Touch desktop is here and it's already stylish

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
People have commented before on the HP Touchsmart IQ770:



http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/i...m?reviewid=699



and I'm sure we'd agree that it's a hideous monstrosity. However, HP have another model that looks quite a bit better:



http://gizmodo.com/5019724/review-hp...smart-iq506-pc



It's not a true touch screen and the gestures don't look very intuitive but I'm beginning to think that Apple should be getting closer to releasing a touch desktop in one form or another.



I can't think what the best route would be though. A slate has obvious uses but it's a risky product. True touch screen iMacs could increase cost for little pay-off if the apps don't work well with touch and they have enough trouble with those displays as it is doing the basics without touch features going wrong.



The more that PC desktops start experimenting and improving their touch desktop experience, Apple could be left playing catchup when they eventually get a touch device with the desktop OS X.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    zinfellazinfella Posts: 877member
    Who really GAFRA what the PC makers do????
  • Reply 2 of 5
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by zinfella View Post


    Who really GAFRA what the PC makers do????



    People who like to think Apple continually pushes the computer industry forward. If PC makers make the advances first then Apple loses a certain edge.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    zinfellazinfella Posts: 877member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    People who like to think Apple continually pushes the computer industry forward. If PC makers make the advances first then Apple loses a certain edge.



    I've better things to do with my time than concern myself about a company that is extremely well run, namely Apple. If Apple listened to these boards, they would lock the doors and throw away the keys because it would dawn on them that it's hopeless!
  • Reply 4 of 5
    murphywebmurphyweb Posts: 295member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    People who like to think Apple continually pushes the computer industry forward. If PC makers make the advances first then Apple loses a certain edge.



    Apple only lead the way in software, unfortunately they have been running a pretty much constant 12 months behind on hardware for many years now.



    Apple's whole design ethos effectively bars them from ever being leading edge in hardware, as a mobile phone manufacturer they are even worse with computer hardware refreshes becoming painfully slow.



    The PC world will always lead the way on technology, what Apple does well is to take something already established and make it look and work better.



    If you really think that Apple continues to push the computer industry forward then you either have not been a mac user for long or you just have not been paying attention.



    Come back and argue with me when your next MBP has inbuilt 3G and a Blu-Ray. 3G is last years professional notebook must have and Blu-Ray will be this years. With Apple we may be lucky if they are next years.
  • Reply 5 of 5
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by murphyweb View Post


    Apple only lead the way in software, unfortunately they have been running a pretty much constant 12 months behind on hardware for many years now.



    I've only seen that with the graphics cards. Everything else spec-wise seems to be on par or better and there are still no devices that match the iphone. The Macbook Air seems like a decent product in its field. The 8-core Mac Pros are pretty good too.



    Where are the magnetic power adaptors, backlit keyboards, accelerometers, gesture-based trackpads etc. in competing products? IMO, Apple do very well at pushing the usability aspect of computing.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by murphyweb View Post


    Apple's whole design ethos effectively bars them from ever being leading edge in hardware



    Design prevents certain high performance components being used but touch display input isn't performance related.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by murphyweb View Post


    Come back and argue with me when your next MBP has inbuilt 3G and a Blu-Ray. 3G is last years professional notebook must have and Blu-Ray will be this years. With Apple we may be lucky if they are next years.



    Yeah these are fair points, although I don't like the idea of built-in 3G. A Mac compatible USB stick is good enough and we have that and you'd more likely just use your phone anyway. No sense in paying for a dedicated 3G contract for your laptop at £15 per month when you can wirelessly use your mobile phone, which you probably already have on contract.



    I don't know what the deal is with Blu-Ray. It's getting a bit ridiculous now that Apple still don't offer it in any of their machines. The slim drives are already pretty cheap:



    http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Product...ource=googleps



    It only reads Blu-Ray but that's enough for High def movies. I just hope that it's not a deliberate exclusion due to a conflict of interest between it and the itunes store.



    Anyway, the future of optical media is questionable, there may be standards that replace it like flash technology. I know I'd much rather have movies on a silent SD drive the size of my thumb than a disc the size of my palm that spins mechanically and makes a noise while watching a movie.



    Touch interaction however is the most natural thing to us. If anything, the mouse any keyboard are the wrong way to do things. When we communicate things to each other, we use voice and gestures more than anything else. Imagine how slow the world would be if we had to type and read everything.



    Drawing is an obvious advantage. It's pretty much impossible to draw on a computer using a mouse but just imagine painting on your screen with your finger. This is one of the first things kids do in school is paint with their fingers and yet with all the technology we have, they still can't do this digitally without a very expensive wacom tablet (the ones that mirror the display result). I think it's about time this changed and Apple has the technology to do it. The iphone interface amazes me every time I use it. It seems so clear that this is how touch interaction should be done and yet it's never been done like that on a mass scale.



    The news just posted on AI about the touch desktop patent at least gives some more evidence that Apple are probably still experimenting with it. I just hope we see something in the near future.
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