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Cool. Now make it a touch screen with wireless connectors and sell it in racks beside the drywall at the local home improvement store. I keep waiting for this

Cool. Now make it a touch screen with wireless connectors and sell it in racks beside the drywall at the local home improvement store. I keep waiting for this world of ubitquitous cheap displays that we've been promised. Seems like we're getting there -- but it's been taking its sweet time.

uptown 11y ago
"I keep waiting for this world of ubiquitous cheap displays that we've been promised." What do you consider cheap? You can get a 42" screen for under $300 these days. That used to cost $1500 and weigh 5 times as much not too long ago.
- owenversteeg 11y ago
  I imagine he's referring to 13-21" screens, where the price has stagnated in the past, say, 5 years, especially relative to higher-end displays. Case in point: you can now get a $5 Raspi Zero, which is more powerful than my laptop from seven years ago, which cost $700. That's an absolutely insane, and amazing, reduction in price. But any meaningful display for it will cost you around $90-$120, which is roughly how much it cost seven years ago. As much as I appreciate the stupid and pointless race towards insane resolutions for how it benefits VR, I too wish we had some progress making "normal", 1920x1080 20" (or 13" 1600x900) displays for cheap. People talk about "Raspi Zero, the $5 computer" but for six billion people in the world who don't have a computer, a computer is a device with a screen. When that whole shebang becomes $5, having a computer suddenly becomes a choice for everyone, not a privilege for the upper 15% of society. And right now, the thing that's holding us back from that dream is only the display. A $5 Raspi, which consumes 0.6W at most, can be powered for 18 hours with a battery that costs $2 in bulk. A SD card in bulk might be an extra $3 and a Wifi dongle can be had for $2 in bulk. That's a $12 laptop. Add a display, and your $12 laptop becomes $100. The lack of progress in displays is criminal.

uptown 11y ago

"I keep waiting for this world of ubiquitous cheap displays that we've been promised." What do you consider cheap? You can get a 42" screen for under $300 these days. That used to cost $1500 and weigh 5 times as much not too long ago.

owenversteeg 11y ago
I imagine he's referring to 13-21" screens, where the price has stagnated in the past, say, 5 years, especially relative to higher-end displays. Case in point: you can now get a $5 Raspi Zero, which is more powerful than my laptop from seven years ago, which cost $700. That's an absolutely insane, and amazing, reduction in price. But any meaningful display for it will cost you around $90-$120, which is roughly how much it cost seven years ago. As much as I appreciate the stupid and pointless race towards insane resolutions for how it benefits VR, I too wish we had some progress making "normal", 1920x1080 20" (or 13" 1600x900) displays for cheap. People talk about "Raspi Zero, the $5 computer" but for six billion people in the world who don't have a computer, a computer is a device with a screen. When that whole shebang becomes $5, having a computer suddenly becomes a choice for everyone, not a privilege for the upper 15% of society. And right now, the thing that's holding us back from that dream is only the display. A $5 Raspi, which consumes 0.6W at most, can be powered for 18 hours with a battery that costs $2 in bulk. A SD card in bulk might be an extra $3 and a Wifi dongle can be had for $2 in bulk. That's a $12 laptop. Add a display, and your $12 laptop becomes $100. The lack of progress in displays is criminal.