A touch panel pc is the most user-friendly thing you’ll ever buy. It lets you communicate with your PC in a better way. The user just needs to touch the screen for selecting the options present there. Touch panels for PC may either be externally or internally mounted. You’ll see the internally mounted panel on the inside of the monitor of your PC. While externally mounted panel lies outside.
You may need technical installation for an internally mounted touch panel for your PC. The reason is that you will have to open the monitor for this purpose. The use of a software driver and a controller also becomes mandatory at times. You need the same things for installing an externally mounted panel as well but there is no need to open the monitor.
Let’s take a look at a few types of touch panels and see how to choose the best one.
Types of Touch Panels for PC
There are five main types of touch panels for your PC:
- Resistive
- Capacitive
- Infrared
- Strain Gauge
- Surface Acoustic Wave
The first two types are used most commonly these days. Resistive screens mainly consist of a panel, coated with conductive and resistive layers. Separator dots are used to separate these thin layers. Current passes through the screen during its operation. When you are applying some pressure to the panel, you’re actually pressing the layers together. This ultimately results in a change in current which leads to the touch event.
A capacitive touch panel is a similar thing but the coating is different (because of using a capacitive material). Circuits are there for measuring the capacitance when someone touches the overlay.
Infrared touch panels project beams of infrared light on the screen that you watch. The coordinates are calculated once you break the beams in parts.
In the case of Surface acoustic waves, the touch panel receives acoustic waves. The absorption of these waves occurs when you touch the panel with your fingers.
If we talk about the strain gauge touch panel, there are four corners on which we spring-mount the screen. For determining the deflection after touching the screen, we use a strain gauge.
Selecting the Best Touch Panel for PC
Touch panels may either use LCD or CRT technology. However, you may select either of these based on the application. The factors you must consider before choosing the best touch panel include:
- Response time of panel
- Pixel Pitch
- Touchpoints of panel
- Resolution of image
- Actuation force
- Operating parameters
- External connections
- Supported Features
For some kinds of touch panels, such as alphanumeric and graphic panels, screen dimensions are also of primary importance. You may also specify the width and height of the panel you’re going to buy. Also, make sure that you use the panel or test it before choosing it. Otherwise, you may spend the warranty time without using it and lose the money if it doesn’t work later. So, take into account all the factors and then decide whether the touch panel you’ve chosen for your PC is good enough or not.