This may not be a highly priced diamond in the rough, but we were still rather pleased to come across eFun’s aPen Touch8 while walking around the showfloor at a Showstoppers event here in beautiful Las Vegas. Although not exactly surprising, it’s worth noting the Touch8 aPen takes an obvious cue from its A5 sibling, sporting a very similar design and being powered by the same ultrasonic infrared technology. What’s different here, however, is that the newly announced Touch8’s tailored for laptops (15.6-inch or lower) running Windows 8, with the pen’s main purpose being to bring moderate gesture-based features to non-touch machines. According to eFun, and confirmed by us, installation is relatively simple: you plug in the included receiver (pictured below), pop into the “Tablet PC Settings,” adjust the calibration, and voila, you are all golden.

During our short spell with the aPen Touch8, we did notice a bit of a lag from time to time while using the peripheral, though it did manage to (somewhat) easily swipe its way between screens, launch different applications and bring up the Charms Bar. Naturally, it doesn’t come anywhere near close to what you would experience on anactual touch-capable Windows 8 laptop, but it could definitely be an option if you’re looking for something to hold you over until you finally decide to upgrade your gear. Those interested will have to shell out $80 on the aPen Touch8, with eFun telling us to expect it to be available in about a month.