I think you would end up frustrated and out of considerably more than $500 in time. It could be a fun project if you're looking to burn time and cash, but otherwise, I'd recommend you buy a standalone touchscreen monitor. Maybe you can find an IR overlay from a NextWindow reseller that you can mount on your existing LCD. That might be cheaper than $500.
Hey guys, I've been looking at touchscreens to buy for windows 7. I came across the touchsmart. My problem with the touchsmart all in one, is that its too weak to game and edit hd videos and such. So, I would like to get a LCD touchscreen and just plug it into my desktop. However, for a 15 inch touchscreen it cost around $500
So I was thinking, if I got the just the touchscreen part of the touchsmart, which is on ebay, could I install it to another 22" display that only cost 120?
Thanks for your help guys,
-Beaver_2
My feelings exactly, if you want to try it just to say you did it, but be prepared for the "Dr. Phil Dope Slap", in the form of "What were you THINKING?" coming out from everyone who knows you halfway through the project. Even if you were to get the parts to work, they would have to stay in the original TS chassis in order to be stable on the desktop. The proprietary connectors on the board would have to be identified as to signals and grounds, power, etc.,then transposed to a Dr. Frankenstein'ed VGA or DVI cable and connector for the PC side of things. If the rest of the machine is smoked by a lightning strike that the guy selling it on ebay DIDN'T tell you about, how long could you expect it to work? Wait a few years for the price to come down, as Win7 gains market share over XP if it doesn't end up a dud like Vista, and get a shiny new touch screen monitor with drivers and a warranty.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Dave
Theres a geek chick that has a website, I think her name is tnkgrl that obviously can't take "no" for an answer. She does some seriously cool modding to run of the mill computers, and some not so run of the mill, and does things nobody would have thought possible. Some of her work shows up on engadget and extremetech from time to time.
David
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/HPMagicGiveaway.jpg
Woohoo! I won my Touchsmart!
That girl has talent, experience, skill, and a lot of knowledge of what she is doing. She's not going on forums asking theoretical questions about things that have much easier and cheaper solutions. Someone who has those kind of talents just does it and tells others afterward about the project. Most people see it, say wow, and 99% don't want to try it. Doing one off projects like the ones she does are really not practical. They are 'PC Modding' to the extreme, and require more than the average PC skills, often adding sheet metal fabrication expertise, molding and plastics work, welding, an electrical and electronics background, HVAC for cooling the way overclocked machines, and other skill sets that support the fabrication and manufacture of the types of mods she and a small handful of others on the web have the time, knowledge, skills, money, tools, and patience to do. Most of us here are still getting used to a new machine that still has "version 1.x syndrome", and people are asking how to tear it apart and make parts of it work with a Homebuilt/Dell/E-Machine. Just my opinion, but maybe the extreme modders forums would be a better place to get that kind of info. Just as an example of the futility of this project, unless you know how to cut sheet metal, mold ABS plastic, and seamlessly strain relieve the vga in harness, your hybrid monitor is going to look like Kr@p...
What will you do if it works and you realize that you don't really like smudges on your glossy screen, and mousing is still the best way to compute? Seems like an awful lot of time wasted. Buy one from NewEgg and be done with it. Try it for 30 days, and return it if you find that you didn't really like touchy-feely computing, and you will only be out for the shipping costs. Again, just my 2 cents.
Dave
It's unclear whether the price of standalone touchscreens will come down. Monitor makers aren't exactly a fount of innovation.
I'd be delighted if they did, though.
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