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For a straightforward option with plenty of screen space and flexibility to match, the Dell P2418HT is a great pick. This touchscreen monitor remains on the affordable side while offering a Full HD, 23.8-inch LCD display. It also uses an LED-backlit IPS panel to offer excellent viewing angles.
An anti-glare coating on the screen helps with bright office environments, even more so if your desk is near a window and you're constantly getting sunlight on your screen. (Although that same anti-glare coating can also make the contrast better between parts of the screen that have fingerprints on them and parts that don’t.) There’s also a 3H Hard Coating on the display to help protect it from damage.
The Dell P2418HT is meant to easily integrate into your workspace. It includes a USB hub on the back, so you can wire your peripherals directly into the monitor. Extra handy for a touchscreen monitor is the highly flexible stand, which lets you position the Dell P2418HT at the best height for touch interaction.
The Acer UT241Y has a sleek design, Full HD display, and flexible stand, making it an excellent option for those who want a high-definition monitor. It also sports Acer's Zero Frame display design, which runs the screen almost to the edges of the monitor for a virtually borderless appearance.
The Acer UT241Y uses a 23.8-inch display with an IPS panel for wide viewing angles and a dual-hinge design that lets you tilt and angle the Acer UT241Y to a range of different heights. This is especially useful if you have an adjustable desk and tend to alternate between sitting and standing.
Adding to the package are two ports for USB 3.0 and one USB 3.1 Type-C port (which can handle video and touch signals), dual speakers for your audio, and a quick 4ms response time that’s suitable for gaming. Note that the touchscreen functionality of this monitor is only available with Windows 10 computers.
If you’re not on the hunt for something large or super high-definition, you can get a fairly low price on a touchscreen. We’ve picked out the Planar Helium PCT2235 for desktop use, a more affordable alternative with many of the same features.
The Planar Helium PCT2235 features a 22-inch LCD display with Full HD resolution. To get it up and running, connect it to your computer using an HDMI, VGA, or DisplayPort connection for video and audio (there are two two-watt speakers on this monitor). A USB connection carries touch data from the monitor to your Windows computer. Touch support for Mac and Linux computers is possible but may require special drivers.
Once it’s plugged in and ready to go, you’ll get 10-point touch support and a wide range of flexibility. The Planar Helium PCT2235 doesn’t use a traditional monitor stand — instead, it has a kickstand-style back that lets you tilt it from 15 to 70 degrees or lie it flat on your work surface.
Touchscreens are great for lots of differnet uses, but sometimes you need a tool that's a bit more refined than a fingertip for fine, precise work. Many touchscreens meant for fingers don’t work with styluses, and you shouldn't use one on your monitor unless it's compatible. Fortunately, the MageDok T116D provides the perfect solution for stylus-users everywhere. This monitor supports both touch and an active stylus, so you can truly get the best of both worlds.
The MageDok T116D is highly portable, with just an 11.6-inch display and a weight of 1.65 lbs. There’s not much bezel around the screen either, so it can easily fit into a bag with a laptop. The panel is Full HD and uses IPS technology for wide viewing angles. And, for those with compatible computers, the MageDok T116D doesn't need any kind of extra power source — it can run off of a USB-C connection that carriers power, video signal, and touch data.
Beyond the 10-point multitouch offered by the display, you get support for active styluses like the Microsoft Surface Pen. It even supports varying pressure levels for a more nuanced touch.
If you want something truly high end, Wacom is the way to go. For creative workloads, Wacom’s Cintiq Pro line of tablet displays are about as good as you can get. The Wacom Cintiq Pro 32 is a top-of-the-line tablet display with a 31.5-inch IPS panel, 4K Ultra HD resolution, and extreme color accuracy. It covers 98% of the Adobe RGB color space with a 10-bit display that supports about 1.07 billion colors. (That compares to the 16.7 million offered by more common 8-bit displays.)
The Cintiq Pro 32 works with Mac and Windows devices and has multi-touch support. It connects with a single USB-C cable to keep your workspace uncluttered. And with Wacom’s active pen, you get up to 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity.
If you want a truly clean desk setup with the Cintiq Pro 32, Wacom also offers the Cintiq Pro Engine, which is effectively a high-powered computer that can attach to the back of the Cintiq Pro 32 and turn it into an all-in-one machine.
If you’ve shopped around for touchscreen monitors before, you’ve probably encountered a few products from GeChic. While the company isn’t a big name in display tech, it does offer a lot of portable displays and is still investing in touch functionality. For on-the-go needs, the GeChic 1303i is a winner.
This 13.3-inch monitor has support for 10-point multitouch and a Full HD IPS panel for a clear picture and wide viewing angles. To get it up and running, you just plug the GeChic 1303i in with a Micro-HDMI, VGA, or Mini-DisplayPort cable from your computer's video output, and run a micro-USB cable into the monitor. Though a power adapter is included, the monitor can draw all of its power from the USB.
Its portable size and the fact that it does not require an extra power cable make it an excellent choice as a secondary display for a laptop. You can also set it up with a small Raspberry Pi computer for a portable all-in-one device.
Sometimes a great option might be one you wouldn't think to look for — that’s where we think the Microsoft Surface Go fits in. While it’s actually a full-featured tablet running Windows 10, the touchscreen display is a high-quality option that you can make excellent use of on the go.
The Surface Go has a 10-inch display with a resolution of 1800x1200, making it fairly sharp at 217 pixels-per-inch. It also has 10-point multitouch for all your touchscreen needs and supports the Microsoft Pen for stylus users.
When you’re on the go, you have the option of using the Surface Go and a standalone tablet or converting it into a laptop experience with a keyboard and mouse. That way, you have a touchscreen without needing to lug around a computer as well. Alternatively, if you want to use the Surface Go as more of an external monitor for another computer, you can use a remote desktop client to control your other computer from the Surface Go.
The Lenovo IdeaCentre AIO 520 is actually a fully-functional desktop computer with a touchscreen monitor, which makes it more expensive but also streamlines the hardware you have on your desk. It offers a large, 27-inch touchscreen display with Quad HD (2560x1440) resolution. That display supports full, 10-point multitouch.
What you get inside the monitor in this case is a full Windows 10 computer with an 8th-Gen Intel Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM. There’s also 1TB of storage, dual speakers, and a popup webcam. So, you’ll get all the touchscreen functionality and high resolution without even needing to plug into another computer. The IdeaCentre 520 does support HDMI input from external devices, but if you want to the use the screen’s touch functionality with a different computer, you’ll have to look into remote desktop tools.