Digital Home Advisor

1988 vs. 2008: A tech retrospective

Think the iPhone is pricey? The cool cell phone of 1988 cost $4382 in today's dollars. A 150MB hard drive? $8755. Take a trip with us down memory lane, and you'll never whine about the price of a gadget again.

Becky Waring (PC World) 16/05/2008 17:40:00

Page:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
< previous
next >

More by Becky Waring

Reviews

Slideshows

Dell's Inspiron Mini 9

In pictures: Godfather II

SBK: Superbike World Championship

Official Google Chrome screenshots

Newsletter Subscription

GoodGearGuide GearDaily Newsletter [Daily]

Each day the GearDaily Newsletter covers the latest from the last week in a specific category. Monday is "Computing, Small Office and Home Office", Tuesday is "On the Move", Wednesday is "Digital Cameras, Video and Imaging", Thursday is "Mobile Phones and Communications" and Friday is "Home Entertainment".

GoodGearGuide GearShop Newsletter [Weekly]

See the latest products and comparison prices added to GearShop each week.

GoodGearGuide Pre-Register

The GoodGearGuide portfolio of services is rapidly expanding. By joining this list you will be pre-registered for any new email services we launch so you won't miss out on any of our independent product guidance and purchasing information. You will be automatically subscribed and receive the new service(s) but dont worry, should you wish to unsubscribe you can do so with only one click.

Big-Screen TVs

1988: Mitsubishi Diamond Vision II 3503

•Price: $3000 ($5258 adjusted for inflation)

•Size: 35 inches

•Resolution: 480 lines, interlaced

•Format: NTSC

•Display technology: CRT

2008: Panasonic TH-50PZ77U HDTV

•Price: $2300

•Size: 50 inches

•Resolution: 1080 lines, progressive scan

•Format: ATSC

•Display technology: plasma

When Mitsubishi shipped its 35-inch Diamond Vision television in 1985, it was the world's biggest cathode-ray tube TV. By 1988, popular electronics columnist Harry Somerfield said that the company's model 3503 offered "probably the best big picture available anywhere, at any price."

The phrase "at any price" was apt, since (in 2008 dollars) the 3503 cost $5258. The smooth image quality and excellent color of analog CRTs still beats what plasma and LCD sets can produce, but tubes have some practical limitations: A 35-inch CRT weighs about 200 pounds, and it's about 2 feet deep. The demand for ever-larger screens has prompted a switch to flat-panel TVs. One of today's top models is the 50-inch Panasonic TH-50PZ77U, a plasma-screen television that has garnered a slew of awards.

Sharp predicts that by 2015 the average TV screen size will have increased to 60 inches. Organic light-emitting diodes, the next big thing in display technology, will offer breathtaking image quality. The 60-inch screens of the future may be OLED-based, but the technology still has some maturing to do: The OLED screen on Sony's new $2300 XEL-1 measures just 11 inches.

Page: