are touch screen monitors worth it free sample

The best touchscreen monitors can offer advantages for certain workflows. Whether it’s for creative use or to improve general productivity tasks, the best touchscreen displays can make navigating certain programs more intuitive and more precise, particularly for tasks like making a selection in an image.

They can deliver a seamless, responsive experience that feels like writing with a pen on paper, and an immediacy that you don"t get with even the best mice to the best keyboards. But while touch screens now abound in phones and tablet, most monitors don"t offer touch. There are some excellent touch displays out there, however.

Below, we"ve made our pick of the best touchscreen monitors after evaluating a range of options for their accuracy and responsiveness, design, extra features and price. From regular-sized displays ideal for a desktop PC to portable monitors for those on the road, these are the best touchscreen monitors we"ve found.

If you prefer a more traditional monitor, possibly with a higher resolution, check out guides to the best monitors for photo editing and the best 4K monitors. If accurate colours are important to you, whether you’re a photographer or video editor, you might want to invest in one of the best monitor calibrator tools.

With so many options on the market, our choice of the best touchscreen monitors comes down to the details. And detail is something that Dell"s P2418HT monitor does brilliantly. This 1080p monitor on a 23.8-inch panel boasts an LCD screen to deliver excellent resolution, contrast, and colour. Moreover, it boasts an anti-glare surface that works beautifully in distracting light conditions as well as ultra-thin bezels that give it a stylish flair and you more screen real estate.

Looking for a cheap touchscreen monitor from a reputable brand? The 21.5in Dell P2219H IPS monitor is available at a brilliant price, and it still does an impressive job, making it one of the best touchscreen monitors available for those on a tighter budget.

While creative professionals usually go for larger screens, there’s definitely a place for portable monitors in content creation. Nomadic users in particular can benefit from a portable monitor that’s designed specifically with video editors, designers, and music producers in mind.

The ProArt Display PA148CTV is something of a rarity in the sea of portable monitors with its robust set of features targeted towards creatives. They include the Asus Dial, a physical dial that you can use to make effortless adjustments to your project whether you’re in Lightroom, Premiere Pro, or Photoshop. There’s also the Virtual Control Panel function, which allows you to use the display itself as your touchscreen control panel, simplifying your workflow.

The ViewSonic TD2230 is small, light and portable touchscreen monitor, making it perfect for anyone with limited desk space and/or who needs to travel with their screen. The 22in, Full HD, IPS display offers beautifully sharp image quality and high visual accuracy. The screen is also scratch-poof, and the bookstand design allows it to be tilted and adjusted from 20 to 70 degrees, or rested flat.

The connection ports are all on the side of the monitor, offering easy access. You get HDMI, DisplayPort and VGA and USB connectivity. The monitor offers low power consumption – great for both your pocket and the planet. The colours are a little dull, but overall this is an excellent buy for anyone looking for a portable touchscreen monitor.

The Viewsonic TD1655 is another small, portable option from Viewsonic, and one that comes with a budget price. The 15.6-inch monitor offers 1080p resolution, which is more than enough for a panel this size. It is a little light on special features, but it delivers where it counts.

The Philips 242B9T is another good touchscreen monitor. It might not be the most stylish looking touch monitor but it has an awful lot to offer. For a start, it comes with built-in 2W speakers. Also, you can connect it to a wide range of devices via HDMI, DVI, VGA and DisplayPort.

The Asus VT229H comes with many features you’ll find on most touchscreen monitors, including 10-point multi-touch capacity, 178/178 viewing angles, flicker-free backlighting, and blue light filter to make it easy on the eyes. However, it also boasts a few extras you won’t find on rival displays, and these help make your workflow more seamless.

Want a larger touchscreen monitor? Most touchscreen monitors tend to be on the smaller side, but this 27in offering from Planar offers a relatively large IPS LED-backlit display. While Full HD is a little thin for a 27in display, the screen offers dependable color accuracy and contrast that won"t shift depending on where you"re looking.

It"s a versatile monitor too, with a built-in HD webcam and microphone, making it great for home office working and video conferencing. It boasts 10-point capacitive multi-touch and an ergonomic stand that can take the display from completely flat to a 70-degree tilt.Is it worth buying a touchscreen monitor?If you’ve ever used a touchscreen laptop and wished you could do the same at your desk, then the slightly higher price of a touchscreen monitor over its non-touch counterpart is well worth it. After all, there’s no other way to get that kind of nuanced control when navigating various windows and apps. For example, if you want to translate handwriting to text or draw directly on the screen using your finger, one of these panels is the way to do it. And, instead of having to use keyboard shortcuts to carry out a command, you can perform the actual action directly on the screen.

