We try to usually put up articles that are at least somewhat related to overclocking/computing. Sometimes, we put up articles that really don’t have much to do with overclocking, but have a lot of impact on overclockers as people.
This article just happens to cover both.
The computer monitor market is gradually transitioning from CRT to flat-panel displays. So is the TV market.
More than a few computer users have gone over to flat-panels, and certainly many more are interested in doing so one of these days.
These same people are having the same kind of thoughts about their TVs, too, though the proportion of lookers vs. buyers is probably rather higher due to the much greater cost of much larger screens.
Not that LCD computer monitors are cheap, either, as tales of growing sales resistance to such monitors indicate, as do forced price reductions on LCD TVs by some manufacturers
In the longer term, though, prices are expected to plummet the next few years. Both Japanese and Korean manufacturers are pouring resources into flat-panel manufacturing, and supply will start exceeding demand.
This article provides some estimates as to what LCD (and PDP) TVs ought to cost the next few years.
It projects that in a year or a bit more, 42-inch LCD TVs ought to cost 40-50% less than they do today, and will drop another 35% the year thereafter.
Those of you already following this may note that the actual retail price of these TVs is much higher than the cost estimates given in the article. That’s because these TVs are currently very high profit items for everyone. When that stops being the case, and there’s a lot more supply, retailers will have to cut their profit margins, too. When prices drop, more retailers willing to accept lower profit margins will be lured into selling them.
If that’s the case for the big ones; it will be just as true for the smaller computer monitors. Indeed, over the next few year, you’ll likely see them get bigger, too.
So, if you can wait a while, you’ll certainly be rewarded substantially for a year or two of patience.
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