does macs support touch screen monitors for sale

I want to upgrade to a better touch screen, I send an e-mail to ELO since they seem to be market leaders but no reply. Anyone using a mac mini with a 19-22 inch touch screen in a POS enviorment ?

Apple has been touting the iPad as a laptop replacement for a while now, and one of the fundamental edges it has over the MacBook is its killer touchscreen display. But one company has developed a new accessory that finally brings touchscreen capabilities to the Mac – and it could be a game-changer.

Available in 13.3" and 15.6", Espresso Display(opens in new tab) isn"t exactly going to do your favourite blockbusters justice. But as a portable second display you can easily take into a cafe (remember those?), it could be perfect for digital artists on the move. And by adding the ability to scrub through footage in Final Cut or manipulate Photoshop files with your finger or a stylus, Espresso Display could even tempt a few iPad converts back to the MacBook. It might be small, but the extra features could make this a contender for our best monitors for MacBook Pro list.

How well exactly touchscreen capabilities translate to MacOS remains to be seen – the software is of course designed to be used with a mouse or trackpad. That said, YouTuber ben"s gadget reviews(opens in new tab) has got hold of an early review copy, and says the experience is, aside from a few fiddly menu bar items, a smooth experience.

Brea, California (December 15, 2021) – ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual solutions, launched the vTouch 3.1 driver for its TD Series touchscreen monitors, making the displays compatible with the newly released macOS Monterey. Mac users can extend the full functionality of the Mac trackpad to touchscreen monitors, combining dual-screen efficiency with multi-touch gesture capability. The TD Series offers a range of products for a wide variety of needs, from highly portable 16” units to more expansive 24” displays.

“Mac users have long faced the challenge of a lack of OS-based support for external touchscreens. The launch of our vTouch driver significantly improved touch support for macOS. This garnered positive feedback from our Mac users,” said Oscar Lin, General Manager of the Monitor Business Unit at ViewSonic. “We have been committed to ensuring that our displays are always equipped with the latest software technology. We are proud to offer an up-to-date driver that supports multi-touch gesture recognition and provides a solution for Mac users to get more out of their devices and their operating system.”

ViewSonic’s TD Series touchscreen monitors are designed to suit a diverse array of visual needs and are ideal for overcoming one-screen limitations. In the past, Mac users could not use external touch monitors due to limitations in macOS. With ViewSonic’s latest vTouch software, Mac users can employ all the features of multi-touch technology such as zoom, pinch, spread, rotate, and stretch, as well as Mac trackpad gestures on the TD Series. This bridges the gap between Mac users and dual-screen touch technology.

vTouch 3.1 works across ViewSonic’s entire TD Series. The vTouch driver is compatible with both Intel and M1 processors. It is available for macOS 10.8 and above. Mac users can install ViewSonic’s vTouch by downloading the driver here.

The TD Series offers options for resistive, infrared (IR), and capacitive touchscreens. Moreover, the series features sharp, high-resolution displays, with sleek, clean designs. It spans a range of sizes, from the portable 16” TD1655 to the 24” TD2455. The TD Series supports Windows, Android, Chrome, and macOS devices.

Although Apple refuses to make a touchscreen Mac, the Espresso Display V2 is ready to fill in the gap. There are 15.6-inch and 13.3-inch versions of the very slim external display, and both support touch and an optional stylus.

I tested the screen with a MacBook and iPad to see how well it performs in ordinary use. And I also tried out the stylus as well as the stand for desktop use and the case for taking the display on the go.

Beyond that, the LCD in this screen is gorgeous. And rotatable. Plus, Espresso offers a range of accessories so you can use it in the office or while traveling.

The Espresso Display V2 is a very stylish piece of kit, even before you turn it on. Most of the exterior is a single piece of aluminum that the screen is set into. All the rival screens I’ve tested have plastic casings, so this one really stands out.

The backlight maxes out at 300 nits. I found that easily bright enough to use in my office. It’s also sufficient for using the screen outdoors, in the shade. Direct sunlight isn’t recommended.

