Toshiba Demos Dual-Touchscreen Netbook 132
Lanxon writes "Toshiba has announced a trio of new devices that it's hoping will shake up the somewhat stagnant notebook PC market. The most interesting is the Libretto W100 — a clamshell device that comes with two screens in place of a screen and a keyboard. Both screens are identical, measuring 7-inches diagonally, and are touch-sensitive. An onboard accelerometer allows you to use it in landscape or portrait configuration, and Toshiba's pre-loaded a boatload of specialist software that'll let you get the most from the device — including a range of virtual keyboards. It runs Windows 7, is powered by an Intel U5400 processor, and comes with 2GB of DDR3 RAM, a 62GB SSD, and the usual array of connectivity options, including 3G."
Re:Windows 7 (Score:3, Informative)
Windows 7 is touch-enabled out of the box, and the interface is far more suited to touch than the older one, with the large task buttons etc. Leave it to Slashdot to be out of touch (har har).
Re:Windows 7 (Score:1, Informative)
Touch interface with a non-touch OS GUI. I don't think this is gonna fly, fellas.
I'm not sure what this even means, nor why it was modded +Insightful.
The OS has a GUI, yes. The physical device has a touch sensitive display, yes. I'm sorry you didn't even bother to RTFS, so here let me highlight this gem for you:
Toshiba's pre-loaded a boatload of specialist software that'll let you get the most from the device
Re:Windows 7 (Score:3, Informative)
How far back in the past are you willing to reach?
- Palm
- PenPoint
- NewtonOS
- Momenta
- GRiD's PenDOS
All sadly gone (I especially miss PenPoint)
Re:Find a better input device than a virtual keybo (Score:3, Informative)
QWERTY doesn't cause RSI. Using a keyboard badly, or the wrong kind of keyboard, causes RSI - as well as carrying on when something hurts.
QWERTY was supposedly designed to slow down typists (though finding *definitive* references to that reasoning is tricky). However, it doesn't mean that it's any more difficult to type on once you've been trained. As always, a 100wpm typist could jam up any typewriter anyway, and even in the computer age QWERTY doesn't slow a professional typist down (The Dvorak stuff is dubious - check any sources for their actual data / reasoning because often it stems from Dvorak-performed research and there is other, independent, research that suggests it's no different to QWERTY once you've used both for a while).
And few other input devices are used by approximately 100's of millions of users yet, and yet dozens if not hundreds of alternate input devices have existed for decades. Sticking one into a product you want to sell as anything other than an option is a REALLY bad idea, commercially speaking. The Wii was a toy used specifically to be general purpose and work well in lots of physical-simulation activities. The keyboard is *still* the best input device in terms of ubiquity, security, speed, accuracy and time-to-learn in a modern "real-world" environment. And for your argument to work, you'd have to do about 10 years of study into the others to determine if they make RSI incidences worse when you use them every day for 8 hours a day. Alternative inputs are fine for occasional use but after a while, they will make anybody tire.
Re:Find a better input device than a virtual keybo (Score:3, Informative)
Because that's a myth. QWERTY was the fastest design that was come up with based on the limitations of the existing hardware of the time. The funny key layout? That's to spread apart the commonly-used hammers so they wouldn't jam on the typewriter.
Re:Windows 7 (Score:3, Informative)
Battery: 5-6 hours
Weight: 2 pounds
Heat: None
Rotating fan: None
Windows 7 words great with a touchscreen.
-signed
Someone who uses it on a regular basis.
PS, if you have a touch screen and use the built in flicks at all, you really really should try out this app. http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=84092 [eeeuser.com] It takes the default flicks and blows them away.