Have you ever been looking at your MacBook Air (or any other laptop) and just thought “if only this laptop had a touch screen,”? Yeah…me neither. Even though laptops sit at an awkward angle that doesn’t work well for touch screens, Google has decided, for some reason, that a touch screen on a laptop is a great idea, and today they introduced the Chromebook Pixel.

Don’t get me wrong, the Pixel isn’t a bad device at all. It includes a screen with an impressive 239 pixels-per-inch, which is the “highest resolution, brightest, best screen that’s ever been put in a laptop computer.” That screen sounds great, and I’d love to have it. Except for one problem. Why would you ever want a touchscreen on a laptop that doesn’t fold back into a tablet? A touch-enabled laptop can work, as long as it folds back into a tablet-like device (like Dell’s XPS 12). That type of device works because it puts the touch screen at a natural angle. If you’re reading on a laptop right now, imagine if it was a touch screen. It would be cool for a while, but after just a few minutes, your arm would get tired.

The point is Google is taking advantage of a growing market in touch screens and trying to incorporate them into devices that are better off without them. Touch pads, like the ones found on Apple’s laptops, work because it is on a flat and horizontal surface, but screens that  are vertical are not built to be used like a touch screen. In order to use the Chromebook Pixel, Google needs to release a “Chrome Arm Rest” and charge users an extra $500 for it. After all, if you’re going to trick users into buying a laptop with a touch screen, you might as well trick them into buying more outrageous gadgets.

If you’re interested in Google’s Chromebook Pixel or like the idea of a vertical touch screen, use the comments below and let us know why you think it’s a good idea. We’d love to hear from you!

You can check out Google’s video over the Chromebook Pixel below: