The demonstration of the Windows 7 multi-touch feature was interesting but I think most users have asked themselves how likely it would be that they would be having a multi-touch LCD monitor in their homes at the time Windows 7 is released to the public. If you currently look at hardware retailers you notice that touchscreen monitors are rare and expensive. Newegg for instance lists 72 touchscreen monitors with a price range of $200 to $2000 of which one has a size greater 20″, sixteen a size between 18″ - 19″ and the other 55 a size of 17″ or less.
A 19″ touchscreen LCD monitor is not available for less than $699 at Newegg currently, that’s pretty expensive for a soon to be mainstream technology. There is still time, between 1 and 2 years, before Windows 7 will be released and this likely means that hardware manufacturers will be able to provide better and cheaper touchscreen displays.
One of the first companies was Albatron who demonstrated on this year’s Computex a 22″ touchscreen LCD display which would retail for roughly 120% of the price of a usual LCD without touchscreen feature. That surely sounds promising and a little bit surprising at the same time. It would make touchscreen LCD monitors affordable to the mass market.
The demonstration was not running on a Windows 7 system obviously at the time of the fair. It should be working fine on Windows XP and Windows Vista and this would lead to the prediction that most touchscreen features of Windows 7 will sooner or later be ported by dedicated Open-Source and freeware developers to those other two operating systems.
To answer the question. Yes they will be ready and affordable at the time Windows 7 will be released. Would you pay an additional 20% to get a touchscreen LCD monitor?
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