A VERY no, extremely reliable source explains that there is a drought of LCD monitors in the channel and there seems to be no obvious mirage at the end of the tunnel. This is apparently attributed to the demand for LCD screens in alternative market sectors, such as mobile phones, PDA and, well, anything including washing-machines where an LCD display is used. It seems that manufacturers of LCD panels prefer, and understandably so, to supply their wares to customers who will pay more than the monitor manufacturers are willing, or are able to.
Despite Intel's' recent huge profit announcement, and strong signs of a recovery all round, it has been a difficult financial year in the IT sector, and as the momentum builds towards the Christmas rush, and all the seasonal shenanigans that brings (expect the normal blagged price rises on memory modules and optical devices like DVD-ROM drives) a shortage of LCD monitors is hardly the thing that the channel needs.
Apparently availability of 15 inch panels has been dire for months now, which is in turn causing an increase in demand for products based on 17 inch panels, so, we're told that supply of those is likely to dry up fairly soon too...Frankly, whilst of course we see the benefit of LCD monitors, if I was looking forward to playing Half-Life 2, I'd be wanting to see the eye-candy on a high quality CRT anyway...
News source: The Inq
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