Digital Home Thoughts: iTable To Compete With Microsoft Surface

"They’ve essentially taken the idea behind the Microsoft Surface and have done it better in every way. It’s cheaper, it’s gorgeous, and perhaps most notably, it’s not a hulking monster. Two of the most notable features of the Surface are its multitouch capabilities and the availability of a development SDK, both of which PQ Labs has matched (or, in the case of the SDK, plan to match soon). The number of fingers detected by the multitouch sensor is limited only by the individual software designer’s desire - the hardware itself supports as many simultaneous prods as you can throw at it."

CrunchGear has a video demonstrating a very impressive multi-touch interface made by PQ Labs called the iTable. It runs on Windows XP and can be added as a 32" LCD overlay or as a preconfigured 30" table. Watching the video, it seems quite responsive, and can handle as many digits on the surface as you care to use. The only significant part that I find lacking in comparison to Microsoft's surface is the ability to recognize devices placed on the surface. In some ways, it looks a lot like a glorified HP Touchsmart but with a more open concept developer interface. A closer comparison would be the multi-touch capabilities that Windows 7 will bring to the table. Thinking of what one can do with multi-touch, I'm excited to see this and the price is more competitive, starting at $2,399, however, I remain unconvinced that it is worth that much extra cost.