Desktop touch screen use?

Does anyone have a desktop touch screen unit? Care to comment on whether you use the touch screen? Is it convenient to use as opposed to a mouse?

I had a touch screen netbook and never touched the touch screen, at times forgot it was there.

Have been thinking of getting a new desktop and wondered if it would be useful.

 

Since there was little interest in this thought I would update it a tad.

My touchscreen came yesterday and it is pretty much set up. Angry birds came with it so the touchscreen will get some use for that for sure

The unit is basically a laptop attached to the back of the screen. The dvd is just like the laptops. This one had a tv inside which I did not expect. The description was a little less than detailed but told enough to know it had what I wanted.

The touchscreen is quite responsive and not half bad for a lot of the work I do. It will be great for working with pictures.

You can actually use it in windows explorer though not quite as accurate as my fat fingers would like I think normal fingers might do better. It will use the scroll bar on word processors. It is a 21.5 inch screen so that assists some.

I realized when I opened Microsoft office why they had such big icons in the menu bar - for touchscreens and they will be a real plus.

I'm thinking for a surfing and photo nut it will be great though not sure they will catch on for normal everyday computing. Nice toy, nice at times, but it won't take the mouse off your desk. They will have to improve software in thhe direction of the TS to make them REALLY useful.

I have not used my paint program (Art Rage) yet, but believe it will be fabulous for that application. It will be much more natural to use a finger to paint rather than the mouse.

I might mention all of the new model touchscreens are very expensive in my mind, I picked up a year old model though it was manufactured in March. It was similar price to a laptop of similar specs plus it has the tv It can be used with the computer off or while it is on. It can be full screen or a 4x5 inch square so you can go ahead and compute.

In the end it is a neat toy and a very nice computer all in one. Needed a new rig so this is cream on the top

 

Update

After a day of working with the rig and updating to windows 8 I am finding I use the touchscreen more and more. It did take five hours of downloading and migration so get a pot of coffee going before you start.

Win 8 is a bit quirky till you get to know the way it works. It is more tuned to the touch screen which is good for a touchscreen owner though a mouser will do fine with it.

They eliminated the start button and to find all your programs you have to hit the search button. The power button is a little deeper than it was :tonofbricks:

Using touch for email is pretty easy as is surfing the web.

Not sure I would suggest going out and getting a new rig but if you need one I would suggest going to a couple of stores and swiping around a little before you buy - not stealing but swiping on the screen :laugh:

Is Windows 8 a hit? Improvements are always nice but again, if you need a new computer, yes get one with 8. I like what I have seen in 8 but I was very happy with 7.

As with 7 there is a lot of stuff that is not compatible with 8 so there are going to be those frustrations. I will mention that my 10 year old printer still functions - Samsung keeps up on their drivers :tongue3:

One thing I would recommend if you can afford it is get a current, new computer model. Mine is last years model and two of the programs that came with it do not work, though Microsoft supplied replacements that work fine, but the touchscreen is not fully compatible with windows 8. I have not found any real problems as yet but it was one of their notes when I upgraded. I suspect Lenovo will come out with some updates to cure those problems.