Beyond the specs, I used the Espresso Display V2 side-by-side with a MacBook, and the two looked great together. The struggle in using external screens with Apple laptops is the MacBook’s display is of such high quality that cheap LCDs look extra terrible. That’s at all not the case with Espresso’s product.

What truly sets the Espresso Display V2 apart from the pack is its touchscreen. Plug it into your Mac and you have the touchscreen Mac you’ve always wanted.

macOS isn’t designed for touch, though, so Espresso had to write an app to enable the feature. Espresso Flow is free, and there are both macOS and Windows versions. With it, you can use your finger as a mouse, or set up gestures to control your Mac apps.

I tinkered with the touchscreen functionality quite a bit, and it works very well. I found the display to be as sensitive as an iPad. But you have to get accustomed to using it because macOS is not iPadOS. I know that seems obvious but it really affects how Espresso’s product works. It works fine… once you get used to it. And configure it as you want.

Touching the screen is optional. Display V2 also acts as a standard external screen that you can use with a mouse pointer. And note that a mouse or trackpad is really the only option with iPad.

Both the 15.6-inch version and the 13.3-inch one are available with touch support. In addition, Espresso offers a 13.3-inch version without a touchscreen.

All it takes to turn the Espresso Display V2 into a portrait-oriented screen is rotate it 90 degrees. [As demonstrated here] That’s a bonus when working with long documents.

The accessory has a pair is USB-C ports, and that’s it. But that’s all you need to connect your Mac or iPad to the screen. And Espresso provides the necessary cable.

No external power supply is needed, so you can easily set the external screen up when you’re on the go. But the Display V2 has a second USB-C port so you can bring in power if you wish.

You can use Espresso’s screen with computers and gaming consoles that don’t have USB-C, but there is no direct support for HDMI or Mini Display Port. To get those, you’ll need to purchase adapters. The HDMI one is $39, while the Mini DisplayPort version is $29.

On three sides, the screen bezels are relatively slim: 0.25 inches. But, like the iMac, Espresso Display V2 has a considerable “chin” at the bottom. It’s 2.2 inches wide, and is the secret to its slim design. Rival external displays are thicker, but don’t have the chin.

And it leads to one of the rare downsides of the Display V2: it’s wider than will fit in many laptops bags. Not thicker — wider. Consider the 16-inch MacBook Pro. It is 9.8 inches wide. This screen is 1.3 inches wider than that.

I have a backpack with a slot designed to vertically hold 16-inch notebooks. This external screen won‘t fit in it. But I have another that holds laptops horizontally, and Espresso’s product does fit in that one… barely.

Espresso built a pair of speakers into the bottom edge of the accessory. In my testing, these were about to put out as much as 75 dB a couple of feet from the front screen.

Espresso Case — For carrying the Display V2 around the office or the town, there’s the $39 flip-cover case. It attaches magnetically, then covers and protects the display when you’re on the go. When you’re ready to get to work, flip it behind the screen and bend it into a stand.

This is one of the best-looking external screens I’ve ever used, and the design is top notch too. The fact that it’s also a touchscreen puts it in a category almost by itself.

The Espresso Display V2 is a top-quality product that’s loaded with features. And it’s priced to match. The 15.6-inch touch version is $499. The 13.3-inch one with touch support is $439, while a version without the touchscreen is $339.

You can definitely find a nice-looking portable display for less. Like the InnoView Portable Monitor INVPM001, which is $199. But this isn’t a touchscreen, and it has a plastic casing — you have to pay more to get more features.

While the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro updates have been broadly well-received by reviewers and consumers alike, there are still questions about missing features like a touchscreen and Face ID. Speaking to the

While Chromebook and Windows PC manufacturers have broadly adopted touchscreens in laptops, Apple has not. Instead, the company is focusing on “indirect input” on the Mac and saving touchscreen technology for the iPad. John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, said in the interview:

“We make the world’s best touch computer on an iPad. It’s totally optimized for that. And the Mac is totally optimized for indirect input. We haven’t really felt a reason to change that.”

