Sharp to lower LCD pricing
What it means: LCD monitors could be headed for your desktop.
The company will cut prices on some LCD models by about $430, according to Nikkei BP Online, a Japanese publication.
LCD monitors are much thinner and lighter than the standard CRT monitor, a fixture on nearly all desktops throughout the world.
Sharp said that its 15-inch high-resolution XGA (1024-by-768 pixel) LCD monitor, based on passive-matrix technology, will sell for between $1,290 and $1,380, and that its 13.8-inch XGA active-matrix monitor will sell for $2,155, according to the Nikkei report.
Active-matrix LCDs produce a better image than passive-matrix displays, though the latter are generally much cheaper.
The two monitors, to be shipped by August, will be priced $430 lower than similar models shipped earlier this year, the Nikkei report said.
But these prices are still well above the price of 14- and 15-inch class CRT displays. CRTs have been the standard fixture on desktops for decades. A 15-inch class CRT can be purchased today for $300.
But Sharp counters this by saying that LCDs have low power consumption, a compact size, low levels of radiation emission, and almost no flickering.