Most Windows 11 laptops I evaluate have touchscreens and that isn’t altering any time quickly. At CES 2026, I went palms on with lots of laptops and most of them had touchscreens. But it’s not like PC producers had been exhibiting them off. Indeed, touchscreens on laptops now really feel like an afterthought.
Which means should you’re out there for a laptop computer, that’s how you ought to see touchscreens: a characteristic you virtually definitely don’t want.
Do laptop computer makers even care?
At CES 2026, I used to be in a single PC producer’s demo area. As the consultant talked in regards to the laptop computer’s options, I noticed its matte display. I ran my finger over the display and shared how impressed I used to be: it was a surprisingly easy contact floor for a matte touchscreen. Most touchscreen PCs I see have shiny shows, and most matte touchscreens I’ve used are a bit tough.
The PR particular person appeared stunned I used to be even speaking in regards to the touchscreen in any respect. That wasn’t one thing they had been even demonstrating!
Mark Hachman / IDG
And that’s the fashionable actuality of touchscreens on laptops: a lot of laptops have touchscreens, however there simply isn’t a lot to say about ’em.
When I see laptop computer makers demonstrating new {hardware}, they virtually all the time ignore the touchscreen. I’ve sat by a lot of demos about AI options, PC efficiency, battery life, gaming, and productiveness. But in recent times no laptop computer maker has demonstrated a imaginative and prescient of how their Windows PC’s touchscreen may be helpful in the true world.
In the previous, touchscreens had been compensating for one thing else
I was an even bigger fan of touchscreen PCs. A couple of years in the past, I endorsed utilizing a touchscreen to scroll internet pages and different paperwork. On a previous Windows 10 PC, I actually loved that have. Even with out specialised apps, touchscreens had been nice for navigating paperwork. I didn’t wish to quit my Windows 10 laptop computer’s touchscreen.
IDG / Matthew Elliott
Years later, now that I’ve expertise with fashionable Windows 11 PCs, I understand what the issue really was: Windows 10-era PCs had horrible, unresponsive touchpads.
These days, with the succesful and responsive touchpads which can be ubiquitous on fashionable Windows 11 laptops—even finances Windows laptops!—there’s no want for me to put my finger on the display once I can scroll utilizing the touchpad as an alternative. (Apple has long known this.)
PC apps aren’t optimized for touchscreens
If you wish to use a Windows PC as a touchscreen gadget, you possibly can nonetheless discover touch-first PC experiences on the market. Microsoft’s Surface Pro is one such instance (with Microsoft promoting the keyboard individually).
In truth, many PC producers nonetheless make 2-in-1 convertible laptops with screens that may hinge backward 360 levels, so you should use them in “tablet mode.” This has all the time been unusual to me, although. The feeling of holding an extra-thick pill with bodily keys on the again? That’s an odd and imperfect compromise.
Foundry / Mark Knapp
And there’s no want for such a compromise. In 2026, there aren’t many Windows purposes which can be designed for touchscreen experiences anymore. The starry-eyed idealism of the Windows 8 and 10 eras is gone. Now, the touchscreen PC expertise is simply an alternative choice to mouse cursor utilization in common Windows apps.
While Microsoft went a bit too far when it tried to make Windows 8 a “touch first” expertise, Windows has now swung to the other excessive. Even should you’re utilizing a Windows 11 pill, it appears like a “mouse first” expertise regardless of not having a mouse in any respect.
Even Windows isn’t prepared anymore
While there’s no totally touch-optimized interface anymore in Windows, Windows 11 does technically have a “tablet mode” you possibly can allow by eradicating the keyboard or rotating your 2-in-1 gadget into pill posture.
You can’t use this mode on many touchscreen Windows laptops, although. If you possibly can’t bodily rotate the display and put it into pill place, you possibly can’t unlock the touchscreen-optimized interface. (Back on Windows 10, you could possibly’ve not less than toggled it manually.)
IDG
And even when you will get Windows 11’s pill mode activated, it’s been watered down over time. Like, there’s no full-screen Start menu. All you get is extra space between contact targets on the taskbar… and that’s the largest noticeable change. The gestures are completely different, too.
Speaking of gestures, Windows 11’s touch gestures are objectively worse than they had been up to now. On Windows 10, swiping in from the left opened the Task View interface for switching apps. On Windows 11, it opens the Widgets pane filled with viral information tales. Yuck.
Chris Hoffman / Foundry
It’s a disgrace as a result of we’re seeing increasingly dual-display units, from the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i to the Asus Zephyrus Duo and past. When I reviewed the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i, I used it primarily as a transportable dual-display with a Bluetooth keyboard at a desk. The contact expertise would’ve turn out to be useful… if it had been any good.
If Windows was extra designed for touchscreens, these machines could be much more compelling. But and not using a critical touch-optimized interface and ecosystem of software program, these machines don’t dwell as much as their potential for giant tablet-like experiences.
Pen enter is the one exception
Convertible 2-in-1 laptops just like the Surface Pro have one killer characteristic: pen enter. For taking notes in applications like OneNote and utilizing skilled drawing instruments, that is nonetheless an incredible expertise.
Of course, technically talking, an lively pen doesn’t really want a touchscreen. With a battery-powered pen that helps a number of pressures of enter, all you actually want is a display that has a digitizer layer that may settle for pen enter.
IDG / Chris Hoffman
But most PCs that help lively pen enter even have touchscreens. This is the killer characteristic that makes Windows tablets really feel helpful, but even so, most individuals aren’t utilizing a pen fairly often. I do know too many who’ve purchased 2-in-1 PCs with pen help and infrequently ended up utilizing it.
Buying a laptop computer? Ignore the touchscreen
These days, touchscreen laptops aren’t all that uncommon—however whenever you run into one, it feels just like the touchscreen is barely there to verify a field on the spec sheet. “This is a touchscreen laptop,” the producer can proudly say when promoting it. Is it sufficient to sway somebody once they’re caught between that and one other non-touchscreen possibility? Maybe…
But until you want a touchscreen for a selected purpose, my recommendation is to not exit of your manner for one. If the laptop computer you need has a touchscreen, wonderful, no downside. If it’s between two equal laptops for a similar worth and one has a touchscreen, certain, decide that one. If you will get an equal laptop computer for cheaper and not using a touchscreen, possibly go for that as an alternative.
In the top, you gained’t be lacking a lot. (At least till Microsoft begins placing effort into the touchscreen expertise once more!)
Further studying: The best laptops on the market right now