Acer ships 22-inch B223 DisplayLink USB monitor in Europe

The whole DisplayLink thing still hasn't completely caught fire or anything, but it's getting there -- slowly, but surely. Now, Acer has a new USB-connected monitor that's shipping in Europe, the 22-inch B223. The unit is part of the outfit's B series of monitors and features a decidedly ho hum 1,680 x 1,050 resolution, a DL-160 network display chip that enables up to six of these to be connected to a single PC and a 5-millisecond response time. You should definitely expect a premium when getting all this USB-y functionality, but €339 ($430) just seems, how do you say... outrageous?

[Via Electronista]

[Will H. @ Dec 6th 2008 7:59AM]

I wouldn't go so far as to say it's outrageous. It's pricey, yea, but it's new tech, it's rare, and no one wants it, demand is low, so price is high.

[iEye @ Dec 6th 2008 9:44AM]

Waaaay too high..

If all you want is 2 hooked up together there are cheaper ways to accomplish this for only $200 a panel...

I just with someone wold come up with a wat to connect up to 6 iPhone or iTouches together...

[Fusion Fuzo 05 - Mr Professional @ Dec 6th 2008 10:05AM]

Price to HIGH Says the apple fanboy!...........

[GenBanks @ Dec 6th 2008 10:40AM]

Low supply raises prices, but low demand should actually keep the prices down.

http://www.benbest.com/polecon/shift.gif

[matt @ Dec 6th 2008 12:16PM]

@GenBanks

Will H was right - lower demand generally leads to higher price. Your diagram shows a shift in the demand schedule not that lower demand leads to a lower price. A shift is the result of an exogenous event, as can be understood from the fact that you have not changed any variable dependent on q. It's simple algebra, suppose the inverse demand schedule is given by p = b - aq and there is a shift to p = c - aq where c < b, then p is lower but the marginal change in price for a marginal change in q is still the same i.e. lower demand generally leads to a higher price but on a different, lower, schedule.

Why would you think that the demand curve has shifted for this product anyway?

Sorry this is my first ever post here and I know it is going to be low rated, but GenBanks really needs to retake econ101 and is hopefully not a banker :)

[Will H. @ Dec 6th 2008 6:39PM]

Thanks @matt , good post. And @Fuzo , I'm not an apple fanboy, what does that have to do with this monitor? It's "too expensive" and not "to expensive" by the way.

[GenBanks @ Dec 7th 2008 7:05AM]

Well I just based my opinion on basic econ101 type stuff, I think what you're saying is beyond my level :p

I would think the demand would be low (with a corresponding position of the demand curve) because these particular panels aren't very desirable to most people, for various reasons. I was always taught that price shouldn't be used to explain demand.

If the demand and supply curves settle at different points, then the equilibrium price measured at where the two curves intersect can be read. And the further the demand curve is to the left, the lower the price (compared to if it were on the right).

[dale1v @ Dec 7th 2008 2:05PM]

"Will H was right - lower demand generally leads to higher price"

No- in most scenarios, Price controls demand; not the other way around, and if demand does indirectly control price, low demand WOULDNT lead to an INCREASE in price, it would lead to a decrease in price, an example the PS3- no-one wanted it until the dropped the price :O

What you have said was the complete opposite of the Supply and Demand diagram that I've been putting into my econ exams and essays for years, and unless all of my teachers, examiners, textbooks and moderators were wrong, someone on this blog has made a grave mistake...

ouch:X

[Chi @ Dec 7th 2008 4:01PM]

argh!!!! How do you say outrageous?!!?!?!?

