Window – Touch Screen Monitor Review: WinTouch 18.5″ TouchScreen Kit

Although there are many that might contest this statement, touchscreen technology on the PC and mobile alike, is indeed the future. With the new Metro interface in Windows 8, touch becomes even more important than ever before.

Although MS has worked to make Metro capable of working just fine with the keyboard and mouse, why not get the most out of Windows and use its intended input method, touch?

For many of us though, we have already (possibly recently) invested in highly capable laptops and monitors, making moving to touch seemingly impossible.

What if you could keep your existing laptop or monitor, and just 'add-on' touch? That's exactly what the WinTouch 18.5” Touch Kit is all about.

If you don't exactly have as big as an 18.5” monitor, don't worry this will still work just fine, it just may not be the prettiest solution (as it will likely hang over). Installation isn't that difficult, but due to horribly translated instructions you will need to mess around a bit with the software to figure out how to calibrate it for screens that aren't 18.5” in size.

Essentially this touch-solution uses velcro to stick over your existing monitor, and has USB technology to communicate with your PC.

Again, this isn't a pretty solution but for those that are in a field where touch is necessary, such as creating some kind of kiosk, this is a decent solution that will last you until you are ready to buy a new PC or monitor down the road.

So how well does it actually work? It should work fine with any existing resolution that your monitor is capable with, and includes both a stylus and the ability to recognize hand-touch. That being said, it isn't perfect. Generally it is at least of moderate sensitivity but I wouldn't call it perfect, still better than most resistive screens at the least.

For those who have a PC, is this really worth it? Considering you could probably get a dedicated touch-monitor for only $100-$150 more, I'll leave that up to you.

For those that already have laptops that are only a year or less old, you likely don't want to purchase a new machine yet and this solution might tide you over until you can afford something better.

Additionally, touch laptops are going have a premium price tag and so adding this solution to your current laptop is a good way to see if you really will use touch enough to merit and brand new laptop that has a built-in touch screen.

WinTouch isn't for everyone, and as a word of caution the bezel is awfully thick, so thick that it might block out part of your start bar on certain resolutions. This is a pain, but not a problem for all monitors just ones that have extraordinarily small bezels.

At $199.99, again this might not be for everyone, but if you wish to add touch to your monitor or laptop for whatever your reason, this is about as cheap as you are going to get unless you purchase a pre-owned touch monitor solution.

The WinTouch kit is available from Amazon for $199.99.

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