Yesterday, I tried out the Asus Vivobook S200E, a Windows 8 laptop with touch screen, courtesy of Currys in Oxford Street.

I was very impressed, both in terms of the laptop and Windows 8 with touch screen. I think touch screens on laptops will take off in a big way – unlike on desktops, where it doesn’t seem a good proposition. A laptop is used in a different way to desktop pc and is usually in much closer proximity to the user – plus it has a proper keyboard. As for tablets, I must admit, I’m not really that keen on the whole tablet thing, even as an iPad user. So to me, a touch screen laptop which has a good keyboard is ideal – you’ve then got both options, as you’re not forced to use the touch screen.

The laptop is sturdily made which also helps the touch screen experience. I tried Windows 8 touch screen also on a Sony laptop and the build wasn’t very sturdy, so when touching the screen the display kept flapping about – looks like it would be broken in a month of use. Maybe that’s because it’s a display model in a shop, but that gives you a general idea of how it may be after a few months use.

One of the best things with the touch screen is that everything is touchable, such as any links/icons/buttons in Internet Explorer.

Big pluses with the touch screen:

– reaching out and touching any part of the screen

– pressing links/icons/buttons on the screen

– swiping up and down through long browser pages

– swiping back and forth through multi-screen things, such as lists of Apps etc

– zoom in and out using two fingers

When I get round to replacing my current Windows 7 laptop, I would definitely consider one of these. One thing to check will be the longevity of these touch screen laptops, as maybe after a lot of use they might fall apart. On your normal laptop, you only really interact with the keyboard and mousepad thingy.