All-in-one computer, touch monitor or other for my specific needs...

[dropusaline]

Hi everyone, I am new here and hoping I am posting in the right place for my particular question...

here is what I am looking to do...what device do I need?

I want to put on my kitchen wall an electronic device that will serve as a type of personal organization tool/media centre.

Radio, music, Television, webcam, play dvd's for kids, agenda or family calendar, family photos, internet, touch screen - I don't want a key board and mouse otherwise I would keep my laptop on the counter.

I was thinking an all in one computer but at 25lbs - does it make sense to wall mount that? Hubby was thinking touchscreen monitor with tower hidden in a cupboard, I was thinking smartboard but hubby mentioned that we still need a computer hooked up to it. I was thinking wifi something or other to go get information from a central server like our music or movies instead of storing all the information on the device.

Does anyone have any idea or an inovative solution that would suit my needs? Is there something we haven't even considered yet?

Thank you

 

[dIxie]

Depending on the size that you are looking for a tablet may be something worth looking into. There are all kinds of apps that will do things like sync movies and have calendars and the internet. It will minimize cords by just needing power. It's easy to get them connected to wireless internet.

Tablets range in size from about 5" to 12" and start at around $200. If your looking for something larger you would have to go to a touch screen monitor and system which start around the $1000 range for the whole system.

 

[dropusaline]

Thank you Dixie

I toyed with the idea of a tablet but my latest experience with a Nextbook tab left me a little unimpressed. Painfully slow. Android. That still leaves me with the Playing DVD's and having my satelite on it question. Dealing with the watching movies. If I downloaded them to another computer in the house, and put them in a sharing folder, could I then access them from a tab? would a touchscreen monitor do what I am looking for? What features would I have to make sure it had? Would I have to hook it up to a tower anyway? Does anyone have any suggestions that I may not have thought of? Isn't this kind of thing done? I am certainly not the first person to think of this, and if I am, I am claiming it as intellectual property as of this minute!!

 

[dIxie]

If you put dvd's onto another computer you could stream them across your network, the same goes for your satellite, its a little more difficult but the tablet will support it. A touchscreen monitor would do exactly what you want and you would have to hook it up to a tower of some sort. What your looking for in the screen is of course size, the actual type of touch screen whether it is resistive or capacitive and the response time of the touch screen. Most current setups are done that way. I wasn't 100% sure of your needs but it sounds like doing a touch screen monitor to a small mini computer with wireless may be your best option.