



While the “gorilla arm” argument is simplistic to the point of stupidity – teachers have been using blackboards for centuries – there are important considerations to do with screen distance and angle. You must consider the flexibility of the design. This may be critical if you want to mount the screen on a wall, which is common with touch-screen PCs used for public information access. The main drawback is that they take up more space than laptops or all-in-one designs. They are also much easier to repair, so they should last longer. Towers provide space for adding more memory, ports, faster graphics cards, extra hard drives, optical drives (DVD or Blu-ray) and so on. By contrast, spacious desktop towers can use processors that run at 45W to 90W or more, so you get more performance for less money. The processor will be throttled when it gets too hot, and the PC may shut down. Slimline designs impose thermal constraints on the processor, which will typically operate at a TDP between 15W and 35W, or less. Touch-sensitive monitors are therefore more expensive than traditional designs, which must restrict the size of the market.Īs you have found, there are lots of all-in-one PCs with touch screens, but they are basically laptop designs with separate keyboards. However, touch sensitivity requires extra technology, which is an extra cost, especially for large screens. The less well-known HannsG also has competitive offerings.

This includes Acer, AOC, Asus, Dell, HP, Iiyama, LG, Samsung and ViewSonic. There must be a market for them, because most leading monitor suppliers offer them. You can add a touch-sensitive screen to any PC – or even an old laptop – by buying a touch-sensitive monitor. I am a developer and might use the family PC for development in the future. There’s a lot of choice for people who want all-in-ones, but I would much rather get a tower to leave the option of potentially upgrading the PC. I am aware of the argument about gorilla arms, but after using an iPad, I find myself prodding all computer screens with an (unrealistic) expectation that something should happen. I would really like to try using a touchscreen monitor to get the best out of Windows 8. Currently the PC is only used by the children for accessing the web, running Minecraft, iTunes, playing The Sims etc. I need to replace my PC setup at home, so your article on buying a new family PC was really great for me.
