Grease marks on the desktop.

Screen control is hip. Since the iPhone with its touch screen as a model of an entire generation of advanced mobile phone, the control principle eagerly copied. Future, is also home PC via Fingerzeig steer leave. So far, however, is the supply scarce.

 

Berlin / Munich - PCs with touch-screen display is still in its infancy. To date, there is the German market, in principle, only two recipients of the touch command: HP Touch Smart IQ with two different sized displays and the more favorable initial computer from Asus Eee Top. In the case of the HP device allows even the manufacturer is "ambiguous" concept.

"Significant market shares are all-in-one devices with touch screens" are not so easily achieved, "believes because the deputy chief of the computer magazine" Chip ", Josef Reitberger. The target group of the new offensive touch he calls "away from". Because: "Typing with a keyboard is faster," and so have the traditional entry clearly ahead. The new Windows 7, which has touchscreen functionality and is in a beta version on the
Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas was presented, however, at least for the dissemination of technology.

Who the direct vicinity of the screen, you can text with fingers or the stylus directly on the screen all-in-one devices to scribble. Both, both the HP Touch Smart, as well as the Eee Top, recognize handwriting and convert them to text. However, they are not multi-touch capability, which can only be Einfinger operation.

A virtual keyboard for text input

In the case of the HP devices, the manufacturer announced the development. Both the touch screen functionality is not currently across all applications and operating system widely available.

HP has its own Smart Touch software developed and is primarily about photos, sounds, videos, and notes with the finger editing. Asus also relies on the entertainment business and sees the computer "a full-featured multimedia center": About the Windows Easy Mode is also the program Soft Stylus controlled, the text on a virtual keyboard on the display as well as allows surfing on the Touch Touch-optimized Opera browser.

Beware of Glasreinigern

In each case, but leaves the operation using touch quickly fingerprints on the screens. Microfibre cloths are therefore included in the delivery. From sharp Glasreinigern Reitberger advises that "the special properties can destroy the surface".

So similar to the devices in their approach, they are but in different leagues. With the price of this document. The Eee Top will cost according to the manufacturer's specifications in the small execution ET 1602 with 15.6-inch screen 549. The launch date and price of the better-equipped ET1603 are not yet known. The HP IQ500 model (22 inch diagonal screen measurement) costs in Germany 1599, the IQ800 (25.5 inch) 1899 Euro.

The Asus device ticking atom processor, as it is installed in Netbook, the HP device, however, a stronger Core Duo CPU from Intel.

Focus on Entertainment

Other differences arise for example in memory (1 gigabyte (GB) / 4 GB) and hard drive capacity (160 GB / 500 GB or 640 in the IQ 800). The Eee Top werkelt as OS Windows XP Home, in the HP-bolides both Vista Home Premium. "That's enough for all the processing of images on consumer level," says Reitberger. For graphics-intensive applications were good, however, both solutions are not.

This is not inconsistent, because the devices will primarily serve as an entertainment center. "That is the clear intention of the producers," says the expert. However, the question arises, why is using the keyboard and the screen hinwegbeugen closer attention should be. The Smart Touch can remotely as full-fledged TV used. To serve, at least from the sofa is from the touchscreen obsolete.

"With mobile devices, which for reasons of space no keyboard can be installed, the touchscreen rather his entitlement," says Reitberger and cites as an example, the Tablet PCs. HP brings in these days with the HP Touch Smart TX2 at least a new version of its touch-notebooks on the market - this time with multi-touch function.