But, you won’t be holding a touchscreen display the way you would a tablet or smartphone. So, consider whether you’re comfortable using your fingers to navigate a screen that’s sitting at eye level for long periods.What are the disadvantages of a touchscreen monitor?There are some drawbacks to using a touchscreen monitor. For example, holding your arm up to interact with a touchscreen throughout a day’s worth of work will get tiring no matter how strong you are. And, you’ll have to clean that screen regularly. Otherwise, that buildup of smudges and fingerprints can get in the way of seeing it properly.

Most importantly, however, touchscreen displays are more likely to experience some kind of damage. This is because there’s much more going on under the hood than with non-touch monitors. And, when something goes wrong, it will cost more to fix due to the more complicated design of these panels.What is a 10-point touchscreen?A 10-point touchscreen can register 10 distinct points of contact all at once. Not all touchscreen devices and displays utilise this technology. But, having it makes a huge difference in the accuracy of your taps, swipes, and various gestures. With one or two-point touchscreens, any accidental contact like the edge of your palm grazing the screen could confuse the interface and register a tap where it shouldn’t be. Utilising a 10 point touchscreen largely eliminates that kind of accidental interaction. And, it also allows for more complex interactions like typing directly on the screen.Can I use a touch screen monitor with any computer?Yes, you can use a touch-sensitive screen with any PC, or even a laptop. provided it has the right ports to connect with your machine. Check what ports your device has, but most touchscreen monitors will have several, including USB and HDMI.

But there"s another important feature that doesn"t get enough attention: touch sampling rate. This article will discuss what touch sampling rate is, why it matters, and how it differs from refresh rate.

Touch sampling rate (sometimes referred to as response rate) is the frequency at which your phone"s display reads your input. In other words, it"s the number of times the display registers your touch. The faster the touch sampling rate, the more sensitive the display.

This increased sensitivity allows the screen to minimize gaps when reading your touch input, so it can respond more accurately and give a smoother experience. This is particularly useful for mobile gaming since a delay of a few milliseconds can sometimes be the difference between winning and losing.

As of February 2022, the phone with the highest touch sampling rate is the Legion Phone Duel 2 with 720Hz. While that"s impressive, we"ve already heard rumors about the iQOO Neo5 set to launch with a 1000Hz touch sampling rate display.

On average, smartphones have anywhere around 120Hz–300Hz touch sampling rate. For an average user, 120Hz is enough for daily use. But for power users and gamers (especially those who play competitively), that might not do.

While touch sampling rate means how fast the screen reads your input, refresh rate means how fast it shows the changing pixels. The former is about sensitivity; the latter is about simulating motion. The faster the refresh rate, the more fluid the animations on the screen appear.

Today, a refresh rate of at least 90Hz is common for mid-range and even some budget phones, while flagships and gaming phones usually come with a 120Hz refresh rate. The difference between 60Hz and 90Hz feels more prominent than the difference between 90Hz and 120Hz.

Unlike touch sampling rate, refresh rate is an immediately apparent feature that users can see. Because of this, it makes for better marketing material for companies. Hence, a higher refresh rate is more common than a higher touch sampling rate.

There are currently 20+ phones with a refresh rate of 144Hz, including the ASUS ROG Phone 3 and the Xiaomi Mi 10T, and 150+ phones with 120Hz, including the Huawei P50 Pro, OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro, and the Samsung Galaxy S21 range. Unless you"re a gamer or power user, a refresh rate of 90Hz should be good enough for daily use. But after 120Hz, the difference in refresh rate is not as noticeable and therefore starts to become redundant.

Modern smartphones are already packed with good specs, so it"s rare that you"ll ever face issues with either touch sampling or refresh rate. That said, a higher refresh rate is still a better deal for most people because it makes your phone feel faster by enhancing visual animations.

Although important, a higher touch sampling rate is not immediately apparent. For gaming, both the features work cooperatively to deliver a smooth experience. A high refresh rate without a high touch sampling rate will make it feel like your phone is lagging—interrupting the gaming experience.

For an all-around experience, you want a phone with at least a 90Hz refresh rate and a 240Hz touch sampling rate. This will ensure that your phone works well no matter the task you"re doing.

All of a sudden, it seems like there are touch screen PCs everywhere. I"ve even seen monitors and all-in-one desktops touting their "built for touch" features. While I like the touch screen on my tablet, I"m not sure what the point is on a laptop or desktop. What advantages do these new touch screen PCs really offer?

