Is this a new trend for PC gaming laptops? No touchscreen and no removable battery?

[tracerit]

I've had my trusty Dell 1555 Studio laptop for almost seven years now. Almost updated a three years in but a quick SSD swap dramatically improved everything, then added another 4GB to total 6GB of RAM. I have no issues with it, for work. But I want to start gaming (Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm). It cannot run either game as is, so I'm looking to replace it.

One thing I've noticed is that none of the laptops geared towards gaming (meaning it has a 960 or 970 GPU) has a touchscreen display. This laptop would primarily be for work and the touch screen would be super nice to have.

Also at first I didn't care about battery life, I would just buy spare ones off amazon. But then I noticed that a lot of these gaming laptops would have integrated or internal batteries. I guess it's to accomodate the cooling setup?

If I can't find a touch screen laptop with removable batteries, I might just look into non gaming laptops and hope whatever graphics it has will be able to run Overwatch. I would not be playing at max detail or graphics, medium settings at 1920x1080 would be ideal.

 

[TeknoBug]

With touch screen laptops I practically never use the touch screen, I feel less productive using touch screen than mouse/keyboard. When I used the Surface Book for a short while, I used the touch screen when I detached the screen from the keyboard but when I used it as a laptop it was always fingers off screen.

It does kind of suck that touch screen laptops has integrated batteries, but some are still replaceable (re breaking warranty by taking the back off).

IMO you're not missing much with touch screen, if you want a performance laptop then just get one and forget about touch screen.

 

[JeffMD]

Touchscreen laptops were a huge flop and no one uses them. Although I much like the glass screen vs plastic gloss/matte of a non touch.

Internal batteries unfortunately are just a dumb ass decision to make you buy a new laptop in 2 years. Thankfully every laptop I have seen the inside of so far are using a battery that can actually be replaced. Just takes more screws to get too.

 

[tracerit]

Didn't know the popular opinion was negative regarding touch screen laptops! For my use it makes it a lot easier for work. But I don't use it for Web browsing or anything else non work related.

So internal batteries are not just gaming laptop? I've taken apart my studio 1555 many times over the years so i'm comfortable opening up but if it's soldered then that's absolutely horrible foe the consumer.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The touchscreen thing I can understand - for a tablet, yes, for a laptop, why. The non-user-removable battery thing is dumb, a purely cost-cutting measure.

 

[nerp]

Non-removable batteries frees designers up quite a bit. You can't imagine how much bulk, weight and complexity it adds to the unit as a whole.

 

[giantpandaman2]

Non-removable batteries frees designers up quite a bit. You can't imagine how much bulk, weight and complexity it adds to the unit as a whole.

Agreed. There's a reason why most thin computers don't have removable batteries. Ditto on phones. Laptop batteries no longer die in 2 years, either. They will degrade, sure, but not nearly as much they used to.

To Jeff and some of the others' comments on touchscreens...I disagree. Touchscreens have their place, though it's not often useful for power users. Of course, power users barely even use a mouse/touchpad too. For people who do graphics or have to manipulate maps and other things, however, it's very useful. For some general users or people with bad eyesight (like my father)...it's often far better than a mouse.

 

[haedon]

I have touch screen laptop but I still use keyboard and mouse. It makes my work easy than using touch screen.

 

[Raduque]

I actually miss the touchscreen from my old Y50. I got used to it, that I keep trying to touch things on my G751. Honestly, though it's not really necessary on a gaming PC. A removable battery, sadly is a rare thing on almost all laptops these days, gaming or otherwise.

 

[JeffMD]

I disagree. Touchscreens have their place, though it's not often useful for power users.

I'm sorry but it is touching your screen, no one wants fingerprints on their screen. For every one person you find using it, I will show you 10 more then do not. And 5 more who didn't know it was a "thing" on laptops. It is on NO ones "want" list when picking up a laptop.

 

[Raduque]

It is on NO ones "want" list when picking up a laptop.

Speak for yourself, homie. It was (and still is) on my "want" list when I bought this laptop. Unfortunately, a gaming laptop with a touchscreen is well outside my budget, by a thousand dollars. So I picked up a non-touch, have had it since January and after using a touch laptop for over a year, I'm still finding myself trying to tap the screen.

Doesn't help that I go from this machine to a Windows 10 tablet and back fairly often.

