Vizio welcomes spring with new Windows 8 touch-enabled PCs

Welcome to the third generation of Vizio PCs. You won't find many things different technology-wise in this round compared with previous models. The biggest news is that the laptops -- two 14-inch, and two 15.6-inch models -- all ship with touch screens now. Vizio's all-in-ones already had touch screens, but this generation gets a CPU bump, and higher prices to match. Vizio has also added wireless networking adapters that support the new 802.11ac standard across the lineup.

For the laptops, the 14-inch Touch Thin+Light CT14T-B0 comes it at the lowest price, going for $1,089.99 with an AMD A10 processor. A higher-end version with an Intel Core i7 CPU will sell for $1,419, which also includes an upgrade to a 256GB solid-state hard drive, up from 128GB in the entry model. The 15.6-inch version breaks down along similar lines, with a $1,189 price tag for the AMD-based model, and $1,469 for the Intel version.

On the all-in-one side, the models break down into 24- and 27-inch variants, as before. The CPU and pricing scheme also follows that of the laptops closely. The 24-inch Touch All-in-One CA24T-B0 ships with an AMD A10 chip for $1,279. An upgraded 24-inch model with a Core i7 chip sells for $1,439, and a 27-inch Core i7 version sells for $1,549.

The biggest difference on the desktop side might be the prices. When Vizio launched its PC line last summer, the starting price for every product group was $898. Even its original 27-inch all-in-one sold for a mere $1,149. The higher prices this round suggest a strategy shift, a supply constraint, or perhaps both. In any case, these new PCs now fall more closely in-line price-wise with those from other Windows vendors. If Vizio's TV business is still playing to the budget-minded consumer, its computer operations seem to be taking another approach.