No, this is really NOT a travel technology question... however, I know there are some great tech minds on here so thought I might as well draw from it.

My iPad plus my smartphone does all I need on the road. (I don't travel for work) but at home I need a real computer. I enjoy using premier elements to do youtube videos and a type a lot of emails plus blogging. I am sitting on 2 laptops, one 14 inch which has served me well for almost a full year and recently purchased a 17 inch to be able to have more screen room for editing my movies and photos. However, I am going crazy with this new 17". I hate the touchpad on this new computer and the keys are not much to my liking either, I kept thinking I would get used to it but I haven't. I decided I wanted a desktop with a real keyboard plus a bigger screen than the 17". So, I went to Best Buy yesterday to look for a desktop and fell in love with the all-in-one's. I never knew they existed!! The huge 23" touch screens, they are just like having a huge iPad but with a keyboard....

I was a good girl and forced myself to walk out without buying one to do a little research first, so..... I am wondering what their downsides are compared to a traditional desktop?

http://www.pcworld.com/article/16857..._of_style.html

Here they say it so much better than I could.

But what about an external monitor you could connect to your laptop(s) either directly or with a docking statium?

I've used one of the HP Touchsmart touchscreens before several years ago and recently, I have to say i do NOT LIKE to have to touch the screen on a desktop machine. It is actually quite a pain to lift up ones arms, from the desk to the screen, and touch and drag, hold, etc. It SOUNDS great, like future stuff and all, but it is actually quite a pain in daily use. If the screen to touch was on the TABLE (like an apple touchpad) I think it would be better. (this is actually WHY I think we don't have touch IMAC's yet, I have the feeling that apple is of the same opinion.

just my .02$

I would just get a 23" or so monitor and external keyboard. Run everything (printers, scanners, mouse, keyboard, etc.) to a USB hub. You can then "dock" the laptop by connecting two cables - video and USB - three if you need network. An added benefit is most recent computers can feed two screens, so you can position the laptop off to the side with the secondary screen while you type away with the full keyboard in front of you.

That won't solve the touchscreen part, at least not with a standard monitor. I've never tried one and doubt I ever will. I hate smudges on my screen, and I usually sit more than arms length from my monitor.

@:-)

You can buy a mouse, keyboard and a 23" monitor to plug into your 17" laptop for a whole lot less that you will spend for a new desktop.

P.S. I posted before reading tev9999's message.

Yes, I think the wow, that's cool factor was what caught my attention... LOL

The idea of buying a monitor and keyboard is probably much smarter though. I will look into that this week.

Thanks

I have been using a 24 or 27 inch (forget which) iMac as my main desktop in my office at work. I recently plugged a 24 inch widescreen monitor into it to get a lot of screen space for preparing presentations. At home I use a 17 inch laptop with external keyboard and mouse and sometimes plug it into a 28 inch external monitor. Both work well. If you have the laptop the monitor addition is obviously cheaper.

NC_Girl - You can get a touchscreen LCD. Worst case, if you don't like it, you still have a bigger second monitor for your laptop.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCateg...rs&Order=PRICE

I don't know the differences between the technologies. You want something that claims to support multitouch though. The cheapest monitor on the list is a 21.5" from HP that has that capability.

I don't know if that's the best price, but it should be a pretty good selection.

I think what I liked about the all in one monitors were that they laid down kind of flat. They really were cool, LOL but in reality, I would probably use it upright like a normal monitor most of the time. I think I will probably just go with the new monitor/keyboard/mouse combo hooked up to my laptop. Maybe not quite as cool but much less expensive!

While we are on the subject, mostly still on topic. I'm also looking for a 23" or so monitor. Any disadvantage to going with a 1080p HDTV instead, other than a slight price increase ($25-$50 it seems). The advantage is I get to use it as a TV and can also output audio to something better than the laptop speakers, and do it with a single HDMI cable.

That's what i use - it works fine.

The main disadvantage of the all-in-one units is lack of changeability. You're pretty much stuff with what it comes with but you may not care if you're not into changing components.

A few caveats (as I type watching a 46" LCD TV that is also the monitor of the HTPC).

Know where the overscan/underscan adjustment is so you can see the full screen. ATI chips/drivers seem to want to underscan so the whole display isn't used and the adjustment is a PITA to find.

Not all PCs have HDMI outputs or if they do sometimes the sound component isn't all there (such as only stereo vs. not 5.1 or 7.1 sound) but you may not care.

For those contemplating using VGA to hook up their TVs, be aware that some TVs don't support full screen usage through the VGA port or even 16:9. Check the specs first.

Thanks for sharing!

Recently I have bought a mouse frontech

Nice info!