Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Touchscreen kitchen mac

K

Kissaragi

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Nov 16, 2006
2,340
370
Hi, I really like using my mac for recipes and cooking and id like to set up a dedicated kitchen computer with some kind of touchscreen interface.

I only need to run safari and Souschef so i was thinking of an old mac mini tucked away in a cupboard somewhere and linked up to a touchscreen, either fixed into a cabinet door or something that flips down. 10-13" would be plenty i think but i just cant seem to find any touch screens that would be suitable. Something with a glass surface would be perfect

Anyone know a good place to buy touch screens? Maybe some kind of touchscreen converter to go over a normal display?

Thanks
 
well no idea wether a converter was available, just seem to remember seeing some things that clip to the top of the screen in the past.

That 19" is a bit big and expensive really but certainly something to consider. Thanks :)
 
I think you would need to buy an actual touchscreen display. In that instance it might end up a bit pricier than you'd probably like.

However Apple's touch functionality is pretty good including Inkwell and all that.
 
... or just wait about 3 months and buy apple's official tablet for under $1000. No macworld SF this year, but I'm sure apple will find someplace to announce new products in January.
 
My colleague was telling me that for his kitchen he purchased an elements proof IBM - water, cake mix, maple syrup, all just wipe away with some kitchen towel. If it is mainly for recipes you don't really need it to be a Mac.
 
Not really looking for a whole touchscreen mac like the mod book, its just too much money for the little use it will get.

Budget wise i was hoping to pick up an old g4 mac mini and some kind of touch screen for under £300 (the more under the better!).

I hadnt thought of the tablet, im not in any rush to do this so ill certainly wait and see what the first quarter of 2010 has in store.

It looks like itll either be the tablet or upping the budget and going for one of those 15" touch screens from ebuyer.

omarjk said:
My colleague was telling me that for his kitchen he purchased an elements proof IBM - water, cake mix, maple syrup, all just wipe away with some kitchen towel. If it is mainly for recipes you don't really need it to be a Mac.
Click to expand...

Im certainly open to it not being a mac, but id rather have a mac if i could, just to simplify things. Which IBM did he get? Do IBM even make computers anymore? i thought Levono took over?
 
thegoldenmackid said:
I knew there was another one... I also don't know why I didn't recognize the aforementioned link. I agree with the wait a couple of months idea though, given what seems to be on the horizon.
Click to expand...

If you knew there was another, why did you say "there is only one." :rolleyes:

All this talk of waiting is rather silly if we are talking about a computer only used for recipes. To pay ~$1000 to have tablet on a stand, assuming there is one available, would be sort of pointless.

To the OP. Would you be interested in buying a Macbook tablet for this purpose? If you would use it in other ways I would say go for it. If not, I personally would not recommend it. I don't think Apple will be releasing a touchscreen Mac in an iMac form factor anytime soon.

Ignoring all this, I wanted to point out something about the link I posted. Troll Touch will also retrofit G4 iMacs. I am not sure of the pricing, as they do not list on their website, but I contacted them recently about doing something similar and they said they will do G4s.

Although, will the switch to Intel only with Snow Leopard, you will see more apps go Intel only. Maybe not in the near future, but that might make you rethink a PPC iMac solution.

Some other options:

http://www.elotouch.com/Products/LCDs/default.asp

http://www.cartft.com/carpc/catalog/il/442 (more details: http://www.123macmini.com/news/story/17.html)

http://www.mimomonitors.com/
 
omarjk said:
I'm not that technologically minded but this must be folly.
Click to expand...

Well, you should have kept your mouth (virtual mouth that is) shut, if you don't know what you are talking about.

Virtually every touchscreen display consists of a display (crt, lcd, etc) and a digitizer. The digitizer is what makes a touch screen work. There are different technologies like capacitive, resistive, etc. That is then connected to a controller to parse the input.

