At CES in January of next year, Asus will be showing their new touchscreen models of the well known and loved Eee PC range. The new models will include 8.9-inch and 10.2-inch displays that are swivel mounted so they can also be used as a tablet. Asus are also working on some applications that will utilise touchscreen controls, such as drawing, photo editing and multimedia apps.

I can tell you there is a definite market for a device like this. Just check out all of the Eee PC touchscreen mods around the web. It’s almost become a cult of its own.

Earlier this year, HP released their TouchSmart lineup of touchscreen computers, first the desktop models, followed by the notebook models. They’re mostly marketed as entertainment and multimedia machines with touchscreen controls for music playback, photo/video editing and email, amongst other things.

Mac users have modded their Macs for a while now to incorporate touchscreen functionality since it isn’t something Apple are offering in any of their devices beside the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Needless to say, lots of people seem to love this stuff.

I’ve never quite understood the enthusiasm for touchscreen computers or the claims that it is the next generation of computing. Touchscreen technology has actually been around for quite some time now (since 1971 to be precise), but it’s only in the last five or so years that it’s really made its way into consumer products.

Touchscreen technology in tablet computers and mobile phones works well because of the ease of inputting data. It allows input to be as direct and as natural as possible, which works well for very specific purposes. For example, freehand drawing on a tablet computer, or flipping through a photo album in a multi-touch capable device that you’re holding, such as an iPhone; both of these actions are comfortable and efficient to perform.

The thing is, using a touchscreen isn’t always the most natural, ergonomic or convenient way to interact with a computer. How anyone could tolerate greasy fingerprints on a huge desktop multimedia machine’s display that you’re about to watch a movie on just baffles me. Why you would choose to constantly stretch your arm out to perform photo editing functions on a desktop touchscreen computer also has me shaking my head. There’s a reason why the trusty old mouse and keyboard have survived for so long.

Of course, there are some fantastic applications for touchscreen computers such as interactive machines for customer self-service (photo processing machines at photo shops, ticket machines at train stations, etc), and those used by people with disabilities.

There’s also a lot of untapped potential that’s only just starting to emerge such as touchscreen applications for audio production.

I’ll even go so far as to say that one of those HP TouchSmart desktop computers as a kitchen computer wouldn’t be a bad idea, but only until a fully voice interactive computer comes along that actually works. Greasy sandwich hands and touchscreens just don’t really mix.

So, while touchscreen computers are fantastic for very specialised purposes, I wouldn’t want one for my regular desktop machine, or even for a notebook computer if it wasn’t used constantly as a tablet for design work.

Is a touchscreen computer something you would want? What would you use it for? Voice your opinion in the comments.