By Ben Patterson – Mon Feb 7, 9:52 am ET
HP has been cranking out its touch-enabled, all-in-one TouchSmart PCs for years now, but the latest model comes with a twist: a 23-inch display that slides almost all the way down, turning the system into something akin to a jumbo touch panel.
Slated to go on sale this week for $900, the TouchSmart 610 runs on Windows 7 and arrives with the latest version of HP's TouchSmart user interface, complete with touch-friendly versions of Hulu, Netflix, Rhapsody, Twitter, and even R.U.S.E., a popular real-time strategy game.
The revamped TouchSmart UI lets you post images, notes, and other content onto a multi-panel, swipeable home screen—and yes, there's an app store featuring more TouchSmart apps, some free and others for
purchase.
Not bad, but the most arresting feature of the new all-in-one TouchSmart system is the display itself, which you can slide all the way down to a 60-degree angle. Doing so basically turns the PC into … well, a massive touch panel, albeit one that you can't plunk into your lap while you're lounging on the sofa.
I got a little hands-on time with the TouchSmart 610 during an HP press event last month, and yes, moving the largish display up and down is doable, although the spring-assisted sliding action is a bit on the stiff side.
One of the beauties of the new TouchSmart's design is that the screen slides down and out, meaning that the back of the display won't bang into anything behind it on the way down. The idea, HP reps told me, was to allow users to slide the screen up or down without making a big, desk-rearranging production out of it.
Of course, a sliding (or "reclining," as HP puts it) display is only as good as the touch-enabled applications that go with it, and HP clearly hopes that its "suite" of TouchSmart apps will do the trick. I only got a brief taste of the new TouchSmart interface during last month's demo, and I liked what I saw, but whether the TouchSmart App Store manages to take off remains to be seen.
The PC manufacturing giant is also pushing a business-oriented version of the new TouchSmart that hotels, retailers, and corporate customers could use as a touch-enabled kiosk—kind of a budget-minded version of Micorsoft's pricey Surface systems.
Specs for the TouchSmart 610 include a 3.2GHz Intel i3-550 processor, 4GB of RAM (upgradable to 16GB), a 750GB hard drive, a six-in-one memory card reader, seven USB ports, and HP's enhanced "Beats" audio system.
— Ben Patterson is a technology blogger for Yahoo! News.
HP has been cranking out its touch-enabled, all-in-one TouchSmart PCs for years now, but the latest model comes with a twist: a 23-inch display that slides almost all the way down, turning the system into something akin to a jumbo touch panel.
Slated to go on sale this week for $900, the TouchSmart 610 runs on Windows 7 and arrives with the latest version of HP's TouchSmart user interface, complete with touch-friendly versions of Hulu, Netflix, Rhapsody, Twitter, and even R.U.S.E., a popular real-time strategy game.
The revamped TouchSmart UI lets you post images, notes, and other content onto a multi-panel, swipeable home screen—and yes, there's an app store featuring more TouchSmart apps, some free and others for
purchase.
Not bad, but the most arresting feature of the new all-in-one TouchSmart system is the display itself, which you can slide all the way down to a 60-degree angle. Doing so basically turns the PC into … well, a massive touch panel, albeit one that you can't plunk into your lap while you're lounging on the sofa.
I got a little hands-on time with the TouchSmart 610 during an HP press event last month, and yes, moving the largish display up and down is doable, although the spring-assisted sliding action is a bit on the stiff side.
One of the beauties of the new TouchSmart's design is that the screen slides down and out, meaning that the back of the display won't bang into anything behind it on the way down. The idea, HP reps told me, was to allow users to slide the screen up or down without making a big, desk-rearranging production out of it.
Of course, a sliding (or "reclining," as HP puts it) display is only as good as the touch-enabled applications that go with it, and HP clearly hopes that its "suite" of TouchSmart apps will do the trick. I only got a brief taste of the new TouchSmart interface during last month's demo, and I liked what I saw, but whether the TouchSmart App Store manages to take off remains to be seen.
The PC manufacturing giant is also pushing a business-oriented version of the new TouchSmart that hotels, retailers, and corporate customers could use as a touch-enabled kiosk—kind of a budget-minded version of Micorsoft's pricey Surface systems.
Specs for the TouchSmart 610 include a 3.2GHz Intel i3-550 processor, 4GB of RAM (upgradable to 16GB), a 750GB hard drive, a six-in-one memory card reader, seven USB ports, and HP's enhanced "Beats" audio system.
— Ben Patterson is a technology blogger for Yahoo! News.
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