Try the touch screen (and the data entry for things like offset). Separate controls for everything is overrated
Perhaps I just need more time to get used to it. With all the scopes I've used in the past having separate controls, that way of operating has become engrained in my mind and is second nature. Until now it's still awkward to not have those controls, but it's only been a month that I've had my SDS2104X+, so maybe you're right.
I think getting used to it is the key. If you take a look, pretty much all the new scopes are going that direction. First thing is that new scopes have MUCH larger screens than old ones.
Unless you want to make a really huge scope, space gets scarce on front panel.
And also, it isn't really slower. I never really understood why people change settings on a scope all the time, some so fast that they don't even have time to see what the change was..
If you look at some of the videos, some people nervously twiddle knobs left and right all the time.. At a pace that scope doesn't really stay at one setting more than a fraction of the second. I wonder what they saw on the screen in that 1/10 of the second. I guess ninja reflexes, or whatnot. I cannot do it that way.
I also don't simply twiddle knobs just to see what is going to happen. Usually there is a thought process behind the action.
I'm not judging, just saying there are different people, who use scope differently.
When I first started using shared vertical control scope, it was weird too. Today, I routinely switch back and forth to a scope with individual controls and one with shared one. And Picoscopes that don't even have a single button (PC based, all screen and keyboard). And not for a second I find any of those to be superior or worse. They are just different, and once you get used to it, they ALL feel natural, and are fast to use.
That should not be major factor to choose scope. Whoever tells you differently just didn't gave themselves a time to get used to it. That is my experience.
If someone doesn't want to get used to different things and they are set in their ways, that is a valid choice, but it is by choice.
Same as when people say Keysight has the most intuitive GUI. It doesn't. User manual that shows only basic stuff is 300-400 pages long. Most of the stuff I had to learn by heart and took me quite a lot of time. It is just that Keysight is a major player and most people used Keysight at least at one point in their life. So it is more familiar, not so much intuitive.