HP unveils multi-touch consumer tablet PC

Apple may have popularized multi-touch screens with the introduction of its iPhone smartphone back in 2007, but the technology is just now getting a foothold in notebooks and desktops. One of the main proponents in these segments has been HP, which introduced the TouchSmart all-in-one media PC earlier this year and today is touting a new touch friendly model in the form of a tablet called the TouchSmart tx2.



While Apple’s MacBook line enables multi-touch gestures on the trackpad, the new HP Touchsmart tx2 actually lets you enjoy such functionality right on the 12.1-inch screen – whether or not this is in fact useful rather than just a nice perk remains to be seen.

It should be noted that Dell actually beat HP to the punch when it introduced multi-touch on its Latitude XT tablet back in July, but the technology was essentially limited to scrolling and zooming functions, whereas the tx2 will come with HP’s own MediaSmart software which adds a few more gestures to the mix.

Specs for the HP TouchSmart tx2 include an array of AMD Turion X2 processors, up to 8GB of DDR2 RAM, hard drives up to 400GB, and an optional ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics card. The tablet can be ordered immediately with prices starting at $1,150 and it will begin shipping in late November.

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