- Image by Jeff and Jeanna via Flickr
A couple weeks ago I came across a deal for a refurbished HP Touchsmart IQ524 on both eComElectronics and RefurbDepot. We’re talking 22 inch touch screen, Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 500GB hard drive, and 4GB of RAM ready to bring me into the future of computing…
It was such a great deal and we had a need for some more computing power, my wife and I are both rocking four year old laptops, so we pulled the trigger on it…
I CAN’T STOP STARING
It arrived today and set-up was a snap. So I’ve been cruising the internets and my reader, while streaming ibreaks for the past two hours, remembering what it’s like to surf in style… All the while, in the back of my mind I was wondering what I should write about tonight. That should have been a no brainer, but my brain was experiencing sensory overload mesmerized by the gigantic touch screen and tunes coming out of this wireless wonder.
LAPTOP vs. DESKTOP
I thought I’d never own another desktop again, but I’ve been on the fence since my kids came into the picture. I have been sold on mobile computing since 2005, but the truth of the matter is that I spend a lot of time at a desk in my bassment at home. I use a 19 inch monitor and a port replicator for my laptop at my desk, so I’ve been plugging and unplugging a lot lately. Another factor being that I am in love with the ultra portable line-up of laptops, have vowed to pick up an MSI x340 when the budget allows for it, and that kind of computer isn’t necessarily made for video editing, which I plan to get into again.
There’s also just something about being able to fit my laptop in a manila envelope that speaks to me. So I decided that I could use a new desktop for all of my late night adventures on the social internet scene, while the fam could immediately benefit from having a stationary place to learn the ancient secrets of internet nerdom for themselves.
TOUCH THE FUTURE
Another idea that sold me on the HP Touchsmart in particular is the fact that my three year old daughter is able to unlock an iPhone, scroll through the various pages, and load an app of her choice without ever having been shown how to accomplish that task. Touch is mindblowingly intuitive, to the point where she expects it on other digital interfaces. She visibly gets frustrated when she’s playing on one of the laptops and the screen does nothing when she touches it. She also has been known to attempt to interact with the television by touching the screen.
I find it fascinating that my kids may grow up to live in a world without the need for peripherals. Try getting your head around that one. 
In the meantime, I will go on loving and learning about my latest desktop love affair