What about Face ID? With the MacBook Pro now sporting a notch in the display, it seems like Face ID could come sooner rather than later – but Apple seems to think that Touch ID is better suited for the laptop form factor. Tom Boger, Apple’s VP of Mac and iPad product marketing, said in the interview that “Touch ID is more convenient on a laptop since your hands are already on the keyboard.”

For the company that has led the world in touch-based interfaces – thanks to the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch – it remains something of a mystery why none of Apple’s Macs have adopted this useful feature.

Well, maybe mystery is too strong a term, as Tim Cook and others have justified the approach over the years by claiming in a 2012 earnings call that the addition of touch to the Mac would be akin to a “fridge-toaster” combination, while Steve Jobs suggested in 2010 that using a touch screen Mac would make you feel like “your arm wants to fall off”.

As Jobs explained: “We’ve done tons of user testing on this… and it turns out it doesn’t work. Touch surfaces don’t want to be vertical. It gives great demo, but after a short period of time you start to fatigue, and after an extended period of time, your arm wants to fall off.”

But does that thinking really still hold water? In this article we look at why Apple needs a touchscreen Mac and whether Apple is coming around to the idea that Macs should have touchscreens.

As recently as 2018 Apple was still making it pretty clear that it had no plans to introduce a touchscreen Mac. Craig Federighi (senior vice president of Software Engineering) told Wired in 2018: “We really feel that the ergonomics of using a Mac are that your hands are rested on a surface, and that lifting your arm up to poke a screen is a pretty fatiguing thing to do…”

A few years previously, in 2016 Phil Schiller (senior vice president Worldwide Marketing) told Wired’s Steven Levi: “We think of the whole platform… If we were to do Multi-Touch on the screen of the notebook, that wouldn’t be enough  –  then the desktop wouldn’t work that way.” And in the same year, Jony Ive (former Chief Design Officer), in typically minimalist style, commented to Cnet that the touch feature “wasn’t particularly useful”.

But, despite this stance, Apple has made a number of changes over the years that go some way to merge macOS and iPadOS and invite a future where Macs could utilise a touch interface.

With the arrival of iPadOS 13 and macOS Catalina in 2019, Apple introduced Sidecar, which allows an iPad to become a second screen for your Mac, while also bringing some touch-controls to the party. Along with being able to interface with the screen of your Mac mirrored on your iPad using your finger, you can also access Touch Bar controls on the iPad, plus some additional commands. Add an Apple Pencil and you can turn the iPad into a graphics pad for your Mac, with even more tactile control over macOS apps, such as Logic Pro X, which utilises the iPad and iPhone touch interface through the Logic Remote app that turns the mobile devices into control panels that can play and program various music creation tools such as Live Loops.

At WWDC 2020, Apple discussed how developers would be able to easily port iOS and iPadOS apps to the Mac thanks to Mac Catalyst’s tools for optimising the converted apps from the touch interface to the Mac interface. We now have the ability to run iPad and iPhone apps on Macs with Apple’s M-series chips.

Apple’s gone on to refine and improve this unification of the iPad and Mac to such an extent that with Universal Control (which arrived in January 2022 with macOS Monterey 12.3 and iPadOS 15.4) users can share the same keyboard and mouse between a compatible Mac and iPad while either mirroring their macOS screen or using iPadOS on said iPad.

The integration of the two interfaces is well underway and iPads and Macs have never been closer together in terms of power and app compatibility. The flipside of that is that now that we have the ability to run iOS/iPadOS apps on the Mac the lack of touch input on the Mac becomes even more of a frustrating experience.

Could it be that touch is finally at the stage where including it in a Mac is less of a fridge/toaster situation and more of “hey, that’s really useful!” one instead? It’s starting to look like it.

In January 2023 Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claimed that a MacBook Pro with touchscreen could appear in 2025. If he is correct, it seems that the touchscreen “would support touch input and gestures–just like an iPhone or iPad.”

When Microsoft released Windows 8 in 2012, its primary focus on the touch-interface was something of a disaster. Many users complained of the phone-like experience on their massive desktop screens, and Tim Cook explained the perils of technology convergence by giving the aforementioned kitchen utility example.

