When you hear "touchscreen", you think of mobile electronics like a smartphone, a GPS device or other like items. However full-size desktop touchscreen monitors are available, have been for some time, and they’re not as expensive as most people assume they are.

You really should have Windows 7 if going with a touchscreen monitor

It’s not that XP or Vista can’t support touchscreen, because they can, but Windows 7 has the most built-in support for it. There is little to nothing concerning setup when setting up a monitor of this type in Win7. And for those of you who have never used touchscreen in Windows 7, you’ll be pleasantly surprised how easily that OS handles the technology.

Where is touchscreen best used?

Touchscreen on a PC is best used for any app that has a lot of buttons in it.

Some games for example have them all over the place be they in a sidebar or bottom bar.

Newer Microsoft Office editions with the ribbon interface are in fact very touchscreen-friendly, because it operates in a very button-like way for most functions.

Where touchscreen won’t help you out much is with web browsing as that medium is mostly text-based. Yes, you can touch links to activate them and so on, but you will get things done more efficiently with a mouse.

If your goal is an easier browsing experience, you’re better off not getting a touchscreen monitor. Get a better regular monitor and/or a better mouse instead. On the mouse side of things, if you really have a problem getting the pointer where you want it to go, try a big-ball mouse. Expensive, yes, but for many it’s totally worth it.

How much?

On the low end, a touchscreen monitor starts at $260 for a 21.5-inch monitor, which in all honesty is not that bad of a price considering what it is. The only problem however is that it has a native 1920×1080 resolution, which for many renders text much too small to read. Remember, it’s a 21-inch.

A 23-inch version is $310. Worth the extra 50 bucks? Yes. It’s the same native resolution as the 21.5-inch with 1.5 inches more physical space on the diagonal. That may not sound like a lot, but believe me, it’s a world of difference.

Final notes

There’s basically three things about touchscreen monitors that are important to know if considering getting one.

First, it’s typically true that they sit squat on a desk, meaning not raised like a traditional LCD monitor mount. This is by design so you can reach it easier to touch.

Second, most touchscreen monitors are super-glossy, meaning the screen can produce glare easily. If you place the monitor next to a window for example, that’s probably not such a good idea.

Third, touchscreen monitors are significantly heavier compared to non-touchscreen. The 23-inch mentioned above is almost 18 pounds. A comparable 23-inch non-touchscreen is less than 11 pounds.

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