Turning a MacBook into a touchscreen with $1 of hardware (2018)

#1

Post by HughParry » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 7:22 PM UTC

Turning a MacBook into a touchscreen with $1 of hardware (2018)
anishathalye.com

Re: Turning a MacBook into a touchscreen with $1 of hardware (2018)

#2

Post by als0 » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 8:11 PM UTC

Still an amazing hack today and I love it. However, I heard Apple are developing a touch screen MacBook this year, and I simply don't get why they're doing that. I don't know what's worse, the ergonomics or the fingerprints.

Re: Turning a MacBook into a touchscreen with $1 of hardware (2018)

#3

Post by t1234s » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 8:13 PM UTC

Is there a coating you can apply to the glass to help with smudge marks?

Re: Turning a MacBook into a touchscreen with $1 of hardware (2018)

#4

Post by rappatic » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 8:17 PM UTC

t1234s wrote: post #3

Is there a coating you can apply to the glass to help with smudge marks?

Oleophobic coating is standard on phones and tablets, which is part of why they don’t pick up fingerprints as easily.

Some brands offer coating you can DIY yourself (eg ProofTech OLEOPEL) but these seem mostly designed for phone screens. I don’t know whether they’d be as effective on laptop screens

Re: Turning a MacBook into a touchscreen with $1 of hardware (2018)

#5

Post by bardackx » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 8:18 PM UTC

als0 wrote: post #2

Still an amazing hack today and I love it. However, I heard Apple are developing a touch screen MacBook this year, and I simply don't get why they're doing that. I don't know what's worse, the ergonomics or the fingerprints.

i used to have a bad touch screen laptop like 7 years ago and back then it made the mobile development more pleasant (both native and web based)

Re: Turning a MacBook into a touchscreen with $1 of hardware (2018)

#6

Post by anandkulkarni » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 8:19 PM UTC

Brilliant!

Re: Turning a MacBook into a touchscreen with $1 of hardware (2018)

#7

Post by spidermonkey23 » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 8:21 PM UTC

Using an external webcam is that not more than $1? cool project though; reminds me of how you could use a Wii remote to create a interactive whiteboard.

Re: Turning a MacBook into a touchscreen with $1 of hardware (2018)

#8

Post by Etheryte » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 8:22 PM UTC

als0 wrote: post #2

Still an amazing hack today and I love it. However, I heard Apple are developing a touch screen MacBook this year, and I simply don't get why they're doing that. I don't know what's worse, the ergonomics or the fingerprints.

So you mean they're developing the iPad, an insanely popular device, and you're not sure why they would make such a device?

Re: Turning a MacBook into a touchscreen with $1 of hardware (2018)

#9

Post by jbverschoor » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 8:23 PM UTC

spidermonkey23 wrote: post #7

Using an external webcam is that not more than $1? cool project though; reminds me of how you could use a Wii remote to create a interactive whiteboard.

Internal with a small mirror

Re: Turning a MacBook into a touchscreen with $1 of hardware (2018)

#10

Post by solfox » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 8:24 PM UTC

Love it! I appreciate the ethos of doing more with existing hardware. Adding an actual touchscreen would add real COGs to a macbook, and many potential failure points. Using the existing camera hardware + software seems to produce a "good enough" result for most people for casual use. I'm sure with some time and eng, Apple could make the "hack" shippable. But it doesn't earn product managers the big big bonuses, so it'll never happen.