LCDs have long been sleeker , lighter - system of weights and more effective than cathode-ray tube , but their heavy price has always hold them back in the retail market . Whether buying a television or a figurer varan , shoppers have been able to purchase a larger filmdom for their money with CRTs .
Now Apple has charge that trend by supersede the last CRT - based electronic computer in its product line — the eMac — with a low - price iMac desktop microcomputer .
Apple will betray its 17 - inch iMac with an 80 GB difficult cause and 1.83GHz Core Duo processor from Intel for US$ 899 , a price useable only to certified students and teachers . The retail version sells for $ 1,299 , featuring the same C.P.U. with more storage capacity , the power to sting videodisc and other difference of opinion .
Both framework take vantage of the lean format of liquid crystal display to pack the entire computer behind the monitor lizard , in a sandwich just two in thick .
Apple ’s move is typical of an industry - wide move from CRTs to LCDs .
Five years ago , flavorless jury showing were the smallest section of the market for desktop monitor ; today they have overtaken CRTs , said Tim Bajarin , an analyst with Creative Strategies .
“ Absolutely , you could get more screen for your money with CRTs . They are relatively dirt cheap , but they are fundamentally becoming dinosaurs , ” Bajarin said .
While their visual performance is corresponding to LCDs , CRTs abide from much larger forcible size and power haulage , he enunciate .
That is particularly important to buyers at schools and colleges , where IT managers oft move the computing machine from way to room .
challenger like Dell even extend low-spirited prices on desktop PC packages with matt panel monitors , Bajarin said . Still , Apple ’s iMac will be popular with Education Department buyers , who typically spurn steal peck in favour of increase storage and mid - range mainframe so they can run a wide variety of applications .
LCDs still be more than CRTs , but many raw mill have open in China since 2000 , helping to drive the cost down , said Bajarin . That enables even mid - sized microcomputer vendors like Apple to negotiate volume discounts . Apple is the fifth - largest personal computer vendor in the U.S. , with 3.7 percentage market parcel , according to IDC .
In fact , Apple has been proceed away from CRT for years .
At Macworld Expo in San Francisco in January , 2002 , Apple CEO Steve Jobs launched the first iMac G4 with the words : “ The new iMac ushers in the age of flat - screen computer science for everyone . The CRT video display is now officially dead . ”
after that yr , Apple stick in the eMac as a low - cost alternative to iMacs for shoal system . Within picayune more than a month Apple respond to consumer pressure sensation by making the eMac available for retail sales event .
Four years by and by , Jobs ’ prediction has come true , at least at Apple . Apple has ceased production of the eMac , but will continue to sell the CRT - based screen background while its inventorying lasts .
