Touch Notebooks to take centrestage in later half of 2009

Manufacturers are looking to leverage touch friendly Window 7 OS

Touch sensitive screen

Digitimes recently reported that Taiwanese computer manufacturers are shifting their focus to add touch-based Notebooks to the basket of offerings. These Notebooks will be running Windows 7 operating system which is still in its testing phase and is due for an official release later this year. Microsoft alleges that Windows 7 will be more touch-friendly than previous versions of the Windows operating system and will also support multi-touch gestures (like pinching as in the case of I-Phone).

It is rumored that Wistron and Quanta are planning on releasing notebooks that would use infrared optical touch screens, while ASUS and Acer would be using projective capacitive touch and resistive touch panels. The former technology (optical touch) will be used in Notebooks shaving a size of 15-inches or more as it would add to the frame thickness but will be relatively cost effective than the use of an LCD panel on the Notebook. The resistive and projective capacitive touch panels are bound to be more expensive as they offer a lower-profile and can support a frameless design.

These Notebooks are rumored to make an appearance in the later half of 2009 as they are still in the development phase. Moreover, the Operating system to be used on these systems i.e. Windows 7 will also be released later this year.