Early iMac Reviews Praise Design and Display Enhancements

[Renzatic]

Originally Posted by brbrown1988

Bottom Line: Touch-screen devices have a important role in many applications. However, a desktop computer is not one of them.

It depends on what kind of work you do. I know I could benefit from a touch/stylus enabled desktop PC (on certain things), but that doesn't necessarily mean you would. Mouse and keyboards have been sitting in front of computers for decades now for the simple reason that they're the best tools to use overall. I'm just not opposed to adding in an extra few on the side.

[Switchback666]

by the gods ! why people have to assume that if a laptop or desktop (in these case apples imac) shipped with a touchscreen they will remove the damm mouse, a touchscreen will be handy in a lot of cases were you only need to tap something example scrolling itunes, play music, zoom in and out, simple click on link etc list can go long.

I like to think about it as just another tool, and O M G if you guys havent check out "leap motion" thats amazing thing ! 100% your mind will be blown.

[Renzatic]

Originally Posted by Switchback666

I like to think about it as just another tool, and O M G if you guys havent check out "leap motion" thats amazing thing ! 100% your mind will be blown.

holy crap...

[thekev]

Originally Posted by Clubber

What's missing in that picture? Keyboard! Where would the keyboard go? Two options I can think of:

1. On the screen. Blech. I can tolerate that on the iPad / iPhone but that's because I don't type much on those devices. On a desktop though, typing is my primary input.

2. The keyboard could possibly go in front of it, but you need to move the screen away 6-8 inches. Because your viewing angle has changed, you would have to elevate the screen more vertical so you could see it. Because of that elevation and the distance from the user, you'll get gorilla arms using the touch screen exclusively.

Another issue, is the touch area of a finger is significantly larger than a mouse pointer, so all your icons would need to be a lot bigger like MS tiles, or more spread out like launchpad.

Also, how would clicking and dragging work? How would right click work? iOS has removed the need for both, but they're still needed on the desktop. I think it's a gee-wizz thing that will wear off fast and people will be reaching for the trackpad.

Don't get me wrong, that is a great surface / touch screen for artists, but for everyone else, I don't think an exclusive touch screen is practical on a desktop.

The wacom has overlay functions where it can bring up things like marking menus on screen. I considered one when they came out with the 24HD. Problems mentioned in reviews put me off to it, as Wacom has really long service times if anything goes wrong with it. I really liked the adjustable stand. Vertical lines are one of the most annoying things to draw with a typical graphics tablet, and something tilted that doesn't extend as far makes them much easier. If Apple came out with something like this and wacom enabled the digitizer pen with it, I'd buy one.

[anutharoundu]

I like where these are going I just wish more software developers developed for mac.

[Fatboy71]

Originally Posted by THOPMedia

Touchscreen on a desktop is possibly one of the dumbest ideas ever. No one wants to be lifting their arms at work for hours on end. Talk about soreness and muscle fatigue! It's a novelty gimick only. Its in no way practical. Mouse is still the fastest interface with current OSs and screen positioning.
It's not practical.

Totally agree. And also doing fine photo editing with a mouse can be fiddly at times, but its still the easiest way. I would hate to try and do that on a touchscreen desktop.

[twigman08]

Originally Posted by Renzatic

Or this...

Image

...which is the second time I've posted this picture today, in response to the same tired argument.

Most people griping about monkey arms or whatever are only doing so because Steve Jobs said something back in the day, and now they're regurgitating it nonstop in an attempt to look smart.

You know, he was right...when it comes to vertically standing monitors. But for screens you can slide right in front of you and tilt back? There's no reason not to have them touch enabled. They'll be as comfortable to use as an iPad.

You know I do like that, but I still believe touchscreen will not take off on a desktop. The stand is nice and it would be very useful, for a graphics designer, drafter, or something else like that. Though for the general public to use every day? I still don't see that taking off. That still doesn't look comfortable to me to browse the web or anything that I do. Who knows maybe just because I am a programmer I can't see myself using it since I do a lot more typing than anything else.

[Zwhaler]

I posted this in another thread, I need to know how the heat dissapation works on these machines or its a dealbreaker. I don't want a machine that gets too hot when under a constant heavy load like in post production environments. The last gen iMac got way too hot when used to render even short clips or using Maya. But then again that's what the Mac Pro is for.

[Joshua531]

So it looks like RAM can be upgraded in the 27"