New Apple device rumors

As has happened in the past couple years, it is expected that Apple will be introducing new iPods and MacBooks in September. What I'm counting on is a higher capacity iPod touch. Last year I got one of the brand new iPod classics, mostly because I have a lot of music and the touch has a relatively low capacity in comparison.

I've heard mention of a redesigned nano, and probably a revamped touch which will be cheaper than the current one, but in only a few places have I seen mention of a higher capacity touch.

What everyone is speculating about is a new MacBook. So far it is mostly a more affordable version, but there are those who are talking about a touch screen laptop. It does sound like a cool idea at first, but if you think about it, I don't think it would be all that convenient.

First, we sit close enough to computer screens already, why force users to sit close enough to touch it? I know my eyes get tired enough having to stare and a screen all day, I don't want to be forced to be right up against it in order to use the computer.

Also, having to lift your hand to touch the screen would not be very comfortable. Using a mouse can make your wrist sore as it is, but making your whole arm sore after a day of work seems like a bad idea.

The only way to make this work would be for Apple to make touch screen computers pretty much the same as the ones that are already out there. They would need to make the screen flip around and be more like a notepad so touching the screen would be more like writing on a piece of paper, but then the keyboard can't be used anymore if it folds down on itself, so they would need some way to make that accessible as well or it wouldn't be practical for work applications, which causes the problem of having the screen not upright when you are typing and thus hard to see.

Apple seems to want to cater to everyone, not just a little niche like those other notepad computers are made for. A touch screen on a computer seems like a really cool idea, and if you've ever played with an iPhone it would seem an obvious next step, but there are a lot of hurdles to jump to get it to the point that it would be practical for everyone. A lower price MacBook seems likely, but a touch screen doesn't seem the way to go on anything bigger than an iPod or iPhone just yet.