touchscreen

Do we really think the Lenovo Horizon Table PC will launch a nation-sweeping trend of computer-based family game nights? No.

What the Horizon does do, though, is demonstrate that the PC industry still has plenty of interesting ideas.

You can read our full hands-on with the Horizon here. The gist of it though is that it's a 27-inch Windows 8 all-in-one touch-screen computer that you can lay down flat. It also has a battery. You would not use this giant computer as a walk-around-the-house device, but its portability does mean that you can set it up in a den, … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Touch-screen typing solutions have primarily focused on either on-screen keyboards or external keyboards. The former is notoriously inaccurate thanks to fumbling fingers, and the latter defeats the purpose of having such a sleek, portable device in the first place. Startup Syntellia is working on Fleksy, software that will recognize your screen typing, no matter how sloppy you are.

Fleksy was originally tested with blind users, but the creators knew it could also be helpful for people like me who flail about at their touch-screen keyboards. Whether I'm typing on my iPad or my Android phone, I always find a way to hit the wrong key. I like the idea of an app that can save me from myself.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--The last piece of desktop news from Lenovo at CES introduces the mainstream C540 all-in-one.

A largely by-the-numbers commodity PC, the C540 adds a 23-inch, 1,920x1,080-pixel display to the "Essential" product line previously composed of only the 20-inch C340.

Like the C340, the C540 tops out at Intel Core i3 CPUs, although the C540 does get a bump up to an Nvidia GeForce 620LE graphics chip. It also has a 2TB hard-drive option, which could make this system a useful media storage device. The C340 is limited to slower integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics, and … Read more

LAS VEGAS--The Lenovo IdeaCentre A720 was a flagship product for Lenovo last year, adding a relatively polished-looking design to Lenovo's sometimes clunky all-in-one desktop line. The updated 27-inch A730, announced today, brings that same design, along with an option for a truly competitive high-resolution screen.

Prior to the A730, only the Apple iMac and the Dell XPS One 27 had 27-inch displays with a 2,560x1,440-pixel resolution. That high resolution is now an option for the IdeaCentre A730.

The other components in the A730 keep it from competing with those other pixel-dense 27-inchers. The A730 does have an … Read more

The story of last year's CES was all ultrabooks; this year, the PC story is all about Windows 8 and touch. Samsung's latest laptop fuses both into a touch-screen computer that's hardly a surprise but meets what feels like a new expectation threshold in upper-tier Windows ultrabooks.

The 13.3-inch Series 7 is a new ultrabook for Samsung, as opposed to last year's top-end Series 9 and budget-targeted Series 5. The all-aluminum laptop is more "multimedia-targeted" than the Series 9 ever was, with a 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution, discrete AMD HD8570M graphics, and JBL … Read more

We have all become used to the idea that no news broadcast is complete without a ginormous iPad.

The ability to shift images and slides at the touch of a finger to the screen makes the TV presenter's gravitas just that much more gravitasy. It makes a Wolf just that much more Blitzer.

Yet, as this video first noticed by Videogum shows, not every TV presenter is a successful toucher and swiper.

This gentleman on a French-Canadian news channel suddenly finds that he wants to discuss troop movements in Gaza near elections, when his fingers cannot control chart movements … Read more

Unlike most of my colleagues, my recent Windows 8 experiences have been distinctly nontouch. As it turns out, the only two laptops I've reviewed with Microsoft's new operating system preinstalled both lacked touch screens: the Sony Vaio E17 and the Toshiba Satellite U845W. Both are what you'd consider "classic" laptops -- although the U845W has a unique, extra-wide screen.

Based on these early experiences with two "Windows 8-optimized" laptops, I'm not a fan of the nontouch Windows 8 world.… Read more

TV manufacturer Vizio made a splash earlier this year with the launch of a line of laptop and desktop PCs, showcasing designs that felt high-end and unique compared with the competition. Its latest updated lineup of PCs timed for the Windows 8 launch doesn't change the equation much, but the desktop systems finally get touch-screen displays that they lacked before.

Vizio's new 24- and 27-inch All-In-One Touch PCs add 10-finger capacitive multitouch to their 1080p displays, whereas previously these desktop PCs relied on wireless touch pads and remotes. These new desktop systems start at $998, although deeper specs … Read more

An Acer touch-screen Windows 8 laptop has popped up on the Home Shopping Network, along with other systems.

Brace yourself: touch-screen laptops will not be cheap.

Most of the specs are pretty underwhelming: a 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U "Ivy Bridge" processor, 750GB hard disk drive, DVD drive, a thickness of over an inch (that's considered plump in the age of the ultrabook), and a weight of 5.4 pounds.

But one hardware feature sets it apart from the Windows 7 rabble: a 15.6-inch touch screen to go with Windows 8's touch-centric interface.

And that … Read more