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I can't see how a vertical monitor is helpful. Some of the touch screen PCs that HP and Lenovo have launched tilt back so you can use your hands without gorilla

I can't see how a vertical monitor is helpful. Some of the touch screen PCs that HP and Lenovo have launched tilt back so you can use your hands without gorilla arm syndrome. I imagine the bigger hurdle isn't the tech, but selling people on horizontal monitors that they're touching all day and the lack of a keyboard (or keyboard as non primary input). I feel like we're stuck in this middle land of tablets without kickstands and PC monitors that can't turn into horizontal touch screens. I imagine there's a compromise here that'll work. Maybe all-in-one desktops that tilt with hide-away keyboards and tablets with built-in stands and perhaps even little pens for when you're using an app not optimized for tablets or if you need to draw or mark up a document.

Steko 15y ago
Someone will come along in the next 2 years and do haptic feedback right and hardware keyboards will go the way of the floppy drive. There's been a number of patents recently on this front from basic haptics to displays with controllable surface texture.
- eftpotrm 15y ago
  No. On even a netbook keyboard I can type at pretty much full dictation speed if I have to, with high accuracy. I can feel if I've made a mistake, I can feel if I've hit two keys rather than one or if my hands are drifting off centre. I am utterly, utterly unconvinced that that level of performance is going to be available from a haptic touchscreen any time, particularly at a cost comparable with keyboards I can buy for less than the cost of lunch. The patents may well be interesting and have all sorts of beneficial applications, but wholesale replacement of computer keyboards by them isn't one.
  - Steko 15y ago
    So with haptics you should be able to: (1) type at pretty much full dictation speed if you have to (some people can already do this) (2) Feel if you've made a mistake. (3) Feel if you hit 2 soft keys rather then one if your hands drifted. I don't see what's so unbelievable then; even today the physical keyboard has been removed from the most successful new devices. That's without haptics. Long term I suspect the keypress paradigm itself will fall to gestures which you don't even need a screen or keyboard, a camera can track your finger movements.

Steko 15y ago

Someone will come along in the next 2 years and do haptic feedback right and hardware keyboards will go the way of the floppy drive. There's been a number of patents recently on this front from basic haptics to displays with controllable surface texture.

eftpotrm 15y ago
No. On even a netbook keyboard I can type at pretty much full dictation speed if I have to, with high accuracy. I can feel if I've made a mistake, I can feel if I've hit two keys rather than one or if my hands are drifting off centre. I am utterly, utterly unconvinced that that level of performance is going to be available from a haptic touchscreen any time, particularly at a cost comparable with keyboards I can buy for less than the cost of lunch. The patents may well be interesting and have all sorts of beneficial applications, but wholesale replacement of computer keyboards by them isn't one.
- Steko 15y ago
  So with haptics you should be able to: (1) type at pretty much full dictation speed if you have to (some people can already do this) (2) Feel if you've made a mistake. (3) Feel if you hit 2 soft keys rather then one if your hands drifted. I don't see what's so unbelievable then; even today the physical keyboard has been removed from the most successful new devices. That's without haptics. Long term I suspect the keypress paradigm itself will fall to gestures which you don't even need a screen or keyboard, a camera can track your finger movements.