Will the Toughbook ever get Multitouch Touchscreens?

Just posing this question as I was using my CF-30 and my brother inlaw came up. I wanted to show him some pictures I had just taken so I switched to those. The first one opened up minimized and he reached out and tried to do the whole pinch/pull apart thing with his fingers (He's an Ipod touch owner). He asked why the touchscreens aren't multitouch? I had no answer. Would Panasonic ever integrate something like the Ipod's screen into a Toughbook? or are those screens limited by size? and would it really be useful or just a gimmick?

 

I had wondered if Windows 7 would add this functionality?

 

I'm also interested in this. Size should not be a problem - Lenovo has started making Thinkpads with multi-touch displays.

Potential obstacles I can see: Panasonic likes to advertise that Toughbooks can be used with gloves, but multi-touch screens seem to be capacitive, which does not work with gloves. Maybe there is a workaround for that.
Also, so far capacitive touchscreens are less precise. With Toughbooks likely often being used with tailor-made software, I could imagine big customers being unhappy when their applications cannot be operated like before.

 

Well...

Just a note - ALL touchscreens are capacitive, as are all TouchPad pointing devices. NONE are thermal. You CAN use ANY Touchscreen with gloves; the issue is precision, not whether it will work.

Those of you who are hoping a simple software upgrade will add this functionality, I'm sorry - NO. MultiTouch relies on the latest 4th generation touchscreen hardware, which actually has 3 or 4 layers of capacitive sensor grid as opposed to previous technology which applied only 2 layers.

Some computers ARE Shipping now with compatible panels; the technology was originally developed to provide more accuracy and permit resting one's hand on the surface while writing. However, the latest tech is a combination of BOTH - TouchScreen AND Digitizer - which is REALLY a kick-@ss solution once you see it. Combine that with the high-resolution TouchScreen panels Apple is famous for, and you might very soon see a laptop that can actually do away with the hardware keyboard for good.

Of course, I'm still waiting for someone to integrate one of those Laser-Scan projected keyboards into SOMETHING...

mnem
More cowbell!

 

Hmm... yes, they are not thermal, but there is a distinctive difference between resistive touchscreens, which react to physical pressure that makes metallic layers within the screen connect, and capacitive touchscreens, which have a current running over the surface and then notice the changes in the current when it starts flowing through a finger in contact with the screen (but they won't notice a non-conducive object touching the screen).

That being said, it seems there are resistive multi-touch screens available now, too.

 

Well... in preproduction testing, YES. I was talking about being delivered in actual laptops you can buy NOW...

Resistive touchscreens ARE in production now; they are the oldest of touchscreen technologies (see ILO). But they have a REALLY nasty screen... poor contrast, they taint the coloration of the screen underneath, and the separating layer creates visual "goosebumps" artifacting similar to the skin of a plucked chicken which I always DESPISED. I really do believe it is legacy technology; but there's always someone trying to find a different way to do things.

The plus side of multilayer resistive will be the possibility of pressure sensitivity; but the issue there has always been one of uniformity of resolution across the screen. It's a bugbear they've been chasing for almost 2 decades. I suspect that with the recent precipitous fall of digitizer prices, the dual-mode units will still outshine the "new" resistive technology for some time to come.

mnem
Why not resistive fingerpainting technology?

 

Panny designs and builds these according to what there customers want, feedback, etc. If they see or hear from customers that this is an option that we would like they would look into it.

From numerous conversations with a high level support supervisor he has mentioned many times to me that they design these to there customers desires.

A friend of mine just got a new MacBook Pro and he is just in awe of what that touchpad, and screen will do. It's actually pretty cool.