[CambAngst]

What do people think about the future direction of flat panel monitor prices? Particularly for large monitors (19" and up), the price of flat panels is still far higher than CRT's with the same viewing area. Since most (if not all) computer manufacturers are adopting flat panel screens as a standard peripheral now, how long do you think it will be before prices begin to fall?

On a related topic, how about the prices of flat panel televisions? I never thought I would see anything on the shelf at Best Buy for $20,000. How long before the boutique pricing gives way to high-volume consumer pricing?

[sworthy]

Of course the prices will come down in the future, how fast is simply a supply and demand game. I can't remember exactly where I saw it (I think maybe an article on macsurfer yesterday), but they predicted that lcd prices are going to slightly increase in the short term (bad for the holiday season). The general trend is downwards of course, but if you're in the market now it looks like a good time to buy. Plasmas are a whole different story and probably won't be too affordable until new tech comes out.

[CambAngst]

Anyone think there's a possibility that prices will drop in the new year, once the holiday season demand is out of the system?

[tooki]

If so, not by much.

But honestly, can we complain?!? For the same amount of money, you can buy a larger LCD nowadays than you could a CRT 3 years ago.

I remember back in 1997, paying about $1000 for a 17" CRT. Nowadays, you can get a 19" flat panel (equivalent to a 20-21" CRT) for about $800.

tooki

[Zoom]

Originally posted by CambAngst:
What do people think about the future direction of flat panel monitor prices? Particularly for large monitors (19" and up), the price of flat panels is still far higher than CRT's with the same viewing area.

Remember that the viewing area of an LCD is the same as the quoted size, unlike a CRT. So, a 21" CRT might have the same viewable area as a 19" LCD. You can pay $500-$600 for a flat 21" CRT, and you can buy a 19" LCD for the same price.

Demand is very high for LCDs right now. I read somewhere the LCDs are outselling CRTs as of this year and (separately) that demand for 15" LCDs is outstripping supply. For those reasons, prices probably won't lower much if at all in the near future.

My guess is that significant drops won't happen till mid-to-late 2004. It'll take that long for factories to really gear up and meet increasing demand. And as prices drops, demand will just go up, which will decrease the odds of futher price cuts.

[parsec_kadets]

I'm not sure it's really fair to compare LCD TVs to LCD computer displays. The prices for LCD TVs are inflated because most of them are HD. I wouldn't expect prices on those to begin to drop until the FCC says that all TV stations have to drop their standard broadcast. Until then, manufactures will say "Well an LCD monitor should cost more than an LCD TV because the monitor has a higher resolution." Thus, I expect LCD prices to stay high for quite awhile. None of this is based on actual data or anything, just my own reasoning.

[engaged]

Prices may not go down as we'd all hope...

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