Cool And Laid Back

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[<p>Can't remember just how many laptop screens I've ruined by forcing them to lean too far back or forward as I settled into notebook-unfriendly positions on my bed. So I'm all for experimentation on screens that swivel or tilt or do whatever they have to do to fit into the user's way of working.<br><br>Well now, thanks to HP, we do have a reclining screen. Two of them, in fact. The HP TouchSmart 610 for consumers and the TouchSmart 9300 Elite for businesses, have all their machinery (including 16GB RAM and possibly the Intel Sandy Bridge processor), housed within the single unit — and the whole lot tilts back rakishly to 60 degrees.<br><br>However — and it's a 23-inch however — the HD wide-angle 1920x1080 resolution screen is a full PC and bed is not the place for it. It's too huge, too heavy and it's not a laptop so I'll give it a miss when it becomes available sometime between now and May, for $900 and thereabouts. I'm afraid I've become a non-desktop person for the remainder of my living days now. If I hadn't been, I'd have certainly gone in for some screen lean just because it looks so good and HP has packed it with applications that are touch-optimised.<br><br>Touch screen PCs or laptops haven't been considered a good idea (including by Steve Jobs) because it doesn't take two minutes for a user's arm to begin aching from pointing at a screen as it's held up higher than heart level. That's an old problem brought right back to life. You could opt to touch the screen minimally and work on a keyboard most of the time, but then what would be the point, and what a waste of touch anyway.<br><br>So HP's tried to solve that problem by slinging the screen really low and making it become almost flat as it swivels forward. I have to admit it looks severely cool that way; very hi tech. We'll only know how it really feels to use long-term when users report on the experience.<br><br>People have been comparing these touch screens to tablets, but other than for a few applications such as using the screen to select music or playing some games etc, there's no comparison. They're different form factors and one of them is mobile after all. It is true of course that tablets and smartphones are overtaking PC on the sales front now, so PC's can't be blamed for trying to innovate.<br><br>The author is editorial director at Mindworks Global Media Services<br><br>mala(at)pobox (dot)com,<br>@malabhargava on Twitter</p>