touch screen

Get an Acer 15.6-inch touch-screen laptop for $469.99

Sorry for the confusion with yesterday's OBi100 deal. First there was a link boo-boo, then the product sold out. But don't worry: even at the usual price of $39.99, that's a great landline alternative. And it'll be back in stock before long, I'm sure.

Much as I'm loving ultrathin, ultralight ultrabooks these days, there's still a place in the world for a laptop with a roomy screen, DVD drive, and other desktop-friendly features. (That DVD drive in particular will prove important when you read about the sweet deal I'm writing for Marketplace … Read more

Acer sees most of its products sporting touch screens in 2015

Acer expects to dive heavily into the touch screen pool over the next year or two.

The company said Monday it anticipates that up to 80 percent of its products will be outfitted with touch screens in 2014 or 2015, Reuters reported. Acer is eyeing new tablets and touch-screen laptops as the ticket to rejuvenate the sluggish PC market, which continues to suffer from slumping sales.

Touch-screen devices are expected to account for 30 to 35 percent of Acer's total notebook sales by the end of 2013, Acer Chairman and CEO J.T. Wang told Reuters. Last quarter, the … Read more

Apple screen could react to the force of your touch

Your future iPhone or iPad could offer an interactive touch screen that reacts to the pressure exerted by your touch.

Published Thursday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, an Apple patent application called "Embedded force measurement" takes the concept of tapping on your touch screen at least one step further. Instead of just lightly tapping on your screen, you would actually press down on it to activate a command. The phone would measure the force of your tap and respond accordingly.

As one example, an on-screen icon could let you control the volume of your device. … Read more

Get a Lenovo convertible laptop for $463.50 shipped

For those of you who might be new to the Cheapskate blog, allow me to refer you to the Cheapskate FAQ, which answers a lot of common questions -- like "why I sent you an e-mail for a deal that was already sold out." (Spoiler: It wasn't sold out when I sent it.)

I mention that example because today's deal may also sell out quickly. (At this writing, Lenovo shows 498 units still in stock.) For a limited time, and while supplies last, Lenovo has the ThinkPad Twist S230u convertible laptop for $463.50 shipped. (Sales … Read more

IE piggybacks on Everest celebration to showcase new browser tech

There's much more to climbing Mount Everest than the trek to the summit, mountaineer David Breashears would tell you.

To help emphasize that point, the filmmaker and explorer has teamed up with Microsoft to build an interactive examination of the mountain and the Greater Himalaya region, which have enthralled imaginations since Edmund Hillary made his successful ascent of the Everest summit 75 years ago this week.

Everest: Rivers of Ice is a new Web site open to the public on Tuesday night built in HTML5 and CSS3 for touch screens. Created by the Internet Explorer 10 team, Microsoft Research, … Read more

Tablets, touch-screen laptops to energize the PC market

Tablets and touch-screen notebooks will give a helping hand to the PC industry in the coming years, according to NPD DisplaySearch.

Shipments of mobile PCs are forecast to reach 762.7 million globally by 2017, up from 367.6 million last year, according to an NPD report released Monday. Most of that growth will come about as tablets replace traditional notebooks as the dominant device and as touch screens wend their way to more notebooks.

For the purposes of its report, NPD DisplaySearch classifies a tablet as another type of PC rather than as a separate, unrelated device.

"The … Read more

Does it make sense to buy a PC with a touch screen?

Smartphones with touch screens? Great! Tablets with touch screens? Duh. But PCs with touch screens? Meh.

Recently I purchased a Lenovo IdeaPad U310 ultrabook, my first-ever touch-screen-equipped computer. I didn't necessarily want the feature, but figured I might as well give Windows 8 the benefit of the doubt. It was, after all, designed to be touched -- which explains why using it with a mere mouse and keyboard is such a dreadful experience. Plus, it was priced only about 50 bucks higher than its non-touch-screen sibling.

Having worked with the system for a couple weeks now, I'm ready … Read more

The best Windows 8 gaming laptops

We recently complained about the lack of a single best-case gaming laptop for the Windows 8 era. That was largely because of the handful of portable PCs with higher-end graphics cards we'd reviewed in the six months since Microsoft's new OS took over, none thought to include a touch-screen display. That's a feature not particularly called for in even current-gen PC games, but it's one that Windows 8 practically begs for during the hours when you're not using your laptop for gaming.

Since then, we've finished reviews of a couple more gaming laptops -- … Read more

Get a Lenovo 13.3-inch touch-screen ultrabook for $599.99

My hunt for a new laptop continues. I definitely want an ultrabook, even if it means paying a premium for a thinner, lighter design, but I'd really like to keep the price under $600. Given that most ultrabooks start at $700, I'm having to marshal all my cheapskate powers.

The latest candidate: Newegg has the Lenovo IdeaPad U310 13.3-inch touch-screen ultrabook (model 59365302) for $599.99 shipped, along with a $50 Newegg gift card.

Staples is also selling the U310 for $599.99 shipped, but you'll probably be on the hook for sales tax. Plus, no … Read more