I'm buying a new laptop. As you all might have noticed touchscreen laptops seem to be the 'in' thing right now! Now I'm in a quandary as to which DE will work with these touchscreen laptops best! Should I use Unity,GNOME,KDE,Pantheon,etc whichever... I use Unity and KDE extensively but am unable to come to a final decision regarding which DE to install.....

Do post your opinion on this matter!

I have a Lenovo Graphics Tablet with a touch screen. I've run both Mint (MATE) and Mageia (KDE, but I'm mostly running E17) on it, and both distros detect the touch screen. Other distros in VMs have also detected the touch screen, though, I frankly don't rely on it very much. I don't think picking a distro will be much of an issue, so long as the touch screen is supported in the kernel.

I would suggest that you settle on a distro and then try out various desktop environments until you find one that seems to be a fit for your workflow.

If you are planning on using the touch screen heavily, I'd be inclined to suggest that you start with Gnome (and make sure you have an on-screen keyboard, just because, if you are going to use a touch screen heavily, you should have one). If you are planning on using touch as an accessory, then just start with your favorite DE and try out others as you the mood strikes you.

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I want a touchscreen laptop but I want to know whether kde works well on it. These new ones use your finger not a stylus so I'm afraid that with kde's feature packed interface it will be difficult to use. Am I better off with gnome or unity?

If KDE is what you want, I'd say give it a try. If it's not satisfactory, install a different DE (you do not have to remove KDE to do that) and try it.

You should be able to switch back and forth among DEs using the session-chooser in the login screen.

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I would second the Gnome recommendation, as it seems like an ideal environment for convertible laptops with efficient use of space and big buttons, but with one small twist that takes up a lot of paragraph space: If you really like the KDE way of doing things specifically, you should probably check out the Plasma Netbook or Plasma Active variants, as opposed to Plasma Desktop.

Plasma Netbook is specifically designed for small screens, and is actually part of the standard KDE package. You access it in System Settings under Workspace Behavior, then Workspace in the sidebar. It's in the dropdown menu labeled Workspace type. I've got a 13 inch screen so I haven't checked it out for more than maybe 25 seconds, but it is intriguing. Plasma Active is a separate project designed to provide a full tablet interface in KDE style with KDE technology. Unfortunately, I still can't find documentation. It is likely to be somewhat unpolished as it's very new and may be unsuitable for a convertible laptop as opposed to a full tablet or phone. I am currently spending some time myself figuring out how to make KDE buttons larger, not because I have a touchscreen; I just like the Gnome aesthetic.

I'd probably pick Unity.