HP unveils TouchSmart PCs

MANILA, Philippines - HP Philippines finally made available in the country its line of TouchSmart desktop PCs starting with the HP TouchSmart 600 and the HP Pavilion All-in-One MS200.

Earlier models of HP TouchSmart PCs have been available in other markets previously. The local subsidiary did, however, provide a unit of HP TouchSmart PC last year to the Center for Excellence in Public Elementary Education (CENTEX) as part of the HP My Backyard project. This made the elementary school in Tondo, Manila the first one in the country to have an HP TouchSmart PC.

The local commercial availability of HP TouchSmart has the company positioning it primarily for office, home and school use. A recent report by business intelligence firm Gartner Inc., however, points to an initial slow adoption of touch-enabled PCs in enterprises so that it would be eclipsed by demand coming from individuals, specifically from the younger set.

“What we’re going to see is the younger generation beginning to use touch-screen computers ahead of enterprises,” Leslie Fiering, Gartner research vice president said in a statement.

“By 2015, we expect more than 50 percent of PCs purchased for users under the age of 15 will have touch screens, up from fewer than two percent in 2009. On the other hand, we are predicting that fewer than 10 percent of PCs sold to enterprises in 2015 for mainstream knowledge workers will have touch screens,” Fiering added.

Touch-enabled devices will have slow adoption in the enterprise due to heavy requirements for typing and text input, Gartner analysts said. Instead, the earliest adopters of touch-enabled devices will be consumers who rarely deal with legacy issues like those from the consumers and education sectors where users will be looking for entertainment and casual gaming applications. These two sectors will also naturally take to touch-screen devices especially when prices for these type of products drop some more.

Gartner predicts that iPhone and touch-enabled smartphone users will want to extend the multi-touch experience to their PC computing. iPad and the overwhelming majority of slate, tablet and touch-enabled convertible devices planned for 2010 will have a consumer focus, the business intelligence firm noted.

HP TouchSmart 600

If you have P84,990 to spare then you can buy one HP TouchSmart 600 and all the high-end hardware components that go with it. This particular model gives buyers a 23-inch full high-definition 1080p widescreen with 16:9 aspect ratio display that supports multi-touch gestures such as pinch, rotate, arc, flick or press and drag to access information, entertainment and other applications. The monitor itself comes in a slim and compact profile in polished black finish.

The HP TouchSmart 600 uses an Intel core duo processor T6600 2.20HGz, 2MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB; runs Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit; uses NVIDIA mcp7a-jc chipset and NVIDIA n10 gt230 video graphics.

This model has a 4GB DDR3 memory capacity, a 750GB SATA 7200RPM hard drive, and uses a SuperMulti SATA optical drive with Lightscribe technology (double layer). It uses 802.11 b/g wireless LAN and Bluetooth for connectivity.

A video memory of 1GB DDR3 dedicated graphics memory with HDMI and DVI capability is part of the package, as well as integrated High-Definition audio with 5.1 surround sound ready.

Although touch screen-enabled, the HP TouchSmart 600 still comes with a mouse and keyboard that are both wireless, and a remote control. This model can also be used to watch, rewind, pause, and record live TV with its optional dual-format NTSC and over-air ATSC high-def TV tuner aside from PAL TV tuner and over-the-air DVB-T digital television receiver with personal video recorder functionality.

The HP Pavilion All-in-One MS200, on the other hand, is relatively lighter on the pocket at P39,990. For that amount buyers get an integrated computer and monitor running on Microsoft Windows 7 Home Basic Edition and the HP MediaSmart Software.

The HP Pavilion All-in-One MS200 features an AMD Athlon X2 dual core 325e 1.5ghz 22w microprocessor, an AMD RS780mn /SB700 chipset and a 2GV DDR2 memory. It has a lower 320GB SATA 7200RPM hard drive compared to the HP TouchSmart 600, but it has the same optical drive, connectivity and audio features.

The HP Pavilion All-in-One MS200’s video graphics are integrated on the motherboard and have a 128MB of shared graphics memory. The monitor is an 18.5-inch TFT panel that comes with standard keyboard and mouse.

Both machines are available in all HP resellers nationwide under a one-year limited warranty.