Hi Tom,
>>
We're going to be purchasing a number of touchscreens as the basis of a
bank of reusable hardware, to the deployed across our exhibitions as and
when. Ideally they'll be reasonable size, HD, and multi-touch. (I'm
future-proofing to a certain degree).
I've been looking at the HP 2310ti and was wondering if:
a) anyone's used this on the floor and how it held up
b) if anyone has a model(s) they'd heartily recommend using
c) if anyone has a model(s) they'd strongly suggest that we avoid
>>
I haven't used this model before, but looking at
the spec it looks good value for money and HP are usually a solid manufacturer.
Having said that this is not a "standard" choice for a number of reasons.
1) You haven't said what kind of housing you're
going to put the screens into. The HP screen
comes with a plastic case. Usually for a museum
exhibition you'd buy "chassis mounted" screens
which just have a metal frame which is easy to
put in a custom housing. The HP screen maybe easy
to retrofit, but it also might not... The other
really big issue is whether you can get
replacement screens of exactly the same size. So
when one breaks you can fit another without
changing the housing. I did a project recently
and the only screens the manufacturer would
commit to making in 5 years time were 19" 1280 x
1024 size screens. However, you would think this will soon change.
2) The HP screen uses "optical technology" for
the touchscreen. I presume this means a touch
sensitive membrane which when touched disrupts
the flow of light. Usually in museums we use
either Surface Acoustic Wave or Capacitative
screens (used by the iphone) which don't have any
kind of membrane. These have proved themselves
reliable. I'm a little concerned about this
"optical technology" system because there's
another type of screen which uses a membrane
called a "resistive" touchscreen. These are found
on cheap smartphones and often aren't great for
visitors because you need too push the screen too
hard. I would definitely advise trying the
optical touchscreen before buying several of them
and ideally put one on gallery for a few months
to see if it can take a lot of use.
This is interesting because touchscreens are now
moving out of the "industrial OEM" space to the
consumer space which means you get more for your
money but we don't have much experience with the
technologies used so can't really say how they
are in the long term. A good manufacturer of OEM
touchscreens is ELO (www.elotouch.com). Expect to
pay around £450 for a 19" SAW screen.
My other top tip for touchscreens is make sure
you buy a spare or get your housing builders to
supply a "blank" screen cover which fits in the
same space as the screen. That way, when one
breaks you'll be able to take it out to be fixed without leaving a hole.
If you do go ahead with this then do let us know how you get on.
Cheers
Joe
Joe Cutting
Digital exhibits and installations
www.joecutting.com
35 Hospital Fields Road, York, YO10 4DZ
01904 624681
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