With the Touch Pen for Windows 8, Targus has found a way to welcome old laptops
to the touchscreen party.
The pen enables touch input on Windows 8 laptops that
don’t have touchscreens. Users must clip a small receiver to the side of the
laptop, then perform a one-time calibration to tell the device where the edges
of the screen are located. After that, the pen can be used like a finger for
tapping, scrolling or drawing on the screen.
The pen itself has a soft, almost brush-like bristle
that’s designed not to harm the laptop’s display, and it can attach to a magnet
on the receiver for storage when it’s not in use. It supports screen sizes up
to 17 inches.
The Touch Pen had some issues in a brief demo. When
scrolling across the Start screen, the system would occasionally fail to detect
the entire pen stroke, which in turn caused Windows 8 to register a tap and
accidentally open unwanted applications. And while the pen does detect the
Windows 8 charms bar gesture, in which you swipe from the right edge of the
screen to bring up a set of options, getting this gesture to activate usually
took me a few tries.
Targus has some time to work out the kinks — it’s
planning to launch the Touch Pen in the second quarter of this year — but at a
price of $100, new PC buyers shouldn’t think of this as a cheaper alternative
to a proper touchscreen laptop. The Touch Pen may be a good solution for older
machines, but only if Targus can improve the gesture recognition and touch
responsiveness before launch.
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