Computex 2009 Review

Other trends: Touch and Home Media

Outside of the core markets that we cover here at bit-tech, there was so much more to take in around this year’s show. Below, we’ve included some of the other things that caught our eye but didn’t make it into our comprehensive, but not exhaustive Computex news coverage.

All-in-one touch screen PCs were fairly commonplace around the show this year and while the market for them is fairly limited when you consider that most general consumers would prefer a laptop these days because of the simple fact they can stow it away, this market has moved quite a bit since CES.

Unlike many of the previous all-in-one PCs we’d seen, some of the models on show at Computex actually looked to be quite viable alternatives to a desktop PC in a children’s room, for example.

There was enough graphics horsepower on tap for some light gaming and, coupled with Windows 7’s native touch screen support and a multi-touch display, they felt intuitive and responsive enough to use. Far too many all-in-one PCs we’ve used in the past just lacked that responsiveness and felt a little clumsy in use.


Take MSI’s new Wind Top AE2220 [temporary name], which features an Intel Atom processor and a GeForce 9400M graphics chip powering a 22in multi-touch screen. We played around with some of the applications included in MSI’s software suite, which included a photo organiser that allowed you to drag and drop photos into albums and a 3D world map application that showcased the screen’s multi-touch capabilities incredibly well.

You could pan, rotate and zoom your way around the world with your fingertips and it was as intuitive to use as the Google Earth iPhone app. MSI says that the model name is subject to change, but it’s not scheduled for release until Windows 7 ships on October 22nd.

While MSI’s multi-touch demo was impressive, it was Asus’s Eee Top PC ET2203T that wowed us with its sleek lines and fine design. Asus recently said that it wants to rival (and even outclass) Apple when it comes to design and it’s clear that the ET2203T is a definite step towards that goal. Again, the interface seemed much better than the first Eee Top PCs we used at CES and there's been a definite leap forwards in usability - it remains to be seen how well products like this are adopted though.


Compro was one of a number of companies showing off digital home streaming devices – the company showed us its VideoMate Network Media Centre T1000W, which is able to play back full-HD 1080p movies, record MPEG-2 and H.264 digital TV and stream video, photos and music from your home network via either wired or wireless networking.

Moreover, there’s a SATA connector on the back, enabling you to connect an external hard drive for local storage and there’s even a built in BitTorrent client for downloading, err, legally distributed media. The GUI also incorporates an electronic programme guide and PVR functionality, enabling you to record TV shows while you’re out.

That's all for our Computex coverage this year - stay tuned for reviews on many of the products talked about in this article as soon as we can get our hands on them!