First of all, Windows got a lot better. Microsoft learned quickly from the car crash of Windows 8, implementing design changes in version 8.1 and finally getting it right with Windows 10 and devices like the Surface Pro, which restored a primarily mouse and keyboard approach, but with the inclusion of touch when you need it.

And that’s the important factor. Touch can be an excellent augmentation to an interface, rather than replacing the existing one. The simple addition to being able to navigate websites by tapping on links rather than using a cursor has obvious benefits, aside from the fact that we are all so used to doing so on our iPhones and iPads.

Apple did actually attempt to implement a form of touch on MacBooks, but it would probably be fair to say it failed spectacularly. In 2016 Apple added the Touch Bar to the MacBook Pro. The Touch Bar is/was an OLED strip positioned above the keys that offered function keys relevant to the current app. Having been a feature of 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pro models it is now only available on the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro, where it’s days are probably numbered.

There are many problems with the Touch Bar concept. One being the way touch-typists have to slow down to use the feature, as contextually changing icons don’t allow for the building of muscle memory in the fingers. There’s also the factor that you can’t see the Touch Bar unless you look down from your screen, at which point you have to take your eyes off what you are doing. Not having to change your arm position, and the ease of scrubbing through video content are genuinely helpful, but the Touch Bar interrupts a user’s flow and can end up being completely ignored in favour of the traditional on-screen controls. It’s no surprise that the concept was a failure.

In many ways the Touch Bar demonstrates everything Apple had wrong with it’s view of touch on the Mac. As Macworld’s Leif Johnson puts it so well in Apple really doesn’t want us thinking about touchscreen MacBooks, “Apple seems to assume users would want to use nothing but touch support on their MacBooks, but when I see colleagues and visitors using touchscreen Windows laptops in meetings, they’re not using them for complicated tasks like clone-stamping textures in Photoshop. They’re usually not diving deep into menus, and they’re certainly not trying to recreate one of Monet’s haystacks. Instead, they’re usually standing over their laptops and quickly swiping to different parts of a page or opening files or links, thereby saving a few seconds over what using a mouse or the trackpad would have taken. It’s sure as heck a lot more convenient than the Touch Bar, which has been Apple’s only concession to touch-based interaction on MacBooks to date.”

As a way to approach touch on a Mac laptop the Touch Bar is incredibly flawed and really just shows Apple’s lack of understanding as to what users want from a touch interface. Neither the Touch Bar, Sidecar or Universal Control, solve the simple issue of wanting to quickly select links on a page or navigate seamlessly through a website like you can on most Windows 10 laptops and even the majority of Chromebooks. It’s like using a diamond-encrusted sledgehammer to tap in a nail.

Certainly, for some people this is an attractive proposition, but with the laptop level of performance found in iPad Pros whose prices rival those of entry level Macs, and yet lack the screen sizes to compete with iMacs, it’s a niche option rather than the more obvious one.

Putting a touchscreen in a Mac and offering the ability to use it when you need it, seems a far better option that trying to squeeze a Mac-like experience into iPadOS. For a company that prides itself on elegant solutions to problems, not having a touchscreen option on the Mac now seems more of an ideological sticking point rather than one that best serves its users.

According to Gurnam’s report from January 2023 (above) the MacBook touchscreen will use OLED technology. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has claimed that Apple’s first MacBooks with OLED displays could arrive in 2024, a year before the touch screen implementation.

Gurman’s report also states that macOS is “likely” to be used on these first touchscreen Macs and that the company is not working on combining macOS and iPadOS.

Portable Monitors for Mac enable a boost in your productivity, whether you are using MacBook, iMac, Mac mini, or other Mac series products. UPERFECT external screen will always be your best Mac partner.

Having reviewed practically every MacBook since the beginning of the Intel Mac era to the current M2 chip versions, I"ve seen a lot of features added, taken away, and sometimes added back again. That goes for HDMI ports, SD card slots and even the MagSafe connector. But one occasionally requested feature that has never been part of an Apple-made computer is a touchscreen.

I haven"t given the idea much thought lately, being more concerned with questions like: Why does the M2 13-inch MacBook Pro exist? But my colleague Abrar Al-Heeti recently asked me to weigh in on the subject for a Q&A video.

