I bought my first LCD monitor about 12 years ago. It was a 15-inch Panasonic that did only 1024-by-768 resolution. It cost me $1050.

Don’t laugh! $1050 was cheap. When those monitors first came out, the fools who bought them were paying $1600. I thought $1050 was a bargain.

That old Panasonic monitor still works, but it’s in my boneyard. That’s because the resolution is so limited and the newer graphics cards really overpower the thing.

The second LCD monitor I bought was back in 1999. It was Apple’s first Cinema Display. At the time it was revolutionary, a 22-inch diagonal monster. I forget what it cost exactly, but memory tells me it was over $2,000.

I still use the Cinema Display. I’m typing on it now.

Since 2000 I’ve bought only LCD displays. The price has come down dramatically.

My most recent purchase was a 23-inch LCD display for my son’s computer. The cost: $190.

Unlike my cable bill, over time the cost and quality of computer LCD displays has dropped and improved, respectively.

It’s not going to stop there either.

The current trend is to keep the 23- to 30-inch widescreen format for LCD monitors, but make them über thin. I predict that the prices may drop even further, possibly down to $150 for what will be an “entry-level” 23-inch widescreen LCD.

Will the monitors go beyond 30-inches? Who knows? But I can prognosticate some interesting possibilities.

Why are monitors flat? I think sometime in the near future you’re going to see a curved-screen OLED monitor. Think of the old curved Cinerama movie screens: The monitor will have a visible screen size of perhaps 36-inches, but because of the curve, it will take up only as much room as a 30-inch monitor.

Monitors may grow square again. The 16:9 ratio is pretty cool, but the 4:3 ratio is traditional. A 4:3 ratio 30-inch diagonal monitor would a lot taller than the 16:9 ratio monitor. It would be the size of a small kitchen window. Using such a tall monitor might even hurt your neck.

There’s the Y factor, which I discussed in Monday and Wednesday’s blog posts. Future monitors could grow a Y pixel for brighter yellows and gazillions of colors.

Finally, there’s the abomination of 3D. It’s such a gimmick. The people in the 1950s knew it was a gimmick and they got over it. Looks like our Culture of the Easily Fooled has latched on to 3D big time. Thank you, Hollywood. I can see 3D computer monitors popping up in the near future (if they haven’t already). I mean, 3D TV is apparently selling already. Plenty of fools out there.

Regardless of the outcome, I’ll keep a monitor [sic] on the situation.