The curious pricing of the 27" iMac
<i>there’s an entire high-end computer stuck to the back of it</i><p>Actually, there's an entire <i>discount-parts</i> ($150 cpu, $70 video card) computer stuck to the back of it. If you configure it with high-end parts the price goes up to $2200 and even then you're getting a previous-generation video card (radeon 4850 rather than the new 5850).<p>It's not really so curious. Apple does the "make exclusive deal with a supplier and beat the rest of the market by 6 months in order to look cool" trick all the time. They did it with Intel for the Macbook Air CPU for example.<p>What it must mean is that e-IPS panels cost much less to manufacture than s-IPS panels. And that a new generation of higher-res e-IPS displays will be arriving in 6 months.<p>EDIT: I googled "e-ips" and found this at <a href="http://www.displayblog.com/2009/02/13/lg-display-e-ips-lcd-panel-update-2/" rel="nofollow">http://www.displayblog.com/2009/02/13/lg-display-e-ips-lcd-p...</a><p><i>LG Display has developed what it calls e-IPS. e-IPS is a version of the company’s trademark IPS technology that brings the cost down. Way down. LG Display target market is toward the larger LCD monitor market that is currently dominated by TN (Twisted Nematic) technology. LG Display has stated that its e-IPS LCD panels will be price competitive with TN LCD panels.</i>