HP’s new TouchSmart PC is a fantastic bit of kit and what makes it so great is the innovative touch UI. I have already recorded an unboxing video so in this video I wanted to show off the Touch UI and how along with music, pictures and videos you can browse the web, read RSS feeds and run standard Windows apps from the Touch UI. My kids really love a freeware paint program (Tux Paint) and it works great on the Touch Screen
I also take a look at how well Windows Media Center works with the Touch Screen
This would make a great “kitchen” computer, especially with the touch interface. I really liked the HP touch UI and this would be a great “showcase” as our kitchen general use workstation. In particular, I really liked the idea of being able to watch TV on the 22″ screen. However, it got me thinking, right now, I have a Vista Media Center computer which is the “hub” for all TV watching/recording in our house (multiple tuners, lots of storage, 2 MC Extenders, etc.). While I really like the idea of a “real computer” in the Kitchen (word processing, picture viewing, Internet surfing, email, etc.), I can’t imagine trying to set this up as a second “full blown” Media Center computer when I already have a Vista Media Center “hub” computer. Also, can one even get digital cable tuners for it? Besides, the size of the digital cable tuners would kind of ruin the asthetics. What about coordinating recordings and such between this Media Center computer and the “hub” Media Center. Then there would be the issue of Extender access to two different Media Centers.
Is there some way that this HP TouchSmart computer can work as a Media Center Extender for my existing Vista Media Center “hub”. It would seem kind of silly (even possible?) to connect a Media Center Extender to the SmartTouch computer, so it can access Live/Recorded TV content from the Vista Media Center “hub”.
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very cool product, great UI, but try and keep the video under 5 mins if possible.
I think the video should be as long as it takes to demonstrate the features properly.
Wow, Ian, great review!
This would make a great “kitchen” computer, especially with the touch interface. I really liked the HP touch UI and this would be a great “showcase” as our kitchen general use workstation. In particular, I really liked the idea of being able to watch TV on the 22″ screen. However, it got me thinking, right now, I have a Vista Media Center computer which is the “hub” for all TV watching/recording in our house (multiple tuners, lots of storage, 2 MC Extenders, etc.). While I really like the idea of a “real computer” in the Kitchen (word processing, picture viewing, Internet surfing, email, etc.), I can’t imagine trying to set this up as a second “full blown” Media Center computer when I already have a Vista Media Center “hub” computer. Also, can one even get digital cable tuners for it? Besides, the size of the digital cable tuners would kind of ruin the asthetics. What about coordinating recordings and such between this Media Center computer and the “hub” Media Center. Then there would be the issue of Extender access to two different Media Centers.
Is there some way that this HP TouchSmart computer can work as a Media Center Extender for my existing Vista Media Center “hub”. It would seem kind of silly (even possible?) to connect a Media Center Extender to the SmartTouch computer, so it can access Live/Recorded TV content from the Vista Media Center “hub”.
What are your thoughts on this?