Touchscreen desktops
 

I am planning to treat myself to a new PC and have noticed that there are a few of these devices on the market. Are there any Prooners out there with experience or recommendations regarding the aforesaid products?

My current desktop is an Elonex Exentia media centre, circa 2005.

I've tried using a touchscreen desktop machine at work. It was an unnatural and uncomfortable experience. I ended up sticking a proper keyboard and mouse on it!

Virtually all of these machine the screen is near vertical, which means at a proper viewing distance, to operate things on the screen using touch, requires your arm to be lifted and outstretched. Try doing that for more than a few minutes continuously. The only time we found it made sense, was when we created a bespoke console, with a near horizontal touchscreen. That was more comfortable to use.

Also large displays require large hand movements to achieve most of the things you do with a few centimetres of movement with a mouse. My personal view is that about 10 to 11 inches, touch screens start to become less effective.

sitigeltfel,

Unless you've got a disability where having an alternate means of input would help, I suggest you stick to good old tried & tested keyboard and mouse.

Spend the money you save on a better processor, more RAM, and perhaps a better monitor if you've only got an old cheap one.

Touchscreens are great for specialist UI's consisting of a collection of discrete, well defined idempotent functions (cf. iPhone, iPad etc.).... becomes messy very quickly once you try to bring it to general computing.

Desktop PC's with touchscreens are extremely uncomfortable to use for prolonged periods - when you use your phone or ipad you hold it down in front of you, you dont hold them vertically at arms length.

If you have RSI problems though using a mouse then I highly recommend a Trackpad replacement - SWMBO uses one on her Mac and immensely prefers it to a mouse.

Many, many years ago just as mice became necessary to contol computers, I found myself drinking air traffic control tea in the approach control room at EGBB. They had recently had some new super radar displays installed and used large, heavy trackballs to adjust the displays to their requirements. I loved playing with them and have controlled my computer with a trackball ever since.

P.P.

Thanks to all for the valuable comments and advice. You raised a number of issues I had not considered and will opt for a more conventional system when placing the order for my new kit.

I used a borrowed Dell laptop last weekend which had a touchscreen. Impressive technoloogy, but I didn't get used to it in the few hours I used it, wasn't comfortable with it. I'm not saying that with time I wouldn't have got used to it but the constant reaching forward can't be good for you (another form of RSI), and I can't help feeling that the screen is likely to end up damaged in some way from constantly cleaning off fingers marks or being jabbed with a pen.

P.Pilcher,

Well, it's no wonder you started playing with your trackballs, must have been more pleasurable than unfortunate surroundings of Birmingham. :E

I use touch screens as part of my job on some of our control systems. The commercial systems don't seem to suffer too badly from extended periods of not-very-careful use by the users, even those who think it's a good idea to use the pointy end of a biro....

However, they are not anywhere near as comfortable to use as a traditional keyboard and mouse. Problems I've come across:

1) It's easier for someone behind you to watch you enter sensitive information, if the screen displays a keyboard.
2) There's the danger (has happened to me many times) when showing someone else something on the screen that you touch a button/icon that you simply just meant to point at!
3) Entering data in a speedy fashion is more difficult, especially if the screen is near vertical.
4) If the calibration of the screen isn't spot-on it can be a frustrating experience!
5) If you wear bifocals/varifocals, typing anything using an on-screen keyboard is very uncomfortable indeed. You'd be surprised how quickly it makes you irritable....

Anyway, that's my tuppence worth.

Aah yes... the number of delivery drivers who've thrust a touchscreen PDA at me together with their trusty old biro. Oh the state of the PDA screen, absolutely covered in scratches and pen marks !

One of my monitors is a touchscreen Acer. It supports multitouch and I added the MS multitouch doodads.

Technically, it works just fine. In reality, the fact that the screen is vertical is a problem: it's difficult to touch the screen fast but gently, and I'm touching with the tip of the finger rather than the ball, so it can be tiring. Things are much better if I lay the screen flat, but that's not so useful in other ways...

The only time I really use it is when going through photos, some web stuff, Google Earth and for working out odd kanji, etc.

I also have a touchscreen on a little Kohjinsha notebook/tablet convertible, and I use that way more: taking notes with diagrams for example.

Tangentially, on both machines, I use the voice recognition quite a bit.

Touch screen on a tablet....Great.
Touch screen monitor....Uncomfortable, unnatural, covered in smears.....I tried to get used to it but sold it on (for a small loss).:*

Not having much experience of touch screens myself yet I have always been intrigued as to how dirty the things get? Is there some kind of layering to prevent greasy smears?

I haven't used a touchscreen in a few years so they may have improved, but the ones we used to use in the systems we developed were horrible; fingerprints and grease and God knows what smeared over them after a few weeks of use for demonstrations and testing.

There weren't many other options for devices with the tiny screens we were developing for, but I can't see why people would want them on a general-purpose device that's large enough to have proper dedicated control buttons or a keyboard; I'm sure there are specialised applications where large touchscreens actually do make sense, but not to replace a desktop or laptop screen.

I try not to touch my screen - a rather nice IPA one for photographic work - and end up swearing and cleaning off the smears every so often. (I find a damp microfibre cloth works beautifully)

Yeah, and they're called lint-free gloves.

Anything else and you're just moving the grease one layer back on the display.

Nothing worse than Mrs PN jabbing her finger on the screen and distorting the display - and she has clean fingers. The screen still gets mucky.

Keepa da fingers offa da screen or I'll use a straight edge







and I'll wash the blood off