Is it healthy to use hybrid laptops?
What with the popularity of touch-screen technology, computer companies have been manufacturing a variety of laptop/tablet hybrids.
Whilst some suggest that these machines are the way of the future, others posit that they present significant health risks due to the fact that they require users to navigate around a vertical screen with an outstretched arm for long periods.
Do hybrid machines, (as they are designed,) pose health risks?
Steve Jobs' criticisms
One prominent critic of hybrid laptops was Steve Jobs. In an interview given in 2010, he suggested that such designs were “ergonomically terrible,” adding that Apple submitted them to “tons of user testing” only to discover that they didn’t work. Jobs’ comments can be read in full here:
A Harvard medical study on hybrid laptops
Steve Jobs’ criticisms, (and the various health concerns of others,) are further supported by a 2011 medical study by Harvard University which sought to ascertain the healthiest way of using a hybrid machine through the setting of various “physical ergonomics parameters.”
Some suggest that these potential health risks could be solved by using a mouse, rather than an outstretched arm, to navigate around a hyrbid laptop display. However, such a solution seems to undermine the very purpose of a machine desgined to marry touch-screen technology with tradition.