Apple has already tried it, with the Touch Bar. As always, there is an asterisk to the no-touch MacBook rule. The now-nearly-dead Touch Bar, originally found on several MacBook Pro laptops, but now only on that last lonely 13-inch MacBook Pro, is technically a touchscreen, even if it"s only 60 pixels high. But as an experiment, it"s safe to write that off as a failure, and it might even be an extra incentive for Apple to stay further away from touchscreens.

But there is some light on the horizon for the touchscreen Mac idea. Now that both (some) iPads and Macs run the same M-series Apple silicon chips, the daylight between these products is slimmer than ever. Does this mean both products will eventually merge into a single device? Not anytime soon, but maybe we"re closer than we were a year ago.

The best touch screen monitors allow you to interact with your desktop computer via tap, swipe and pinch-to-zoom. Alternatively, you can install it as a secondary monitor to use with an office-based laptop.

In this article, we"ve gathered together the best touch screen monitors available today – in a range of sizes from 21 inches to a special ultrawide monitor(opens in new tab) that"s 49 inches. If you"re after a smaller secondary monitor that can be carried with your laptop for use on the go, see our list of the best portable monitors(opens in new tab). (Portable monitors can also be had with touch sensitivity, but they"re smaller and are powered by your laptop"s battery, so they don"t need their own power supply.)

If you"ve already researched the best monitors for photo editing(opens in new tab) or the best video editing monitors(opens in new tab), you may have realized that none of them are touch screen monitors. But why not? Why would you consider choosing a new monitor without touch sensitivity?

After all, the best touch screen monitor will add an extra, more ergonomic form of user input, so must be better, right? Well, it"s not quite that simple. At the bottom of this page, you"ll find tips on what to look for when buying a touch screen monitor, including connectivity, size, and that all-important image quality.

Dell"s P2418HT has fairly typical touch screen display credentials: a 23.8-inch screen size and Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. But it stands out from the crowd in other areas.

Its special articulating stand transitions the display from a standard desktop monitor to a downward 60-degree angle touch orientation. It also supports extended tilt and swivel capabilities, so you can adjust the screen to your task or a more comfortable position. Plus, a protective cushion at the base of the screen offers a buffer against bumps when the stand is fully compressed.

Marketed at commercial and educational settings as well as home use, the TD2230 boasts a 7H hardness-rated protective glass for extra scratch protection and durability. Super-thin screen bezels give the panel a modern, sleek look, plus there are integrated stereo speakers for added versatility.

The ViewSonic TD2230 boasts upmarket image quality thanks to its IPS LCD display that provides better color and contrast consistency, regardless of your viewing position, while the 1920 x 1080 screen res is high enough for crisp image clarity when spread across the 21.5-inch panel size. 250 cd/m2 max brightness and a 1000:1 contrast ratio are pretty typical, while HDMI, DisplayPort and analog VGA connectors ensure you"ll be able to hook this monitor to pretty much any computer running Windows 10, Android or Linux.

Want a larger than average touch screen monitor? This 27-inch offering is our pick, as it"s based around an IPS LED-backlit display. That translates more dependable color accuracy and contrast that won"t shift depending on whether you"re viewing the centre of the screen or the corners.

The Full HD resolution is spread a little thin across a 27-inch display, so images will look slightly pixelated, but this is an unavoidable compromise you have to make if you want a touch screen monitor larger than 24 inches. The PCT2785 does score well in terms of versatility though, as you get a built-in HD webcam and microphone, making it great for homeworking(opens in new tab) and video conferencing.

If you can get past the uninspiring black plastic design of the Philips 242B9T, this touch screen monitor has a lot to offer. It should be easy to connect to pretty much any computer, thanks to its full array of HDMI, DVI, VGA and DisplayPort connectivity and included cables for all but DVI. It"s even got its own built-in 2W stereo speakers, while the clever Z-hinge stand allows a huge -5 to 90 degrees of tilt adjustment, making it extra-ergonomic when using the 10-point capacitive multi-touch display.