So, given that the touchscreen portion is separate from the LCD, it is not a folly to assume there would be a converted. In fact they exist:

http://www.touchscreens.com/intro-anatomy.html

Quite funny that the only folly was your comment. Good day!
 
calderone said:
Well, you should have kept your mouth (virtual mouth that is) shut, if you don't know what you are talking about.

Virtually every touchscreen display consists of a display (crt, lcd, etc) and a digitizer. The digitizer is what makes a touch screen work. There are different technologies like capacitive, resistive, etc. That is then connected to a controller to parse the input.

So, given that the touchscreen portion is separate from the LCD, it is not a folly to assume there would be a converted. In fact they exist:

http://www.touchscreens.com/intro-anatomy.html

Quite funny that the only folly was your comment. Good day!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the informative link, although, and I'm not the first to say it, you are a touch abrasive chum. Now I'll have to get out the E45 and rub my sores ('virtual' ointment on my 'virtual' sores, that is - haha - 'virtual' good one!).
 
There is a touchscreen mod for MSI Wind computers running as Hackintoshes.

If you're inclined that way, it could be a good (and cheapish) option as a computer to hack about on in the kitchen

Check out msiwind.net if it tickles your fancy
 
j26 said:
There is a touchscreen mod for MSI Wind computers running as Hackintoshes.

If you're inclined that way, it could be a good (and cheapish) option as a computer to hack about on in the kitchen

Check out msiwind.net if it tickles your fancy
Click to expand...


Thanks, that looks very promising

calderone said:
Well, you should have kept your mouth (virtual mouth that is) shut, if you don't know what you are talking about.

Virtually every touchscreen display consists of a display (crt, lcd, etc) and a digitizer. The digitizer is what makes a touch screen work. There are different technologies like capacitive, resistive, etc. That is then connected to a controller to parse the input.

So, given that the touchscreen portion is separate from the LCD, it is not a folly to assume there would be a converted. In fact they exist:

http://www.touchscreens.com/intro-anatomy.html

Quite funny that the only folly was your comment. Good day!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info but theres no need to attack someone just trying to help.
 
Kissaragi said:
Thanks for the info but theres no need to attack someone just trying to help.
Click to expand...

I see, calling your idea a folly is trying to help? All he did is wrap is attack in a less commonly used word.

And the reason for my "attack" is the poster said himself he wasn't technology minded, then continues to call your suggestion foolish. Yet, I get branded as "abrasive." BTW, who else called me abrasive?
 
calderone said:
BTW, who else called me abrasive?
Click to expand...
Me.

This is a pretty interesting idea - it would be cool to do something like this with additional functionality like a calendar, weather, organizer, email, news, etc. display. I know the wife would love having something like this available in the kitchen - it'd be great if you could update us with your progress and if you ever actually make it happen some photos of your setup or details on what you did would be great!
 
MTI said:
I think the folks that install "car-puters" have touchscreen LCDs all sorted out. Quite a few use the Mini because of the footprint and power supply.

Mini in A Subie

Mini in a Honda Ridgeline
Click to expand...


I hadnt thought of screens designed for cars, theres a couple of those that would be perfect!

Think ill wait to see what el jobso releases in the way of tablets for a few months. If the price is right and i have other uses for it then i might go the apple tablet route.

Otherwise i think its going to be an old intel mac mini (your right about ppc support in the future) or cheap hackintosh with either an 8" or 10" lilliput touchscreen modded to hang under the wall mounted cupboards in the kitchen so i can just flip it down to use then up out of the way.
 
Here is a good idea: look for an iBook G3 12" or older TiBook that could be picked up inexpensively off of eBay. Then, you can hook it up to a touchscreen from magictouch.com. A 12" with mac support can be found for $ 165. You might even be able to find a resistive 4-wire 4:3 screen on ebay. This would be a very simple solution to your problem for under $300-400 conceivably.
Good luck! Show us some pictures if you have time!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back