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OSX doesnt support touch???? Really? http://www.trolltouch.com/index.html

Trolltouch already makes a touch screen enabled iBook...

Super-low-profile, really cool...

check out this:

http://www.macmod.com/content/view/166/2/

for this guy it was basically a "roll your own" job, but there is a company which already produces a touch screen ibook, and could've easily made a Mac tablet based on the design ages ago. Their website here:

http://www.trolltouch.com/pages/products/ibook.htm l

I think that the iMac G5 is probably one of the best choices since you can get software/hardware that enables touchscreen capabilities on it... here's one from a company called Troll Touch and another one from Magic Touch ... I've never used these products, but they seem like they would work pretty well. The iMac G5 could be mounted on the wall or sit on an unused (yeah, right) portion of the counter. If a keyboard and mouse is needed, the blue-tooth wireless ones would work pretty well. They could be stored in a drawer or cabinet when not it use.

TouchSTAR slipCOVER, touch screen slip-on screens for Powerbooks. Only the 17" version available atm, but they're coming for the 15" and 12" too. The iBook 12" and PowerBook 12" have almost the exact same form factor, so the one for the 12" should fit nicely on an iBook too.

Apple announced that a VESA mount will be available for the iMac in the near future.

And it's probably only a matter of time before these guys tackle the new iMac.

A little large and expensive to just slap on the wall for home automation purposes, though. You're probably better off picking up some sort of small webpad. I bought a couple 3Com Audrey units when TigerDirect was blowing them out, and once hacked they work great as part of an HA system, though they aren't really wall-mountable. I'm still looking for a relatively cheap, thin, wall-mountable webpad.

~Philly

At our medical clinic, we have an Electronic Medical Records system, which the clinical staff access mainly through handheld computers. Every time there's a new story about tablets, we look into them, and every time we've reached the same conclusion: not yet.

For our usage, we really like wireless, pen-enabled notebook PCs. While our EMR system allows a tremendous amount of data to be entered easily with a point-and-click interface, nurses and docs still need to do some free-text entry. That pretty much ties us to a device with a keyboard. (I have heard that the handwriting recognition in XP is really good, but we're skeptical about it being good enough. I guess I should actually test it, huh?)

If the tablets come down well below touchscreen notebooks in price, maybe we'll try one and see if we can live without the keyboard.

For those that are interested, we've been using the Fujitsu Lifebook P-series (P1120) which is a great little machine. It's about 2.2 lb, and its Transmeta processor squeezes 4-5 hours out of the standard battery, while running Win2k or XP and a Windows terminal session over the built-in 802.11b. We went 18 months of daily use before we had a single significant hardware failure. (But then two of our first four went out nearly simultaneously... $225 to repair each. Considering they each see about 60 hours of use every week, I think that's not too shabby.)

We first bought them with the extended-life batteries and some spares with chargers, and those spares never left the shelf. The next ones we got with the standard battery and no spares, and we've never had a problem with battery life during our staff's 12-hour shifts. Our staff is pretty good about plugging them in when they can, though.

The big complaint with the P-series is that the screen is really dinky, which is hard on staff with older eyes.

So we tried an iBook. While it's possible to get a touchscreen retrofit for an iBook, we decided to try it without the touchscreen. It works okay, but the lack of touchscreen is a problem for staff. Some staff are willing to trade the touchscreen for the Mac's bigger and sharper monitor, though. On the down side, it's had two main logic boards go out and it's pretty heavy by comparison. There are a few staff who love it, but most prefer the Fujitsus.

About a week ago, we purchased a Fujitsu B-series Lifebook (B3020D) and (so far) it looks spectacular for our usage. It has a 10.4" touchscreen, Atheros A+B+G wireless built-in, it's only 3 pounds, and it claims a battery life of several hours with its Pentium-M processor. (I'm guessing three hours under our conditions, but I haven't really tested it for that.) Staff loves it so far, and I suspect we'll be getting more of 'em.

You are in luck: check out these laptops that come with touch screens preinstalled. While it's no powerbook, it's still a viable solution, much better than baby-sitting a Wintel machine. They have various touch screen solutions available.

Who would wan't to touch a troll?

I knew it. You're trollin' for Troll Touch touchscreens. Your cunning plan has been foiled! Even non-Trolls knows that LCD screens can be touch sensitive.

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Have you ever touched a Troll?

I knew it. You're trollin' for Troll Touch touchscreens. Your cunning plan has been foiled! Even non-Trolls knows that LCD screens can be touch sensitive.

---
Have you ever touched a Troll?