Hands-off with ASUS' Dual Panel Touchscreen PC at CeBIT

It may be snoozin' time on the East Coast of America, but things are already getting heated in Hannover. Live from the CeBIT floor, we present to you ASUS' Dual Panel touchscreen PC. The show models were still very much conceptual, with the hinges showing signs of imperfections and the interface not quite ready to be touched by onlookers. We did spot that the units on hand were humming along on Windows 7, though. The on-screen keyboard looked great from where we stood, but it's tough to say how hard it would be to get used to banging out dissertations on a flat panel. At any rate, feel free to browse the gallery below -- and stick around, we'll be bringing you lots, lots more where this came from.

Hands-on with ASUS' Dual Panel Touchscreen PC at CeBIT

[Oli D Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:24AM]

Leaning your wrists on this thing will be a bitch

[malice9005 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:26AM]

Wow looks pretty dirty

[TranceChaos Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:26AM]

This totally needs an AMOLED display.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 8:17AM]

I second that....and to think these shots were taken indoors makes it worse.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:36AM]

Will be better with one side borderless screen.

*Attention ZUNE users, the ZUNE website is down.*

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:38AM]

Is it just me, or is the "don't touch!!" (*gasp*, two exclamation marks) sign a bit purpose-defeating?

[JTVD Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:37AM]

'Don't Touch !!' ?, bit ironic...

[billmiller Posted Mar 3rd 2009 10:45AM]

Yeah...totally agreed.

WTF do you do with such a thing without touching!!!

[Mike Posted Mar 3rd 2009 4:38PM]

Does it bug anyone else that they used two exclamation marks instead of one or three? It kind of turns me off the concept on display...

[CaramelZappa Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:36AM]

It really makes me want to hack together an EEE 701 with a spare screen and a could touchscreens.

[IkariPt Posted Mar 3rd 2009 6:26AM]

done that, but whit a 900 don't have photos atm but check the design at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JRn6FWPhvQ

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:44AM]

Awesome! I want one now.

[Sr1n1 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:38AM]

Nice design I like it..two screens in portrait mode looks like a book...keyboard looks awful though.
Dual touchscreen and you say Don't touch!!!!!!! come on ASUS!

[ericmedl Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:47AM]

How is this different from what Asus showed us last year at Computex?

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/9626/asus_gadgets_including_dual_screen_notebook/index.html

Come on Asus, Show us some progress over the 6 months.
I actually like the old design better.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:58AM]

those hinges are gonna be a nightmare

I see many repairs in the future

[mocax Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:59AM]

now i'm reminded why i don't really like touch screens....

or rather, touch screens don't really like me....

[Templarian Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:14PM]

Fat fingers?

[megapenguinx Posted Mar 7th 2009 4:26PM]

I think its the whole thing that touch screens get really messed up and de-calibrated all the time

[HowdyDoody Posted Mar 3rd 2009 4:02AM]

Haha "Don't Touch!!"

[Plothole Posted Mar 3rd 2009 4:03AM]

I like the concept. But I can't imagine that battery life would be great (not with LCDs anyways).

[karts41 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 4:05AM]

sex...

[peter Posted Mar 3rd 2009 4:19AM]

Is it me or does this remind me of the OLPC XO-2 concept, but probably waaay more expensive?

http://blog.laptopmag.com/first-look-olpc-xo-generation-20

[IkariPt Posted Mar 3rd 2009 4:28AM]

hey that's my design, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JRn6FWPhvQ
I want my cut ASUS

[pika2000 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 5:39AM]

Why does it say "Don't Touch," yet it is filled with fingerprints and dirt/dust?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 5:55AM]

What it needs is a "Don't Panic" print on the back.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:17AM]

My thoughts exactly.

If the kindle2 is v2 of the guide, this is definitely the next step!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 6:35AM]

how big is that? I think it's a nice form factor for netbooks

[marjancek Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:27AM]

This looks awfully similar to the OLPC 2.0
http://blog.laptopmag.com/first-look-olpc-xo-generation-20

[Shenaniganz08 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 9:18AM]

Man I had this design idea back in 2001 :(

the thought of having a perfectly flat dual screen laptop was pretty much impossible back then though

i can't wait till it becomes reality

[mp3 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:44AM]

Usually the LCD is one of the most power consuming part.If they would make it with 1 LCD screen for a normal laptop use, and 1 e-Paper screen for reading use or act as a touch-screen keyboard, it would greatly reduce the power consumption. I don't think the touchscreen keyboard need to have a backlight, and it could be used for reading documents like a book (turn off the LCD backlight?).

[Barbaric Posted Mar 3rd 2009 8:33AM]

DS lite meet DS large?

You can use a drum stick for a stylus.

For kids with, you know, "bigger" hands.

[Alexkass Posted Mar 3rd 2009 8:52AM]

this is w7.

take a closer look.

http://www.notebookreview.com/shared/picture.asp?f=41371

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 9:15AM]

Using a second, touch screen display as a keyboard is a wonderful in theory, but do you really think it will be easy to type on in practice? No tactile feedback whatsoever.

[Plothole Posted Mar 3rd 2009 4:39PM]

There are methods of implementing some sort of tactile feedback.

[James2432 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 12:50PM]

DO NOT TOUCH IT! ...... yet there seems to be 10 000 fingerprints....

[blabaa Posted Mar 3rd 2009 2:50PM]

Is Asus on fire or what? First, Eee keyboard, then this.

[Eternal Density Posted Mar 3rd 2009 5:20PM]

Doesn't Amazon already have a patent on No Touch?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 6:36PM]

Looks like a big Nintendo DS.