According to recent rumors, Apple is finally readying a brand spanking new 22 inch iMac - with a multi touch screen!
Well, with HP, Sony, Gateway and others already beating Apple to the punch with their own Windows 7 based touch PCs, it's about time I say.
Yes, I still think that a multi-touch track pad, like those found on the MacBook Pro's, are still far better for most things, but certainly not for all things. There are times when having a touch screen is better and, quite frankly, to be honest, a lot more fun. Like taking your finger to spin a virtual globe of the earth for instance! Yeah, now that's certainly sounds like fun, doesn't it?
Engadget , among others, is reporting that the new 22 inch Touch Mac will feature a capacitive touch screen provided by Sintek Photronic, but surprisingly made by Quantra. The new touch Mac is expected before the end of the year, but exactly when we don't know, but as far as I'm concerned, the sooner the better.
I just hope that the new iMac touch-screen will be better than some of the ones that I've recently played with on the PC side, because even though they were nice and all, well, they were hardly what I would call all that great either! Obviously, if Apple really wants to touch us, their touch screens are going to have to be better than some of the 'iffy' touch screens found in these touch PC's.
Touch screens, as I've pointed out several times before, can be used effectively for some things, some of the time, but you wouldn't want to use them all of the time for health reasons. Maybe it's just me, but when playing a simple game of MahJong, with a HP TouchSmart for example, and for less then 1o minutes, I quickly began to develop wrist pain which didn't exactly help the game experience, let me tell you! I can't imagine using, based on that particularly experience, a large vertical touch screen all day.
Other than that, well I have to admit, touch screens can be really fun and interesting, but just not all of the time. A horizontally, small and efficient flat track pad, for my money, is by far the better way to go, and it's my hope that Apple will combine any new touch screen not only with that of its new Magic Mouse, but as well, with a new keyboard with a built-in multi-touch track pad like those built-into the MacBook Pros. Would this be multi-touch overkill? Maybe? However, it just might kill off some of the competition coming from Apple's competitors who could offer touch screens, but without the added convenience of Apple's multi-touch track pads or mouse!
All I will say is that I hope these rumors not only come true, but come true as quickly as possible. It only makes sense that Apple, who pioneered multi-touch commercially, would eventually go this route. After all, its competition has been coming out with a lot of great Apple inspired products of late, and if Apple wish's to continue to remain the leader, design wise, then it really has no choice but to also offer iMac touch enabled screens as well! Why should Apple give its competition bragging rights for a technology that it first made popular?
So, in conclusion, will Apple really offer multi-touch screens?
Hell, yah, you can bet your last cream-puffed cup cake they will! However, the big question is just how soon? Hopefully, a lot sooner than later, because you and I all know, that deep down inside, we really all want our touch screen Macs, so I say - bring em on baby!
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Monday, January 18, 2010
iMac image via: Gizmodo
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