Touchscreen Computing: Gateway ZX4931 And HP TouchSmart 310

Features
By Andrew Ku
published

Have you ever looked to a future without keyboards and mice? Today we review two PCs that not only integrate everything, including their screens, into one enclosure, but also include touchscreens. Best of all, both models sell for less than $700.

Benchmark Results: General Performance

We don't want to give you the wrong impression. The Athlon II X2 245e (TouchSmart 310) and Pentium E5800 (ZX4931) offer excellent CPU performance. Our Brazos-based system is able to close the performance gap in PCMark Vantage specifically because it's equipped with an SSD.

The dual-core E-350 APU has enough CPU power to perform basic tasks like virus scanning with ease, but it still pales in comparison to what's inside these all-in-one PCs. This fight isn't fair, though, since the SSD-equipped Brazos-based configuration can read so much faster. If you're worried about AV software slowing down an older PC or a less-powerful all-in-one, don't assume longer scan times are the result of inadequate CPU horsepower. Slow scanning performance is mostly the result of a hard drive that can't keep up.

WinRAR, a more processor-bound workload, demonstrates that our all-in-ones are, in fact, more powerful than the reference Brazos-based configuration.

The ZX4931's WiFi performance seems disappointing. Gateway could be using a 1x1 WiFi antenna configuration. If the ZX4931 uses a 2x1 Wi-Fi card, then there is a design flaw somewhere. Either way, this may be an important issue if you plan to stream videos over your network.

Andrew Ku
17 Comments Comment from the forums
  • compton
    This article was worth what I can only assume was a torturous trip to Best Buy. But curiously, I'm not thinking about all in ones, but rather touch screens. Dell makes an eIPS panel with a touch screen for not a ridiculous sum of money. I've been considering it for a foray into touch screen computing on my desktop where I have the juice to do it right.

    Toms strikes another blow against boring reviews. Good job.
    Reply
  • flong
    Interesting subject - could this really be the computer's future? I don't think that the keypad will be replaced until voice control is more mature.
    Reply
  • Voice control is not the future; it's been around forever. Until computers can think, you can't talk to them.

    In reference to the article, while desktop DIY rigs are definitely orientated to serve a central purpose, these all-in-ones are just as purpose built to serve an environment. (eg kitchen, living area)

    Make touchscreens more seamless. By seamless I mean cheap. Where is the touch screen film I can just roll over whatever I want? How about a coffee table that recognizes my devices and my Heineken?
    Reply
  • flong
    Voice control has been around forever - duh. Brilliant observation. And while we are making observations, there is at least one computer you can talk to, IBM's Watson, which won jeopardy. Quality voice control is just coming into being.

    What I meant was that until we have better voice control / input, a keypad will be necessary because typing on a vertical touchscreen, which is obviously awkward, would not suffice to do say a high school homework assignment.

    Even with better voice input there may be some physical interface like a mouse. Right now cutting edge voice control for consumers is what we find with Ford's "Sync." But that would not work for a work station.

    Touch screens like the Ipad have their strengths but nobody thinks they will replace computers with keyboards (nettops excepted).

    However, if we have a "Watson" interface where we can provide input via voice control: that is the future of computers. With Watson you could virtually ask it to do any function, search any website or dictate a spreadsheet to it. Per your example, you could ask Watson to make your coffee and then put the morning newspaper on the built-in LCD coffee table viewer, turn the AC down to 75 degrees and find out what traffic is for the morning commute and it would be cable of doing all these things with voice input only. Bill Gates's home has many of these functions without an AI interface.
    Reply
  • I hate touch screens, bringing it to the PC just annoys me, I dont want to touch my screen, do not see a use for it...

    The next step forward is voice control that works!
    Reply
  • cknobman
    This article is one of the worst I have ever seen on Toms Hardware. It seems rushed, is missing tons of relevant information, and basically skims over the most important features of a touchscreen computer.
    Reply
  • On the HP display ... is it 20" and ??? as on the lead page or is it 23" and 1600x900 as on the Display Spec page ? Because HP says it's 20" and a 1080P display for the 310 series.
    Reply
  • molo9000
    Touch screens on desktops are an ergonomical nightmare

    Just point your finger at your display for a while. Your arm will start hurting after about 2 minutes.
    Reply
  • acku
    MacTheKnifeOn the HP display ... is it 20" and ??? as on the lead page or is it 23" and 1600x900 as on the Display Spec page ? Because HP says it's 20" and a 1080P display for the 310 series.
    Fixed!
    Reply
  • acku
    cknobmanThis article is one of the worst I have ever seen on Toms Hardware. It seems rushed, is missing tons of relevant information, and basically skims over the most important features of a touchscreen computer.
    If you want to see something specifically please let us know. If there is one thing missing, it's more discussion on software/touchscreen demos, but we provided these as videos. And, as this is Tom's Hardware not Tom's software, we wanted to focus on the hardware.
    Reply