When will 2560x1600 LCD's come down in price?

[LittleTinyScooby]

The 30 inch displays still seem too expensive. I've been waiting years for them to come down in price but they never do. Any guess as to when they will lower? Is there just not enough competition or something?

 

[Zorachus]

You can find the new Dell 30" for special sale at like $900 once in a blue moon if your lucky. That is with special rebates and discounts etc...they do that every few months. But they come and go super quick.

I agree, a brand new 30" display should be selling for like $999, and then come down after they been out awhile. But most of the new 30" monitors are still starting at $1200-$1500 still

 

[Tisca]

Prices won't drop until someone comes up with a cheaper panel manufacturing process.

 

[Godmachine]

If your willing to drop the quality control of the current generation and axe off features like multi inputs and an internal pixel mapper. Think the current generation cheap ips panels , the quality control on them is pretty poor.. tinting problems galore , poor lacking contrast.

So we probably won't be seeing any cheap ones anytime soon.

 

[BassDX]

And the market for displays with quality panels is dismally small, especially for a 30" 2560 x 1600 IPS. Cheap 1080p TN panels on the other hand continue to become cheaper and more numerous. It is true that 24" 1920 x 1200 displays were once around the $1000 ballpark as well, but as most consumers today are fine with 1080p or less, there will not be a large enough market for 2560 x 1600 until certain things warrant it (for example, 1440p video playback). Unfortunately, I don't expect that to happen any time soon, so your best bet would be to find a used 30" somewhere if you don't care too much about warranty. The Dell 3007WFP for example could be found for as low as around $550 if you are lucky.

 

[RaynQuist]

The prices will never drop. The best video cards have always been ~$500. The best CPUs have always been ~$1000. The best monitors have always been ~$1000. As long as it's the best monitor money can buy, people will cough up the dough. In order for 30-inchers to drop in price, you would need an even higher end model to apply price pressure. There are a few reasons why we haven't seen a higher-end model. 1) DVI bandwidth limit. To go higher resolution you'd need to have DisplayPort take off first. 2) Size limit. A >30" monitor will be too big for a lot of people. 3) Dot pitch limit. Cramming more pixels into the same 30" frame will make text too small for many. The software world is not ready for pixel-independent display scaling.

Despite the limitations, it is still possible to have a higher end model by using better than LCD tech like OLED. However it is questionable whether 30-inchers would continue to exist when they're no longer the highest end model. Specifically, as the prices drop and more less-discerning consumers start buying them, there will be market pressure to shift 30-inchers from 16:10 to 16:9 like the rest of the monitors. So instead of dropping prices on 2560x1600 monitors, the manufacturers will simply stop making them,

 

[NukeDukem]

It's really disappointing to hear that, RaynQuist, I hope you're wrong. I paid an arm and a leg for it, but I'm in love with my ZR30w. I'll never be able to game at 1080p again. One would think that the future should bring increased demand for higher resolutions and bigger, better panels... And btw, 16:9 sucks, it should be used for movies only! 16:10 is where it's at for gaming and everything else. Why can't people see the light for goodness sake?!?

 

[munkle]

I paid $800 for my refurb 3008wfp with a 4 year warranty. Would I do it again? Probably not, having one big nice screen is good but the price of good 24/23" screens is much cheaper now that it really doesn't make much sense to buy bigger unless you need all the space on one screen. When I bought it good 24/23" screens were still up there in price so it was worth it at the time.

I don't see the price coming down at all since the high end will always command a premium.

 

[daveswantek]

The prices will never drop. The best video cards have always been ~$500. The best CPUs have always been ~$1000. The best monitors have always been ~$1000. As long as it's the best monitor money can buy, people will cough up the dough. In order for 30-inchers to drop in price, you would need an even higher end model to apply price pressure. There are a few reasons why we haven't seen a higher-end model. 1) DVI bandwidth limit. To go higher resolution you'd need to have DisplayPort take off first. 2) Size limit. A >30" monitor will be too big for a lot of people. 3) Dot pitch limit. Cramming more pixels into the same 30" frame will make text too small for many. The software world is not ready for pixel-independent display scaling.

Despite the limitations, it is still possible to have a higher end model by using better than LCD tech like OLED. However it is questionable whether 30-inchers would continue to exist when they're no longer the highest end model. Specifically, as the prices drop and more less-discerning consumers start buying them, there will be market pressure to shift 30-inchers from 16:10 to 16:9 like the rest of the monitors. So instead of dropping prices on 2560x1600 monitors, the manufacturers will simply stop making them,

I tend to agree; I remember buying high end CRTs for well over a grand.

Where 30 inch LCDs are concerned, the prices have dropped quite a bit. The orignal Dell 3007wfp went for over $2k for quite a while. Now you can catch the U3011 on sale for arround $1300. Still your point is well taken; the market for these is just too small and many of them are entended for CAD and Graphics pros who usually have the budget and need for these displays. Also the insudtry is still pushing 16:9 and 1080p,

It is possable that someone like Alienware could come out with a 30 inch TN panel which would be less expensive and reduce lag, but I will not hold my breath for that.

Dave