Notebook price revolution ?

[Tom]

Are we in the midst of a price revolution for notebooks ?

For years and years entry level notebooks seemed to always be close to or just under $1000, but now it's getting more and more common to see notebooks for $500, or even less.

I suppose this is being driven by low manufacture prices for lcd screens, has there finally been a revolution in production of LCDs that is driving this ?

And if so I suppose LCD televisions will soon drive CRTs out of that market.

 

[fbrdphreak]

LCD screen prices have dropped over the past 6-8 months, which I'm sure is part of cost decrease. I would also say that manufacturing costs for the smaller components have dropped also. Its just like any technology, after a while the prices drop.
Also, as better laptop technology emerges (i.e. Centrino and Turion) the other ones (like Athlon XP-M, P4-M, Celeron/Celeron-M) are forced to drop in price even further. I wouldn't look for too many other price drops honestly, the minimum will stay around $500 AR.

 

[Conroy9]

Well, Samsung seems to think that LCD prices will back up by the end of the year:

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., the world's top flat-screen maker, said on Monday a profit-sapping slide in LCD prices won't reverse until the fourth quarter, dashing hopes for a recovery as soon as next month.
(yahoo news)

 

[Tom]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
LCD screen prices have dropped over the past 6-8 months, which I'm sure is part of cost decrease. I would also say that manufacturing costs for the smaller components have dropped also. Its just like any technology, after a while the prices drop.
Also, as better laptop technology emerges (i.e. Centrino and Turion) the other ones (like Athlon XP-M, P4-M, Celeron/Celeron-M) are forced to drop in price even further. I wouldn't look for too many other price drops honestly, the minimum will stay around $500 AR.

Yea, but for a very long time I think most component manufacturers were able to phase out the old stuff and bring new stuff online in a manner that kept prices fairly stable.

But I just think something dramatic has changed and made the new price point $500,
although maybe it won't last.

Same thing happened with desktops a few years ago, where the price point dropped from $2000 to 1500, and now $800 or so, for an average computer.