Touch Screen Monitors

Technology that makes your monitor more functional

Touch-screen computer monitors consist of sheets of clear plastic with sensors behind them that detect when pressure is applied through your fingertips or other devices. Consumers looking for new and functional technology need not look any further. Touch-screen technology eliminates the mouse functions and enables quick applications. And since the screens are plastic, they’re also highly durable. So unless there’s a serious crack in the screen, they should continue to function without any problems. This technology has been made for a number of monitor types, including LCD and CRTs.

Touch-screen technology works in three ways - capacitive, resistive and surface acoustic wave. A capacitive system stores an electric charge on the glass surface of the screen. When the person using the monitor touches the screen, some of the charge is transferred to them. The computer figures out where the user touched the screen and passes that information on to the touch screen’s software. A resistive system is a glass screen with two metallic layers. An electric current, which runs between the two layers, connects to the portion of the screen that is touched by the user. That action is translated for the computer so that the command can be carried out. With a surface acoustic wave system, the monitor uses two transducers which send and receive an electric signal from a reflector on the monitor’s glass screen. The transducer that receives the electrical signal locates the area of the screen that has been touched.

Touch screens have been used for a number of years in the business world. You can hardly go anywhere without seeing one in use: on an ATM, at a restaurant, in a grocery store or at your office. Schools and workplaces have begun using them to make presentations, because it’s quicker to simply touch the screen than to use a mouse. But for those who still enjoy using a mouse, there are programs that allow touch screens to work simultaneously with one.

Aside from built-in touch-screen technology, you can also purchase an add-on touch screen. It fits onto most screens, including LCDs, CRTs, notebooks and plasmas. The price will vary, depending on the type of monitor you’re attaching it to. Add-ons for CRTs or LCDs may only cost you somewhere in the neighborhood of US$150 while a plasma add-on will be in the range of US$3,000.