Depending on whom you talk to, touch screen computers are either the natural evolution of the PC or the dumbest idea ever. (On one side you have Microsoft and Intel touting the latest Windows 8 touch screen PCs and on the other you have people quoting Apple"s Steve Jobs and Tim Cook about

Well, no one, really. As with deciding on any other computer feature—for example, display size or processor—choosing to have a touch screen or not is a matter of preference and your needs.

Tapping and swiping on a touch screen, on the other hand, is more intuitive, since you"re interacting directly and immediately with the elements on the screen. If you use trackpad multi-touch gestures or have used a tablet or smartphone, working with a PC touch screen feels just as natural and fluid. Photo by

One of the earliest criticisms about touch screen PCs is that programs and desktop windows are hard to use with touch. The close button, scrollbars, and other navigational elements are small and hard to accurately hit. Windows 8 has changed that to a big extent, with things like the Explorer ribbon creating a more touch-optimized interface in desktop mode and, of course, its new full screen apps. Desktop programs like Microsoft Office are even pretty touch-friendly. And with those that aren"t, you can easily zoom in and use gestures to make working with a Windows 8 touch screen PC at least as easy as using a tablet (or you could use a stylus and tap very accurately on the screen).

More smears on your screen: Greasy, scummy smears are the bane of every smartphone and tablet user. It"s no different when you"re constantly touching a PC screen. Getting out the microfiber cloth more often is a hassle, but for most of us this alone isn"t a deal-breaker.

If you"re continually holding up your arm to point at a vertical display, sure that"s going to hurt. However, the truth is you"re probably not going to be perpetually holding up your arm. If you"re using a touch screen desktop PC or monitor, you might tap and swipe, then switch to the keyboard and mouse, and back. Touch screen laptops and hybrid tablet/laptops (with screens that can detach from the keyboard or swivel into tablet mode) can be positioned closer and at angles that are more comfortable, which makes this whole "Gorilla arm" argument moot, as

Added thickness: Touch screen panels are usually thicker than non-touch ones—especially if the touch panel has an active digitizer for pen support. two pounds and is a bit over a half an inch thick.)

Cost: Finally, the biggest disadvantage of touch screen PCs is the added cost. Touch screen PCs cost more than their non-touch counterparts. The difference can be between $100 to $200, with pen-enabled touch screens costing the most.

There"s been a lot of backlash in the media about these newer touch screen PCs and how they"re doomed to failure. However, most of that really isn"t about touch as a user interface at all, but rather Windows 8

Keep in mind that the touch screen is really just another way to interact with your PC. You still have your keyboard and your mouse (or trackpad) when you want them and can use the touch screen as little or as much as you want. (After using a touch screen for a while, though, you may find yourself attempting to tap and swipe any non-touch displays you come into contact with.)

If the added cost of the touch screen and the possible battery life hit don"t matter much to you, you don"t have anything to lose—and you might very well enjoy that touch screen as much as you do the one on your tablet.

As the world returns to the office — at least in some capacity — one of the biggest concerns that companies have is ensuring that a given work set-up keeps employees safe, connected, happy, and effective at doing their work. What an office setting will look like will vary greatly, however, it is becoming more and more accepted that work is not a place you go, it"s a thing that you do. And as such the work-from-anywhere environment will become increasingly more common.

Because of this, touchscreen displays will play an important role in allowing digital collaboration between hybrid teams to continue in a seamless way. Up until a few years ago, touchscreens were clunky devices that were too complex and difficult to use. But improvements in the accuracy of the touch interface have enhanced the user experience greatly. You can now use them with the familiarity of your personal touch devices.

There are a number of great reasons for using digital devices in your sessions, but choosing which touchscreen display to get is not that straightforward. The touchscreen display market is becoming increasingly crowded with many different brands, screen technologies, sizes, and extras to choose from. And more importantly also the space, software, methods, and people need to be taken into account before such an investment is made.

For a smooth MURAL experience we recommend using a good graphics card and at least 8GB of RAM (but preferably 16GB of RAM). This will make sure the touch experience is smooth.

Try quick drawing and moving sticky notes in MURAL to see how the latency (delay) of the screen is. The less latency the better, as we’ve seen screens not being used because of their high latency.

By asking yourself each of the questions below, you can make sure that you are making an investment in a touchscreen display that will allow your hybrid, remote, and in-person teams to collaborate effectively.

Start with the question: what is the main purpose and use case for this touchscreen display? Too often we have seen touchscreens collecting dust because the purpose for using it wasn’t clear from the beginning.

