Touchscreen computers are all the rage these days, but mostly in mobile applications like smart phones and tablets. Hewlett-Packard, though, has been pushing its TouchSmart line of one-piece touchscreen PCs for a while now, and the latest versions announced today use a clever tilt-and-swivel design to emulate portable tablets and make big touchscreens more useful than before.
After getting a sneak peek of the model due to ship in May, I think the new TouchSmart could be the first one that moves beyond an interesting toy for the kitchen to present a viable business case to small businesses.
For one thing, demand for commercial applications has led HP to give the line a business model, the TouchSmart 9300 Elite, which adds a few cosmetic and configuration enhancements. And while both models feature upgraded insides (Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 desktop processors; up to 16 GB of memory; and disk encryption and solid state hard drives), the big news is the patented way the 23-inch touchscreen can be titled to 60 degrees -- or 30-degrees off flat -- and 5-degrees over vertical. There's also a 180-degree swivel.
These design changes are critical, said Randall Martin, HP's chief design strategist for desktop PCs, because "people have a different relationship with touchscreens" than they do with traditional PCs. Insead of a one-to-one dynamic, Martin told me, it's often one-to-many, as the machines are used by groups instead of individuals.
But what does that mean in practice? Mounted on a table or desk, or under a retail counter, the new design will make it easier for small groups of colleagues or customers/salespeople to gather around and use the machine collaboratively, while still maintaining eye contact. A customer could use the a custom Windows application on the touchscreen to specify furniture fabrics, for example, and the salesperson could then use the machine as a normal Windows PC to actually place the order. The vertical configuration, meanwhile, offers similar options when mounted on the wall.
As consumers -- and workers -- become comfortable with touchscreen interfaces from their smartphones and tables, we can expect them to demand similar functionality in business environments. Nimble small businesses who find ways to leverage this technology could get competitive advantage compared to large, slower-moving enterprises.
According to Martin, the bigger screen and higher performance make the TouchSmart an "improvement" on portable tablets. I don't know if I'd go that far in discounting mobilty, but I do think this TouchSmart offers some real benefits in certain small-business applications, at a not-too-excessive price premium compared to a "regular" PC.
According to HP product marketing manager Dipankar Bhargava, the TouchSmart 9300 Elite will start at $1,099, the same price as the model it replaces, but that price is not official and may be adjusted before the unit ships.
