Touch screen laptops have been around for longer than most people would think. The new operating system by Microsoft offers a solution to the problem with making touch screens more popular among typical computer consumers that has kept this product from taking over the mobile computing market. Some obstacles have to do with hardware as well as software support for the hardware. The cost of including a touch recognition screen would increase the cost of the over unit and since the laptop computer industry is constantly in a price war, manufacturers are always looking to cut cost and that means eliminating features that are not yet fully assimilated into typical laptop uses.
With a limited number of touch screen capable devices, software development for such products are more proprietary to the manufacturer and there is little standardization. With Windows 7 having been recently released, we can expect to see touch screens take over a big piece of the mobile computing market. That is because any touch recognizing screen is fully supported by Windows 7. With the software part of the problem solved, it is only a matter of time before manufacturers begin to offer touch screens on every laptop in the market.
This is a very special phenomenon where software development actually jumps ahead and pushes for a change in hardware. Throughout history we have come to expect hardware to be developed and software to follow. But in this particular instance, Microsoft has made the first move and many new laptop models have been launched indicating the manufacturers willingness to move in the direction of greater integration of touch screen functionality. The common weaknesses of older touch screen laptop models such as wearing the screen and hinge have been greatly improved. We are in a time that will probably be the beginning of large scale implementation of touch screen displays and there has never been a better time.