.

 

@nesdnuma I personally wouldn't even consider a notebook without a touchscreen. I need it despite my Thinkpad having fantastic keyboard with trackpoint - because I read a lot.

Many people hate touchscreens with passion, though.

 

I've owned the older Dell M6600 with touch screen and the newer Thinkpad P51 with touch screen. Both models' touch screens were basically identical in usage: I wouldn't be able to tell them apart. Writing on the screens with a digitizer was the same too.

 

It's not hate, but I don't value touch enough to put up with the added weight, less battery life and glare(for most touch notebooks). I can use the touch pad or stick, in the case of the ThinkPad, to scroll effectively.

 

Sadly nowadays most laptops have glossy displays regardless of touchscreen, and thus produce glare; devices with (semi-)matte touchscreen displays have become almost non-existant.

Not when you hold a laptop like a book, in portrait orientation. Most people probably never do that, though.

 

Actually the purpose is to run a gesture controller software ( Open Stage Control) to control live music. I need the touchscreen to be accurate, reactive, without ghost touches.

 

@nesdnuma any modern touchscreen device will satisfy you. That said, you may be disappointed in software; I ended up purchasing a used midi controller after trying various software solutions including Open Stage Control and Lemur.

 

I am not so sure any modern touchscreen would deliver. I have a recent22" Hannspree and most of the time it's good but sometimes touches are attributed to the wrong position. For sure the touch experience is better on an iPad but it's too expensive and I try to reduce the number of devices I bring with me for gigs.

I have a homemade MIDI controller for levels but I need a touchscreen for the many other controls I want and a laptop with a good touchscreen would allow me to leave my Hannspree home.

 

@nesdnuma try this old regedit trick to improve touchscreen responsiveness:

Code:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\TouchPrediction
Latency -> 2
SampleTime -> 2

You should be safe with business-class machine like a Thinkpad or Precision, unless there are software glitches with particular model. If you are considering older machines, make sure they have 10-point multitouch, it is very important for on-screen controller application - less touch points doesn't really cut it.