Do You Really Need a Touchscreen on Your Windows PC?

There are three types of touch screen technology:

• Resistive
• Surface wave
• Capacitive

Let we look at the pros and cons of touch screens on a computer so you can expect when debating if you should add a touchscreen to your laptop or desktop, and give you all the data you’ll need to make an informed decision about whether or not the technology is right for you.

Pros:

• Touch Screens Are a Quicker, More Intuitive Way to Interact with Your Computer

Using a touch screen to interact with your PC is faster, easier, and maybe even more fun than using a mouse or trackpad. And while we love using keyboard shortcuts to work faster on our computers, you have to learn and remember them.

Tapping and swiping on a touch screen, on the other hand, is more intuitive, since you're interacting directly and immediately with the elements on the screen. If you use trackpad multi-touch gestures or have used a tablet or smartphone, working with a PC touch screen feels just as natural and fluid.

If you have a touch screen PC with pen (stylus) input, you get even finer precision and can write or draw naturally on the screen.

One of the earliest criticisms about touch screen PCs is that programs and desktop windows are hard to use with touch. The close button, scrollbars, and other navigational elements are small and hard to accurately hit.

Cons:

• Possibly shorter battery life:

Touch screens require more power. Laptop Magazine compared a couple of touch screen laptops with their non-touch counterparts and found that the non-touch laptops lasted over an hour longer. This is definitely something to keep in mind if you need as much battery life as possible for your next laptop.

• The so-called Gorilla arm:

Gorilla arm is a term describing the tired arms users get after reaching out and touching a screen for a long time. It's been cited by many as a reason why touch screens will not take over.

• Added thickness:

Touch screen panels are usually thicker than non-touch ones-especially if the touch panel has an active digitizer for pen support. CNN argues that the hybrid laptop/tablet will never work because of the size issue: The Surface Pro is more than half an inch thick and weighs two pounds.

• Cost:

Finally, the biggest disadvantage of touch screen PCs is the added cost. Touch screen PCs cost more than their non-touch counterparts. The difference can be between $100 to $200, with pen-enabled touch screens costing the most.

Keep in mind that the touch screen is really just another way to interact with your PC. You still have your keyboard and your mouse when you want them and can use the touch screen as little or as much as you want.

If the added cost of the touch screen and the possible battery life hit don't matter much to you, you don't have anything to lose-and you might very well enjoy that touch screen as much as you do the one on your tablet.