LG touchscreen coming to iMac?

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 25 November 2008 01:08

Opinion and Analysis

You know that touchscreen Mac that some people have been waiting for? Here's why one observer thinks it might be close at hand.

Be warned: this could be a lesson in 2 + 2 = 5. Or maybe 6 or even 8.

There's been chatter about the possibility of a touchscreen Mac for years, and a tablet style model seems to be the go. After all, try holding your hand up to a desktop screen for more than a couple of minutes at at time.

That's not to say there's no place for touch on the desktop - after all, HP's already on the second-generation of its TouchSmart PC family, even though it hasn't exactly set the market on fire.

You can probably put some of this down to 'tablet envy' aimed at a certain other operating system, but Apple's widening use of touch in the iPhone and iPod touch - plus the multitouch trackpad in recent MacBooks - shows the company is interested in the technology.

There's certainly been some thought going into the subject at Cupertino, as Apple has filed various patents showing ways in which a touchscreen interface can be employed in computers, not just in handheld devices.

UK gadget mag Stuff recently visited an LG factory in Korea and found out that the company has a multitouch screen for computers that "looks like it's good-to-go".

No huge surprises there. LG introduced its first multitouch displays last year, but at 52 and 84in they weren't the sort of thing you'd want on your desk.

But here comes the stretch.

Stuff points out that because LG makes the display panels that Apple uses in the iMac, "it actually points to something bigger - a multitouch Mac."

Well maybe.

What's wrong with this reasoning? See page 2.