[matt @ Dec 8th 2008 9:05AM]

@dale1v

I am well aware that the independent variable strictly speaking is price, hence quantity demanded is usually simply written as a function of price Q(p) and my explanation was well...fudged, I hadn't expected to have a discussion of economics here :)

If by lower demand you mean a lower demand schedule, then of course you are right. But along a demand schedule a lower quantity demanded does translate into a higher price (differentiate a demand function...). What I meant is that an equilibrium with lower demand that has arisen from the strategic choice of the firms supply (Cournot competition, where the quantity supplied is the firm's strategic variable) results in a higher price. In common parlance you might want to describe this as not being a case of low demand >> high price, but it is part of the mathematics of the demand function that as there is a fall along the schedule (going left on the diagram) there is an increase in price - it is a case of differentiating the function and is part of the definition of the demand schedule (excluding uncommon cases where demand has the opposite characteristic, such as Giffen goods). To be fair, I haven't needed to draw a supply/demand diagram in years - I tend to rely on calculus, which is why I used it in my first comment, which I thought was pretty clear. IMHO the difference of opinion arises from the difference between a lower demand schedule and lower quantity demanded, as I said in the former case you are correct.

Also price is not set in isolation, it is a strategic variable just like anything else under the control of a firm. Assuming sufficient differentiation among goods, then a firm can to some extent set the price they want. In the case of this monitor for example, they will probably have set the price high because they know the majority of people are not willing to pay a premium for it's differentiating characteristics, so rather than cannibalise their lower end products they could maximise profits by charging a larger premium and supply less of the product (the actual strategic variable is probably best described as supply as capacity is the longer term constraint). The majority of consumers would purchase the lower cost lower margin good, and some who value the differentiating characteristics sufficiently would purchase the higher cost higher margin good. This strategy would lead to an efficiency loss to the economy, but is a plausible strategy for Asus as they can differentiate between consumers and capture some of the consumer surplus.

[Pete @ Dec 6th 2008 8:00AM]

I love these screens, will buy 2 of these puppies

[Mobius_1 @ Dec 6th 2008 8:43AM]

not 2c, more like €678 ($860)

unless you are just spamming, in which case STFU.

[Aaquib @ Dec 6th 2008 9:14AM]

Awesome site!!! I'm going to recommend it to all my friends!

...NOT.

[Labrador @ Dec 6th 2008 9:14AM]

Is it me or is Engadget starting to sound more and more like The Enquirer... You are tech reporters not second rate stand-up comedians, please act as such.

[ProfessorKaos @ Dec 7th 2008 12:13PM]

This is hardly "inquirer-esque" as you say, you should read engadget more often as also know by now this is how most of their writers...well....write.

On the article: glad to see display link getting attention but, why is display link any better than the current dual link DVI?

[iEye @ Dec 6th 2008 10:05AM]

@ MadMax... ShiteReviews4U.com!!!

[Fusion Fuzo 05 - Mr Professional @ Dec 6th 2008 10:15AM]

madmax, as it states in the about section of that disaster website of yours

''My name is Rigved Sathe and I am a 14-year-old teen from Pune, India.
I am currently learning to build my website.
I like all kinds of tech gadgets.
My hobbies are playing football, listening to music, eating all kinds of foods, building my website, watching movies etc.
I also like to surf on the internet and read feeds.
I wish myself a grand success with this website of mine.''

It's best you take down this website, there will be no grand success with this website, unless you restart it with help from a professional IT Technician like me..............


Professional
Fusion Fuzo

[Mobius_1 @ Dec 6th 2008 11:02AM]

Fusion, for once, I thought about high ranking you.

Then I got to the last sentence...

[Cory @ Dec 6th 2008 12:59PM]

lol @ all this BS about it being a new tech and expensive. The ASUS VW223B is under $250 shipped and has been out for a while.

[Onouris @ Dec 6th 2008 10:21PM]

Leave the guy alone holy crap. He's just putting some effort into a site, not seen it, and wants some people to visit. Get the sand out of your vaginas. It's not hard to skip by one post. Pretty easy to skip by all the hot headed idiots on here constantly flaming.

[ProfessorKaos @ Dec 7th 2008 12:15PM]

I only see the word cool, unless his comment was altered

[Paul C @ Dec 7th 2008 4:11PM]

I'm running out of USB ports....