I’ve kept an eye on touch screen laptops ever since ASUS announced one at CES back in January 2009. Since then, a few of them have popped up on sale from familiar manufacturers like HP, Toshiba, and IBM. However, the performance is less than spectacular. The user interface is not intuitive and the touch response are slow. I’ve used the iPhone and it set the standard. I can’t seem to get a matching performance from the PC equivalent. Maybe it’s due to hardware limitation, and/or the Windows Operating System is not well designed for touch screens.
Here’s a sample video on how clumsy the user interface look:
This was done on a $1500 Tablet PC.
My 4-year old daughter used an iPhone, for the first time last week, at an Apple Store. She immediately knew how to use it with hardly any trouble. Apple’s excellence in usability design is apparent. I should take her to test out the touch screen PC laptops, and see how much she likes (or dislikes) it.
Maybe the designers for touch screen PCs should take the cue from a toddler. If it’s not user friendly enough for them, it’s not worth using. And I’m definitely not getting one… yet.
Tags: computer, laptop, user interface
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Hmmm….I never dabbled with touch screen PCs but have logged my fair share of hours on the iPhone. The next time I get a chance, I’ll demo out a touch screen to compare performance, which I suspect will be dismal as you say.
I would keep an eye out for the future tablet that Apple insists does not exist, that will flip Kindle on its ear. It is rumored to be a couple of months away, probably 1st or 2nd quarter of 2010 and will be like an I-Phone with all the touch technology, but on a 8 x 10, or something around that size, tablet where you will be able to use it for all kinds of multi-media applications including apps like the Ipod touch or I-phone does. Sounds like the gadjet to die for!
Touch screens are a clear sheet of plastic with tiny sensors that detect pressure from either a finger tip or a pointing device. When these sensors are pressed, they perform the functions found with the traditional mouse; single click, double click and drag.
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