Work here is often done in break-out groups of five to eight people where they will work on one screen to solve a problem using a variety of techniques. This set-up is very flexible and groups are often moved around different areas of the space. Touch experience, multi-touch (allows multiple people to work on the screen at the same time) and movability of the device are very important here. The screen size can also be a bit smaller. For instance, you can even do breakout group work on a 27” touchscreen monitor set up on a hightop table.

In a presentation room a presenter conducts a speech or presentation before an audience of attendees. This can be the plenary section of a workshop or a presentation on itself.

The only person interacting with the screen will be a presenter or facilitator, to display their presentation, synthesize work and make annotations. The larger the screen the better here. Sometimes it is even connected to a large projector for bigger groups. Multi-touch experience is not crucial. And the screen might be in a fixed position.

The purpose of meeting rooms is often to make decisions (on budgets or project plans for example). These meetings are typically short (max. one hour), attendees work standing up or sitting down, and include 2 to 8 people.

Touchscreen displays typically come in screen diameters of 55”, 65”, 75” and 85”. But also 27” touchscreen monitors such as the Microsoft Surface Studio could work well.

If we bring this back to the use cases mentioned earlier, break-out sessions in innovation labs are often best served by a 55-65” screen, but the 27” Microsoft Surface Studio on top of a high table works just as well. For presentation rooms you would almost always need to go for the largest screen size, or even connect it to a projector with a larger screen size. And meeting rooms could best use a 55-75” screen, depending on the size of the room.

We’ve seen large touchscreen displays mounted to a wall in a meeting room where it was just being used for screen sharing like a normal TV screen. You want to avoid that.

The advantage of having the screen on a rolling stand is that its users will be able to work in the best places to support whatever task is at hand. It allows people to be more agile and creative. Which is essential for teams in innovation labs. But it can also provide more flexibility to meeting and presentation rooms, as you are likely not going to equip every single room with a touchscreen display.

Reasons for why touchscreen displays are fixed to a wall are because of saving space and aesthetics. But also IT might not want to have expensive equipment moving around. And the extra cost of a rolling stand might weigh in sometimes too.

Next to a big screen on a rolling stand, a smart projector like Adok is an interesting solution to provide a touch ‘screen’ in a portable format, that can be set up anywhere.

The adoption of any tool is driven by its ease of use. When something works well its use is seamless to the user, reducing the need for training and support. But next to ease of use, also security is an essential aspect of a device that is commonly placed in shared office spaces.

Built in PCs can run on Windows 10, but regularly run on an OS (Operating System) specific to the manufacturer (based on Android). These PCs are often very entry-level and just powerful enough for basic software.

Built-in PCs as well as OPS PCs can run on both PC/Desktop Mode or Kiosk Mode. PC/Desktop mode is mainly used in individual offices or secured rooms, because all the settings and files on the PC are freely accessible.

Kiosk mode on the other hand prevents users from seeing the desktop, and just displays a, by the admin configurable, dashboard with the features the user needs for their session creating a one-click meeting space.

Microsoft has developed a specific Windows 10 version for their Surface Hub device that essentially provides a kiosk mode. UC Workspace and Kickle are two examples of software that aim to provide this type of control to any other device type.

OPS PC’s are shipped with every Operating System PC’s can have and are usually the norm for corporate clients, for example to run Windows 10 that is standard across other devices. Next to that these PCs are added to have more power in order to run more advanced software and have a better touch experience. Just like built-in PCs these can be set up both in PC/Desktop or Kiosk mode.

This is a new concept for touchscreen displays that is gaining popularity recently. Here the display is basically just an empty screen without any operating system. You just connect your own device to make use of the screen. It’s plug & play to project your device’s display on the big screen and use its touchscreen to control. This has two advantages. No worries for IT because there is nothing to secure on the touchscreen display. And ease of use for the user because they know very well how to operate their personal device.

The Microsoft Windows Collaboration Displays developed by Avocor and Sharp are great examples of this. But you can essentially connect your personal device to any touchscreen display. You can for example connect your device running Windows 10 to a Samsung Flip (that has an Android based OS) to run the apps you need.

To make a choice between these three modes it is important to review the use case, which OS is needed for the software users use and IT security guidelines.

In today"s connected and global world it is hard to imagine situations where a feature like video conferencing will never be used. So the final consideration is what video conferencing hardware like a webcam, microphone and speakers need to be included with the display.

Some touchscreen displays come with webcam and microphone integrated. Others are easily upgradeable with a camera plus microphone such as the Huddly. Both of these options work great when collaborating with a smaller team close to the screen.