Usage
Before we get the touch-screen, there are a few other usage points to consider.
The speakers, integrated as they are, are fine for general usage, but if you want any decent sound performance, you'll have to hook up something a little better to the system. Similarly, the microphone needs 'mic boost' enabled to pickup one's voice without leaning into the mic. In this mode, however, the noise from the system internals is audible in the background.
Speaking of noise, the stock CPU heatsink was the noisiest part of the system. However, it wouldn't be possible to fit anything bigger into the case because of its height (or lack of). While not louder than any standard system, that noise is emanating from directly in front of you, rather than under the desk, so it's more apparent and audible.
Given we were working in a small space, we thought it prudent to get an idea of how hot things got. The system fan is located to draw some air over the hard drive and generally cool the system. However, seeing as it's at the bottom, it would have made sense to have it pull air in rather than expel it. There's a sheath around the CPU area to ensure the fan gets most of its air directly from the outside of the case...
The rest of the case is full of holes, including the top, so air can convect through the case with ease. Indeed, this is reflected in our temperature tests. We used a fairly primitive temperature probe from a Caltek CM1200T multimeter. At the time of testing, the probe showed a 23ºC room temperature. We ran Stress Prime for half an hour to heat things up, then took some readings.
The area just above the top vents of the monitor casing was shown to be 30ºC, as was just below. It was the PSU that got hottest, as was clear by the feel of it. The air leaving read 40ºC, while the reading when the probe was in contact with the grille was 45ºC, It's only a small fan on the PSU, and so it can't shift the heat very easily. However, it's away from the other components, so their combined heat output doesn't exacerbate the situation, meaning the PSU can still function normally. It's hot, but not too hot. Push it a bit more with a higher-end CPU and it might start to struggle, seeing as it's a 220W model.
Testing of the LCD screen, while purely subjective, showed it to be reasonable, despite being a 16.2 million colour panel. After a few minutes of gaming we saw no noticeable motion blur and there was good contrast to the image. However, the touch-screen layer has tiny translucent dots that are somewhat visible at times. Also, there's the added problem of greasy fingers. The screen will need wiping regularly. That said, without the touch-screen capabilities, the screen would be just fine for general usage and even a bit of gaming or movie viewing. Its native resolution is 1280x1024, the current sweetspot for normal-aspect LCD panels, it seems.
The touch-screen took us a bit of setting up. It doesn't auto-detect over the serial link, instead needing the drivers installing. No drivers were bundled with the chassis, but once speaking with ENlight we were provided with a driver version that worked. Based on the vendor of that driver, Elo Touchsystems, we got the latest driver, just to be safe.
The touch-screen requires calibration, whereby targets are placed on screen that the user must touch. This allows the touch pad to know where to set place the cursor when you touch it. Tapping simulates clicking, although the software allows users to configure numerous ways of configuring the behaviour of the screen.
We found the touch screen responsive, but there was an inaccuracy in its finger tracking to the right portion of the screen. Dragging the cursor from top-right to bottom-right would draw an arc with the cursor, as opposed to a straight line. The rest of the screen seemed accurate, though.
So what would we use the touch screen for? It'd make a cool media centre interface, but the screen size doesn't really warrant that, so it'd need to be coupled to a big television or projector. Beyond that, the scope for usage is more of wants than needs; we'd be happy without it, but we're sure some of you would have use for it, in which case we reckon it'll do the job just fine, providing the accuracy problem we encountered isn't a widespread issue.
