6
votes
Looking for a touchscreen desktop computer solution
Hi, I'm looking for a touchscreen desktop computer solution that is in the affordable range and capable of running Windows or Linux. Whether that is a touchscreen monitor and a standalone computer, or an all in one solution, do you guys have any recommendations? It will be used to run a marine charting program on a boat.
Surface Pros are pretty cheap, and they are good touch screens.
I think this is a solid choice. Designed for touch and also lowish power usage.
Does the program you're planning on running include a mobile app version? If so a large tablet could fit your needs. I don't know much about marine charting software, but I see a couple of the more popular options have mobile clients.
Yea unfortunately the app version isn't highly regarded. And I also want to get a bigger screen than a typical tablet. But it doesn't seem like there are many options for a desktop touchscreen.
It's expensive...but also you apparently have a boat so these tablets might work:
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16
or
Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED
I think that's about as big as you can get tablet wise, the folding may not be the best feature for maritime environments though.
They both run Windows.
do you need every screen to be a touchscreen? on my desktop at home I have 1 pen/touch monitor and the rest don't take any touch input at all. If you're ok with 1 smaller screen that's touch and 1-2 bigger screens that aren't, it'll be a lot more affordable
Someone in my friend circle recently approached me with questions about Raspberry PIs. He is planning to make the thing you’re describing using a Pi. I haven’t looked into it, but I’m 99% sure there will be a community out there that has already built it. My friend said all protocols used by the sensors are pretty standardized and it would be trivial to tie everything together. Again, I haven’t researched it and it seems wild to me anything in that space would be standardized, but who am I to doubt him. With my experience using Pi for all kinds of applications, I definitely think the hardware will be more than capable of running the software and supporting the additional hardware.
Just curious how rugged you need the screen to be and whats the minimum size you're thinking of. Just based on my few rough sea experiences, can't imagine a large and thin piece of tech would fair too well. Maybe you could check a few auction or salvage markets for second hand Xenarc or TrueVu displays. They are built pretty sturdy and might come with the recess mount and protective adapters.
It will be indoors so I'm not overly worried about it being exposed to the elements so much. I'll check out those displays, thanks!
I used a general dynamics gd6000 laptop for charting which had a touch screen and built in GPS.