If technology kept pace with the future depicted by Hollywood's screenwriters, we'd have long ago wielded the power to control a PC with the flick of the wrist and a flourish of a hand. But, with the arrival of Windows 7, touch control is finally beginning to come of age.
The latest all-in-one to hit the Labs - the Asus ET2203T - takes a step towards the future thanks to Microsoft's latest OS, and aims to blend HD entertainment with touch-friendly ease of use.
If your only experience of the Asus Eee Top range is the budget-priced, Atom-powered ET1602 the first sight of the ET2203T is likely to surprise.
The glare of the ET1602's shiny white case is supplanted by an altogether more demure look: glossy black surrounds the screen and is complemented by a silver trim. If you're envisaging giving the Asus pride of place in your home, it could easily make the grade.
The real attraction, however, is the 21.6in touchscreen. Where most of the excitement about Windows 7 stems from its multitouch support, Asus keeps costs down by opting for a single-touch display.
Even before you lay a finger upon it, however, it grabs the attention. The Full HD panel is bright and contrast is rather good - especially for a touchscreen.
The only serious issue is that the glossy panel and, we presume, the touchscreen layer itself, causes too much glare. It's something that's no doubt compounded by the strip lights in the PC Pro labs, but we spent as much time admiring our own faces as we did the HD splendour of Wall-E on Blu-ray.
Get to grips with the ET2203T, though, and it's enough to win over the most PC-phobic of users. Where Windows Vista's touch embellishments often left you switching back to the keyboard and mouse, Windows 7 makes it possible
to do far more. The Asus' panel might only be single-touch capable, but browsing the web with it is easy. Windows 7's onscreen keyboard makes light work of text entry and short emails, and navigating the OS is impressively responsive.
It isn't that Asus has crammed ridiculously overpowered components into the ET2203T, either. The Core 2 Duo T6500 is nowhere near high-end, but it and the ATI Radeon HD 4570 graphics keep Windows 7 feeling light on its feet.
It isn't the fastest PC on the planet, as evidenced by a score of 1.04 in our benchmarks, but it's up to most jobs. With Asus upgrading final review models to the slightly faster T6600 processor, it won't be until you move into the realm of seriously heavy multitasking or video encoding that you'll begin to wish for anything faster, and, frankly, that isn't what the ET2203T is designed for.
Stick to the ET2203T's strengths, though - music, movies, TV, internet and even a bit of gaming for good measure - and it's in its element.
The ATI Radeon HD 4570 graphics chipset doesn't have enough poke to manage Crysis at Full HD, but drop down to 1280 x 1024 and medium settings and a result of 15fps proves almost playable. It isn't just there for gaming purposes, however - it also steps in to relieve the processor when it comes to Blu-ray decoding duties.
Take your eye off the glossy screen and the ET2203T has a few other tricks up its sleeve. Wireless networking stretches to 802.11n support, USB ports are plentiful, with two at the side and another four around the back, and there's a 3-in-1 card reader too.
You even get an HDMI input at the rear, so you can take advantage of the Asus' display with an external source such as a games console.
With the likes of HP and Medion readying multitouch-capable all-in-one PCs for the launch of Windows 7, Asus's single-touch ET2203T might sound a little behind the times.
But Blu-ray, a 21.6in Full HD touchscreen and gaming-capable graphics are an alluring combination, and when you factor in the ET2203T's stylish charm, it has its appeal.
