With its TouchSmart all-in-one computer systems, HP has followed a path well worn by Apple's iMacs, but with a difference...it has a touchscreen.
Despite all the craze around touch screen technology lately, PCs have been relatively touch screen free. HP is hoping to do its part by releasing the TouchSmart.
With a 22-inch widescreen monitor there’s plenty of room for finger doodling fun. However the glossy screen is just screaming for fingerprints, especially when kids with filthy hands are nearby. It would have been generous for HP to include a glove or at least a cloth to get rid of the fingerprints (we have been informed that retails units will have a cloth to help you keep the screen clean).
HP has chosen Intel’s Core 2 Duo T5850 processor running at 2.16GHz with graphics powered by NVIDIA’s 9300M GS. Both of these components are more commonly found in notebooks but have managed to find their way into this all-in-one system, so don’t expect bleeding edge performance.
The TouchSmart is equipped with a 64-bit version of Windows Vista, which means that all of the installed 4GB of RAM can be used, although it seems excessive for this system considering its lowly specifications.
In a sign that the keyboard and mouse are still alive and kicking, HP has included a very responsive, but basic, wireless keyboard and mouse. It’s ironic using wireless keyboard and mouse for a system that is built around touch technology that requires you to be close to the screen, but just goes to show how new this technology is for in home computer systems.