In the days to come the keyboard and mouse may get replaced in total, with the option of touch screens. Much before the official launch of the new operating system of Microsoft, PC vendors had started to demonstrate their capabilities of the multi-touch technology. Acer, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Sony all had their products displayed.

 

The new all-in-one desktop PCs heavily leverage multi-touch capabilities integrated into Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. This will bring a revolution, which would spell an end of the three decade long era of input devices like mouse and keyboard.

 

HP has made initiative by launching the Touch Smart product line way back in 2006. But, its prices were very high, around Rs one lakh. The new system range of HP are ranging at half that price - from Rs 40,000 to Rs 65,000. The company is also holding trials with a multi-touch laptop, the DV3 in the European market. Plans of commercial launch have yet not been made public.

 

Sony with its Vaio L Touch HD PC/TV is targeting the upper segment. Its entertainment hub PC includes a high-definition TV and digital video recorder in one unit of PC and is tagged at Rs 60,000 onwards. But Gateway's ZX Series, comprising three models, is for middle class users with a price that start at Rs 34,500.

 

Aspire 5738G from Acer has facilities where users can hand write notes, launch movies, zoom in and out of Web sites, edit photos and video, resize windows via touch. This can be available at around Rs 40,000 price tag. Lenovo has added its own software, Simple Tap on the top of the operating software. Thinkpad T400’s touch screen allows users to manipulate objects and move images with fingers.

 

AIO can become an option within the next year, thanks to the expected drop in price of LCD panels and innovative touch capabilities. This will be major volume competition in the coming days. For next year a turnover of six million AIO is projected. This will mainly get affected by the price patterns of LCD panels.

 

Mini Desktops equipped with economic Atom Processor of intel called Nettops, supported the sale of economy range of the computing devices for general purpose use. The sale of these could survive in the recession time. Next year the users will have wider choice and variety of PC and Laptop products to chose from at various price points.