More Multitouch Headed Your Way
Forget buttons. Forget primitive touch strips that wouldn’t register your input half the time. Forget it all. Multitouch is the new way to roll if the multitude of new products is any indication. It is soon to invade every piece of gadget we own, make no mistake about that.
One of the more popular form factors to have incorporated a multitouch-enabled surface is the all-in-one desktop. After Asus and Sony, now it’s Gateway’s turn to churn out an all-in-one system for the mass market. The form factor that was popularized by Apple iMacs is now seeing a sudden upsurge in the market. From the comparatively lower cost solutions like Asus’ Eee Tops to high-end systems like Sony’s Vaio L series, you can see this form factor in almost every segment.
So now we have two more such systems in the pipeline and this time they are from Gateway. The two models are numbered as ZX6800 and ZX4800 respectively. The former is to have a 23-inch display and a 1920x1080 resolution while the latter is to have a 23-inch display and a 1600x900 resolution. Both their displays will be multitouch equipped, and both will be running Windows 7. Gateway won’t be shipping these devices with just the OS either. They will be putting in custom applications for photos, music, videos, etc. that are designed to take advantage of the touchscreen.
They will be quite powerful too. The Zx6800 will be powered by a 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Quad processor with 8GB RAM, 1GB ATI Radeon HD470 graphics, 1TB HDD (storage only) and a 64GB SSD (for the OS and the applications). Connectivity will be through the WiFi (b/g/n), Gigabit Ethernet while everything else would take care of by the eSATA and DVD super drive. It will also come with a hybrid TV tuner and 5.1 surround sound audio output.
The ZX4800 will be the lower powered version, hence also the cheaper. It will have a 2.1GHz Pentium dual-core processor with 4GB RAM, Intel GMA X4500 graphics and 750GB of storage. Everything else remains the same as the faster model except the TV tuner and SSD.
The ZX6800 and Zx4800 are expected shortly after the worldwide launch of Windows 7. So they should be here by early November.
Another form factor that uses multitouch is the tablet. May be I should say will be using because there aren’t that many true tablets (not those convertible ones) with multitouch around. We are all hearing the rumors about Apple’s tablet, and there is the Crunchpad, but they are nowhere near the consumer market. But still, there are smaller companies that are planning to bring out their tablets before the big cats do. One of them is LBook, and theirs is the T9 multitouch slate.
This slate has a spacious 8.9inch touchscreen and will be running Windows 7. It will be powered by the Intel Atom, and there is the word on the market that it will carry 2GB of RAM and 120GB of storage. But the main talking point is the price.
There have not been any official announcements so far, but a price range of $350-$375 was received by the folks at the UMPC Portal. If LBook can get the slate into the market for that price with may be optional 3G connectivity, it is likely to become quite a popular device. Given of course that the touchscreen works as it is expected to.
The device has a webcam and multiple USB ports too and also something that from the picture looks like a memory car reader.