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Sales of LCD monitors will top $20 billion in 2003, overtaking revenue from sales of conventional CRT monitors this year, according to research released Wednesday by IDC.

The worldwide PC monitor market will grow by 4.8 percent this year, driven by improving economies and an expected spike in PC sales growth. Last year, sales growth for monitors was just 0.7 percent, IDC said.

LCD monitors are steadily getting larger as improved manufacturing technology helps achieve lower prices. The predominant LCD size now is the 15-inch screen, but by 2005 the market will shift to 17-inch screens.

As prices for LCD monitors continue to fall, and CRT manufacturers fail to explain the advantages of their products to end users, the shift to LCDs will continue, according to IDC.

Image Quality

Experts have stated that the human eye needs to see 25 frames per second to be tricked into thinking that motion is continuous, and LCD monitors have often failed to meet this specification, making them less attractive for showing fast-moving graphics such as those found in games.

The new Diamond View DV159 LCD monitor from Mitsubishi Electric has improved pixel response time and can show over 60 frames per second, the manufacturer has stated.

As prices drop, manufacturers will increasingly offer LCDs bundled with PCs, and the standalone LCD monitor market will begin to shrink, according to IDC.

The U.S. is currently the world's largest monitor market, accounting for 34.4 percent of monitors sold, followed by Asia with 24.6 percent of shipments, IDC said.

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