Monitor Choices -- Go For Touch Screen?

[Renegade]

I'm thinking about a new monitor as my wife took 1 of them.

My first thought was another portrait monitor. Then I saw USB monitors... Then I thought about going for a touch screen monitor.

I've seen some cheap POS (point of sale) touch screen monitors and the like, and figured it might be handy to get a smaller one (probably 17") to basically play with.

Some are under $200 here, so probably under $150 in the US, and many under $300.

Has anyone tried a touch screen for regular, normal computing? Or any special non-POS and non-kiosk purpose?

I'd be interested to hear any thoughts from people.

[scancode]

I have an ELO 1715L (IntelliTouch) at work, and a convertible netbook (NL1).
Both have resistive touchscreens, and to be honest, I'm using either a mouse or a graphics tablet 99.9% of the time.
Yes, touchscreens are fun... for the first 3 minutes. Then the novelty wears off.

[Ath]

Pardon the plug, but I'd like to suggest using WinButtons, originally developed for use with a touch-screen 

[Renegade]

@scancode - Discouraging, but...

Pardon the plug, but I'd like to suggest using WinButtons, originally developed for use with a touch-screen 

Encouraging...

Anyone else with input? 

[cranioscopical]

Anyone else with input?

Don't you need a touch screen for that?

[tomos]

FWIW, I read a few reviews lately.
Summary was it's important how much & how easily the screen can be tilted (for easier access). But then you may have a problem with viewing angle, depending on your setup. If you pay for a panel with better viewing angles, you're into bigger money.

[Ath]

Anyone else with input?

Don't you need a touch screen for that?

[JavaJones]

I fail to see much actual, comfortable, real-world use for touch screens in every day desktop computing. If it's just something you want to "play with" then go for it I guess, but the display quality will be inferior for the same price non-touch screen monitor, so if its use as an actual display device is of greatest importance, I'd think twice about how important the play time is.

- Oshyan

[Shades]

Manufacturers of electronic cash registers (POS) seem fond to use them...and those are practically the only ones. With good reason as a cash register uses less counter space. To me that is the only reason to use those gimmicky screens.

Personally I already hate it when someone touches my LCD screen even if that person perceives there is a reason to do so (which I assure you there is none...ever).

[Stoic Joker]

Personally I already hate it when someone touches my LCD screen even if that person perceives there is a reason to do so (which I assure you there is none...ever).

I'll 2nd that! I cringe every time I see the screen buckle under someones finger.

[Renegade]

Yeah... It's a bit gimmicky right now... Not really a lot of software support out there for it... Still, it sure sounds like fun if I can pick one up cheaply.

[mouser]

I tend to agree with the comments here, that touchscreen is not a good solution for normal desktop user.  There are substantial penalties in terms of price and screen quality, and no real benefits for normal desktop user.

Now for specialty use -- for a wall mounted art project or media player control panel -- that's a completely different question.  But for a normal desktop, definitely not.