S till fuming over that US$100 increase Apple slapped onto the new iMacs? Wish Apple laptops were a tad cheaper? Take heart. According to a C|Net News article titled "LCD shipments expected to pick up,: shipment of LCDs for computers will increase significantly over the next few months, thus lowering the cost to computer manufacturers.
Rising component costs were cited by Apple at MACWORLD Tokyo as the reason for raising the iMacis price by US$100. RAM and LCD costs were the two biggest of those rising component costs. From the article:
Austin, Texas-based DisplaySearch updated on Wednesday its projections from March on shipments and revenue for large LCDs--those 10 inches and up. LCDs are commonly used in flat-panel monitors and notebook computers.
"Several major manufacturers are bringing their fifth-generation (factories) online (this year), and that will significantly increase supply," said Ross Young, DisplaySearchis president. The firm expects shipments to rise by 55 percent in 2002, up 7 percent from the March forecast.
The new factories are capable of handling larger glass sheets than in the past, allowing companies to produce more monitor panels per sheet.
This might be good news for those hoping to see Appleis prices eventually drop. While you wait, you can find more information in C|Netis full article.