Products · Pattern or everyday thing
Touchscreen laptops
Raised as a usability problem by 16 people on Hacker News over 14 years (2013–2026), in 16 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads in the last 5 years.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Laptop touchscreens smudge easily and often respond poorlyUnreviewed
20132026- Touchscreen laptops reflect light badly, acting like mirrors, because of coatings.2025-06-10
- Accidental touches on the screen mess things up during use2022-03-31
- Touch screens are useless and annoying to keep clean2019-07-27
Reaching up to touch a laptop screen across the keyboard is tiringUnreviewed
20132026- Holding arm up to reach the screen across the keyboard is awkward and tiring2026-10-29
- Holding arm out to operate touch screen for long periods is tiring2017-02-02
- Reaching up to touch the screen repeatedly hurts the hand and breaks flow between keyboard and screen2016-12-20
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 16 complaints
- Holding arm up to reach the screen across the keyboard is awkward and tiring2026-10-29
- Touchscreen laptops reflect light badly, acting like mirrors, because of coatings.2025-06-10
- Accidental touches on the screen mess things up during use2022-03-31
- Touch interfaces on desktop-style computers are horrible to use2021-04-20
- A UI designed for both touch and mouse trades off usability against visuals2020-11-18
- Fingers hit wrong targets; small UI elements are hard to tap accurately2020-11-03
- Can't comfortably reach desktop monitors to use touch, so touch isn't practical there2019-12-19
- Touch screens are useless and annoying to keep clean2019-07-27
- Touch interfaces on laptops end up either gimped desktop metaphors or unusable2017-05-05
- Arm gets tired, screen smudges under office lighting, and interface shrinks usable space2017-05-01
- Holding arm out to operate touch screen for long periods is tiring2017-02-02
- Reaching up to touch the screen repeatedly hurts the hand and breaks flow between keyboard and screen2016-12-20
- Touch screens on laptops often don't work well and smudge2016-11-14
- Touch screen is nearly unreadable in daylight and draws more power2016-11-14
- Touch input can't be disabled, so toddler accidentally clicks, scrolls and closes windows2013-02-06
- Touch screens get dirty, arms tire, and they are hard to type and work on2013-01-05