Hewlett Packard refreshed their TouchSmart line of computers today. If you’re not familiar with these, imagine an iMac all in one computer that has a touch screen, and you’re most of the way there.
I really like the TouchSmart line, and use a second generation machine as my main Windows test computer. The touch interface is done via infrared, which is a very cost effective way of creating a touch interface on a large screen. Microsoft, in fact, uses it in their experimental TouchWall product that can make a touch screen of virtually any size wall (more TouchWall footage).
Overall I give the TouchScmart top marks – the only drawback is that it is inexplicably heavy at something like 60 lbs., and no one seems to know why. But since it sits on your desk, it’s not like you’re lifting it very often, so it doesn’t really matter.
But the machine is still all wrong. Anyone who has used one for a long time will tell you that they quickly revert to using the keyboard and mouse. And it isn’t because of the software or touch technology – both are fine.
Convergence. That’s the word that comes to mind when I watch the fancy demonstration of the HP Photosmart Premium TouchSmart web printer. We’ve all seen the all-in-one PC design, a la the iMac, but how often do we see a printer and a computer in one package? HP is bundling a teeny little touch-interface computer with their latest set of printers, allowing you to access stuff from the Internet without using your PC at all! Some of the examples don’t seem particularly useful: I don’t think I’m likely to go to my printer when I want to buy movie tickets, for example, but letting kids print out their own coloring books seems like a pretty good idea to me. And printing Google Maps will be helpful for those Luddite friends of mine who don’t have GPS units.
It’s hard to beat the sex appeal of HP’s TouchSmart PC. It has 4GB of Ram, a 500GB hard drive, 802.11 b/g/n, and of course that large 22-inch touchscreen with HP’s proprietary software suite. To bad Vista is at the core but you could always upgrade that to Win7 RC.
You know the HP TouchSmart? It’s a neat bit of work—that is, it has to potential to be. That potential is now one step closer to reality given that HP has just opened it up to third-party development. Would-be developers need to sashay over to the TouchSmart Community. There you’ll find the necessary software to develop your fancy application.
I think it’s fairly obvious from the above few sentences that I don’t have a developer bone on my body.
via Slashdot
Today, HP updated their popular TouchSmart PCs. Both the IQ804 and IQ816 feature a 25.5-inch HD 1920×1200 resolution display. The main difference between the two boils down to a DVD drive for the 804 and Blu-ray drive for the 816 along with a few other minor spec changes. The 804 comes with a 2.10GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5850 proc while the 816 has a 2.10GHz T8100 Intel proc. Both handle up to 4GB of RAM. Graphics are handled by an Intel GM965 Express Chipset. The IQ804 starts at $1900 and the IQ816 at $2100.
Hit the jump for specs on both.
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When HP first introduced its TouchSmart PC line of desktop computers in 2007, it was a novel idea, but it also had enough flaws to keep many away from buying it. The TouchSmart was primarily meant for the kitchen, mainly because of the interactivity behind it, but also because it’s probably where the family interacts most in the home.
This new iteration of HP’s TouchSmart series (the IQ 504 & IQ 506) is better out of the box, not because it has more power and 64-bit processing, but also because HP has streamlined things a little with its own software interface. I tried out the IQ 506 ($1,399) and noticed a couple of significant changes. For one, the hardware itself is less obtrusive by taking up less room, despite the screen being bigger.
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Guest Writer Ted Kritsonis is a writer at DemystifyingDigital.com. For more product news and reviews, visit DemystifyingDigital.com.
Announced last month at HP’s Connecting Your World conference in Berlin (Peter was there), the HP TouchSmart iQ504 and iQ506 PCs are now available for purchase.
Suggested retail pricing is $1,299 for the iQ504 and $1,499 for the iQ506, but you can find them for about a hundred bucks less on Amazon.com and they’re also available at plenty of other retailers.
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