By Walter S. Mossberg , The Wall Street Journal|July 17, 2008
Hewlett-Packard has been on a roll in the consumer PC market lately, with a new emphasis on attractive designs and a new willingness to take risks. It has competed hard with Dell on price while offering some of the style and cool features usually associated with Apple or Sony.
About 18 months ago, the giant PC maker brought out an unusual desktop computer, the TouchSmart, a bulky model meant for kitchen counters. It was intended as a walk-up home kiosk, with large icons that could be activated by touching them to check the weather or to consult a calendar.
This TouchSmart was praised for its originality, but it wasn't as practical as promised and wasn't a big hit. Still, H-P is persevering with the concept. It has refined the hardware and the touch-controlled software, and has come up with a new line that is now going on sale.
This new TouchSmart, which comes in two models priced at $1,299 and $1,499, is a relatively slim, one-piece desktop with a 22-inch screen. It resembles the Apple iMac or the Dell XPS One and, like the latter, runs Microsoft's Windows Vista. It has a wireless keyboard and mouse, and can be used as a Vista computer.
Like the first TouchSmart, this new model comes with H-P's touch-controlled user interface and programs designed to be manipulated with the fingers. For this model, H-P is de-emphasizing the idea that the machine is meant for the kitchen, but it is forging ahead strongly with the notion that touch control is the wave of the future.
After testing the new TouchSmart PC for a few days, my verdict is mixed. The TouchSmart software is indeed improved. It's attractive, more versatile and more practical - and fun to use. The hardware is handsome and well-equipped. And H-P deserves credit for continuing to build software expertise in a world where makers of computers and cell phones must become as expert at software as they are at hardware. But the latest effort has some problems.
The TouchSmart interface is inviting. A top row with huge icons, called tiles, displays favorite programs, and a bottom row of smaller tiles displays other programs. You can scroll each row with a finger and decide which programs go in which row. You can even include in either row not only TouchSmart programs, but the regular Windows programs or Web sites that you like. When you tap on a tile that isn't for a special TouchSmart program, the computer pops you into the regular Windows interface. To return to the TouchSmart interface, you just tap a home button below the screen.