 

[nerp]

One reason I've never liked touchscreen laptops (aside from finding that using the trackpoint or touchpad is faster than reaching up and handling the screen) is that they consume more power. Nobody has figured out how to make the touchscreen only suck power when you're actually touching it. They also add weight.

 

[corkyg]

Maybe it is just me, but I do not like fingerprints on my screen.

 

[JeffMD]

One reason I've never liked touchscreen laptops (aside from finding that using the trackpoint or touchpad is faster than reaching up and handling the screen) is that they consume more power. Nobody has figured out how to make the touchscreen only suck power when you're actually touching it. They also add weight.

Uhmm, LG phones have had an active touch screen when sleeping to detect knock on codes for many years now. Touchscreens consume little power.

 

[nerp]

Uhmm, LG phones have had an active touch screen when sleeping to detect knock on codes for many years now. Touchscreens consume little power.

Many laptops that offer touch and non touch options have been tested. Touch screens have 1-2 hours less battery life and can add a few extra ounces. We're talking laptops, not phones.

 

[JeffMD]

It is the same tech. They are capacitive touch screens. I would definitely be looking elsewhere for the power loss. Bad drivers? windows being shiat?

 

[giantpandaman2]

I'm sorry but it is touching your screen, no one wants fingerprints on their screen.

You realize this argument could be made for phones...and yet just about everyone has a touchscreen phone. I get it about the fingerprints, my desktop is mouse/keyboard only. On my desktop I use keyboard shortcuts most of the time and barely touch my mouse unless I'm being lazy.

The touchscreen on my laptop is necessary for my job, since I have to use the stylus constantly to write/draw. How hard is it to keep the screen relatively clean? A couple of swipes with a damp and a dry microfiber cloth every couple of weeks.

I live in an area with a lot of highly knowledgeable CS/IT people. Inevitably the career programmers never use the touch screens on their desktops/laptops...but their spouses and kids all do. People with enough disposable income pretty much pick touch screens around here. Millennials almost all prefer touch screens as well.

 

[nerp]

It is the same tech. They are capacitive touch screens. I would definitely be looking elsewhere for the power loss. Bad drivers? windows being shiat?

It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with what is called the digitizer. You either have touch or not. That means you have a digitizer or you don't. The digitizer consumers power. It is not controlled by software.

 

[giantpandaman2]

It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with what is called the digitizer. You either have touch or not. That means you have a digitizer or you don't. The digitizer consumers power. It is not controlled by software.

Touchscreens do increase in power requirements as they increase in size. That said...there are plenty of touchscreen laptops that have excellent battery life. Increasing resolution has a much larger effect on power draw than the addition of touch. Do you have any links for touch screens that draw significantly more power than non-touch screen counterparts on any laptops in the last two years?

Honestly, I think you're operating from an old paradigm. Modern touchscreens are pretty efficient. My Surface Book that not only has a touchscreen but a stylus digitizer gets about 16 hours of battery life if I turn off wifi. It's the wifi that kills the battery more than anything.

 

[JeffMD]

It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with what is called the digitizer. You either have touch or not. That means you have a digitizer or you don't. The digitizer consumers power. It is not controlled by software.

The digitizer consumes very little power, that is fact. The digitiser has a driver, that is also a fact. Bad drivers can cause unintended power draw, also a fact. As we go down the line of culprits we can generally rule out the digitizer as any kind of significant power draw. Tablets with significantly smaller batteries but powering 10 and 12 inch touch screens would see far more significant damage compared to a laptop with their fairly large cells.

 

[sm625]

I guess it's to accomodate the cooling setup?

No. It's to save $1.67.

 

[sm625]

You realize this argument could be made for phones...and yet just about everyone has a touchscreen phone.

You can easily reposition a phone so that the glare doesnt highlight all the mess on the screen glass. In fact we do this constantly and probably dont even realize we're doing it. You cant do that very easily with a notebook. Those splotches will stand out more and be much more annoying. Sometimes you can bob your head slightly and they will disappear, but then you will see others in different locations.

 

[giantpandaman2]

You can easily reposition a phone so that the glare doesnt highlight all the mess on the screen glass. In fact we do this constantly and probably dont even realize we're doing it. You cant do that very easily with a notebook. Those splotches will stand out more and be much more annoying. Sometimes you can bob your head slightly and they will disappear, but then you will see others in different locations.

Like I said, I have a Surface Book and it takes me a couple of minutes a week to clean. I use it outside all the time, so I know all about the angle of light. Glare is a bigger deal than fingerprints.