Touchscreen lust

[jducoeur]

I happened to be in Staples this evening, picking up a new webcam, and happened to wander past the new HP desktop machine. And now I have a bad case of Want. The thing is basically a keyboard and a Muckin' Great Monitor, all of which is touchscreen -- something like 25" wide of smooth glass touchscreen.

This thing is *primal* to use. You don't mouse around, you just touch the thing you want; double-tap to double-click; touch and drag; it all just *works*, exactly as you expect it to. It's not quite Minority Report yet, but it gives a real vibe of what that could be like.

Mind, I'm not sure it would be all that *useful* to me at this point: the majority of my applications are largely keyboard-based. But boy, standing in the store and simply playing Bejeweled on that huge screen is remarkably fun...

Comments

[sichling.livejournal.com]

*drool* Not that it would be that useful to me either - and how does one set up the desk ergonomics to work with visual distance & reaching?

[jducoeur]

As I was using it, I was remarking that it might actually work rather well for the new fad in computing-on-treadmill. It's quite nice while standing, but I agree that I immediately wondered what it would be like sitting down...

[rosinavs.livejournal.com]

I do lurve my tablet/laptop. However, my second job currently is just point and click, so it works very well. I'm not sure how I would like a desktop like it.

[cellio]

Have they solved the fingerprint problem?

[jducoeur]

Not really. The smooth glass doesn't show the fingerprints *too* badly, but you can tell that people have been playing with it.

That said, since it's a completely smooth glass surface, it may be relatively easy to wipe down frequently...

Doubts

[metageek.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw that one. I have to say I'm a little skeptical; I generally mistrust the idea of an all-in-one compuuter, since monitors last so much longer than computers. My desktop has a 20" CRT I bought in 2000; since then, I've replaced the whole computer once and upgraded the motherboard twice. (I don't have time just now to count up upgrades to things like RAM, hard drives, and FireWire.) If I'd bought an all-in-one with a similar screen, a similar upgrade schedule would've meant replacing the $1100 screen after three years.

Aside from that, I'm wondering about the gorilla-arm effect.

Re: Doubts

[learnedax.livejournal.com]

Huh. I hadn't seen the term for gorilla-arm before, but I have similar suspicions - reports even of the full minority report interface (Johnny Chung Lee made one with a Wiimote, for instance) have been that your arms get tired in a hurry.

Re: Doubts

[jducoeur]

It's a fair concern, but I'm not sure that it applies to most people. I've actually tended to buy entirely new systems every 3-4 years, doing only minor upgrades in-between, and I suspect that I'm more typical in that. (While monitors last long, they *do* continue to get steadily better; I've never regretted the upgrade.)

The gorilla-arm effect is definitely a valid concern. I suspect that the thing introduces plenty of new ergonomic issues of its own, even while it removes some of the old ones...

Re: Doubts

[metageek.livejournal.com]

It's a fair concern, but I'm not sure that it applies to most people.

...yeah, probably not.

While monitors last long, they *do* continue to get steadily better

Yes...I guess I don't see enough improvements. Possibly because I bought a fairly high-end monitor, and it took a while for cheap monitors to catch up. (Also, I'm a lot tighter with money than I was in 2000, so this monitor is Good Enough.)

[oakleaf-mirror.livejournal.com]

Sounds interesting. But it would go back to taking up more of my desk. On of the best things about flat panel displays is that they give you back the horizontal surface of your desk, in front of you. I have my (all-in-one 24" iMac) computer at the back of my desk, near the wall. I can open books or write, on paper, at my desk while easily shifting a small wireless keyboard around.

Touch screen wouldn't work in this setup, for me. Right now, if I reach from my screen, with arms and fingers fully extended, I still have to lean forward to touch it.