Samsung to offer new flat panel designs

Samsung announced today that it is offering two new 15-inch flat panel LCD displays for PCs that have a stand that allows the monitors to be rotated so that users can see an entire legal-sized document without scrolling.

The displays will be priced from $1,034 to $1,254, which still relegates the slim displays to the higher-end of the market.

Samsung's new monitors are coming to market at a time when notebook makers are paying the company a premium to ensure a steady supply of LCD screens. The company got a $200 million cash infusion from Dell Computer and inked an $8.5 billion supply contract with them as well. Apple Computer also recently invested $100 million in Samsung.

Flat panel displays are one of the few products whose price has been rising this year because of supply constraints.

LCDs make up as much as one-third of the cost of notebook computers and are a critical factor in determining whether prices for these computers rise or fall. Notebooks have been hit by stiff increases in the price of LCDs since the end of last year.

That hasn't stopped PC makers from offering flat panel displays for high-end desktop PC systems, though. Gateway came out with its Profile all-in-one design earlier this year, and IBM and Sony have bundled flat panel displays with consumer PCs as well. Apple just started offering its Cinema Display, billed as the largest flat panel at 22-inches diagonal.

Features of Samsung's new 570pPlus active matrix display include picture-in-picture video viewing, and a connector for hooking up to DVD players and camcorders for direct playback of material.

The company is offering a $100 rebate on the 570s display until the end of November.