Touch screens have been around for so long its untrue, even the new ipad isnt a new concept, just that its a newer fresher look and of course a mac and marketed to the ipod generation.
have a look at the panasonic toughbook, its a really robust laptop that you may have seen your gas engineer whip out, they have the standard laptop features, but you can swivil the screen round and close it flat, then just use the screen as a touchpad, no keyboard required.
personlly, touch screen technology has come along way, but still has a lot further to go before we start taking it really seriously.