Not sure how oily your fingerprints are or what the screen is like, but I don't think we have that problem here. Heck, I have to rub my nose for quite a while just to keep the trackball going :-) I do dislike the feeling of gestures on most trackpads though.
I live in a warm and humid region. Perhaps you live somewhere more cold or arid.
At any rate, I'm amazed that one would find pinch-zoom awkward on a trackpad, yet find it perfectly natural to lift their hands off the keyboard area altogether and reach up to paw at the screen.
I don't so much care if Apple ever chose to equip MacBooks with touchscreens, so long as:
1. The quality and brilliance of the screen did not diminish in any way.
2. Cost did not rise.
3. Developers did not start writing features that presume universal touchscreen use, thereby effectively forcing everyone to paw at their screens.
However:
1. I cannot imagine it NOT being used as an excuse to raise prices. Which would suck, as this is a "feature" that I very much do not want in a MacBook.
2. The fact that you DON'T really see desktop developers writing features for touchscreens suggests that perhaps Apple was correct, and this is just a gimmick.
> At any rate, I'm amazed that one would find pinch-zoom awkward on a trackpad, yet find it perfectly natural to lift their hands off the keyboard area altogether and reach up to paw at the screen.
To be clear, that's two different people, my wife and I. We do file jointly though :-)
There is precisely one scenario in which I find a touchscreen useful: If I'm opening a long series of links, I'll hold control and rapidly touch them each in sequence. This is much, much faster than using a mouse, let alone a touchpad.
This however is so useful, it's almost worth it on its own.