The T272HL boasts a slightly above-average 300cd/m2 brightness, along with 10-point capacitive multi-touch. There are also a pair of 2w internal speakers, and the stand allows a large 10-60 degrees of tilt to enhance touch ergonomics.

If you"re after a larger-than-average touch screen monitor, the T272HL is a reasonable choice, but there are compromises to be made. For starters, this is still a 1920 x 1080 Full HD monitor, so while it may be physically larger than a 23/24-inch Full HD display, images will simply look larger, not more detailed.

At 21.5 inches, the Asus VT229H is one of the smaller touch screen monitors on this list, but it still sports the same Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution as larger 24 and even 27-inch touch screen displays, meaning you get more pixels per inch and slightly crisper image quality. This is also an IPS LCD, with wide 178 x 178-degree viewing angles and reliably consistent color and contrast, regardless of your viewing angle.

Most touch screen monitors are just that: a monitor, with a touch interface. But this 21.5-inch display also adds a pair of 2W stereo speakers for sound output, along with dual-array microphones and a built-in webcam for video conferencing. The IPS LCD display panel ensures decent color and contrast uniformity, while the Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution is easily enough to for crisp image quality on a screen this size.

The square black exterior is typical of Lenovo"s business-orientated products and may not be to everyone"s taste. Plus you"ll need to connect via DisplayPort only, as there"s no HDMI input. But otherwise this touch screen monitor offers a lot for a very reasonable price.

The obvious drawback with a touch screen monitor is the aforementioned size restrictions because if you want one larger than 27 inches, you"re out of luck. The next step up in size for touch screen monitors are 50+ inch displays designed for corporate presentations rather than home computing.

Even most 27-inch touch screen monitors have the same Full HD 1920 x 1020 resolution as their smaller 21-24-inch stablemates. So you"re not actually getting more pixels, only bigger ones. This can make your images just look more blocky unless you sit further away from the screen.

It"s not just outright screen resolution where touch screen monitors can fall short of their non-touch alternatives. Top-end screens designed for image and video editing are often factory color calibrated: they use LCD displays that can display a huge range of colors, or feature fast refresh rates for smoother video playback and gaming. However, touch screen monitors aren"t intended for color-critical image or video work: they tend to be all-purpose displays designed for more general applications like web browsing and basic image viewing.

Connectivity also tends to be compromised on touch screen monitors. You can forget about USB-C hubs(opens in new tab) with Power Delivery, and even DisplayPort connections can be a rarity.

These are the two primary forms of touch input. Resistive touch requires you to physically press the screen (which itself is slightly spongy) for it to register an input. It"s a cheaper form of touch input, and a resistive touch screen is also tougher than a capacitive equivalent, so they"re popular for use in ATMs and retail checkouts.

However, resistive technology doesn"t support multi-touch and won"t give the same fluid sensitivity as the touch screens we"re now accustomed to on phones and tablets. Consequently, most modern touch screen monitors use capacitive touch screens supporting 10-point multi-touch. These operate exactly like a phone or tablet"s touch screen, requiring only a light tap, swipe, or pinch to register inputs. All the monitors on this list use 10-point capacitive touch screens.

Put simply, even the best iMacs(opens in new tab) and MacBooks(opens in new tab) don"t support touch screen monitors. Consequently, all the touch screen monitors on this list will only work with Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and some Linux and Android operating systems.

Not all LCD monitors are created equal. LCD displays use three types of construction - IPS (In-Plane Switching), VA (Vertical Alignment), and TN (Twisted Nematic). Each one of these three LCD types exhibits noticeably different image quality characteristics, clearly visible to the average user.

For image and video editing, TN-based monitors should really be avoided. These are the cheapest to manufacture and deliver compromised image quality thanks to their restrictive viewing angles. This results in highly uneven color and contrast across the screen, effectively hiding shadow and highlight detail in your images. IPS-based monitorsare the gold standard for image quality. These produce color and contrast that doesn"t shift depending on which part of the screen you look at, making image editing much more precise. Most of the touch screen monitors on this list are IPS-based, and the rest are VA-based monitors. These can"t quite match the image quality of an IPS monitor but are much more color-accurate than a TN screen.Round up of today"s best deals