Windows 8 is a touchy operating system — it really works best with a tablet-like touchscreen. Keying into that, Samsung today (August 28) debuted its new Series 7 and Series 5 lines of all-in-one desktop PCs with a capacitive touchscreen. Basically, imagine that an iMac and an iPad had a baby.
The high-def (1920-by-1080-pixel) screens come in three sizes: 21.5, 23.6 and 27 inches diagonally. Each screen can recognize all ten of your fingers at once and supports gestures such as pinch to zoom. (Hopefully for Samsung the use of a square touchscreen won't provoke another Apple lawsuit. Of note: it doesn't have rounded corners.)
But that's not all. The systems can also use a built-in camera to recognize some simple gestures from up to five feet away. Among them are swiping the hand to turn pages of an ebook and rotating the palm clockwise or counterclockwise to change the volume on music or a video.
All models will sport the new Windows 8 operating system, with an interface that looks more like a tablet's than a traditional computer's. While some have criticized the funky design of Windows 8, mating it with a touchscreen (on a tablet or PC) is probably the best way to make the interface useable.
[SEE ALSO: Usability Expert: Windows 8 on PCs is Confusing, a Cognitive Burden]
The systems are well equipped with Intel "Core" processors (the i3, i5 and i7) and hard drives ranging from 500 gigabytes in the Series 5 to one terabyte (1,000GB) in the two Series 7 models.
The series 5 and 7 all-in-ones will go on sale in October 26. The 21.5-inch-screen Series 5 will sell for $749. Among the Series 7s, the 23.6-inch will sell for 1,099 and the 27-inch for $1,699.