Any comments = Gateway 42-Inch Plasma TV under 3K


Gateway recently announced a Gateway 42-Inch Plasma TV priced under $3,000. Gateway announced on November 1 2002 the release of their new plasma TV at a market price of $2,999. "It is the first TV they have manufactured in years and they have truly targeted a wider audience of consumers with this more affordable plasma set. With a 42-inch, 16:9 screen, 852 x 480 resolution and internal stereo amplified speakers this plasma is thin enough to hang on nearly every wall".

Any comments on how this unit compares to Sony, etc. Thanks
hgeifman

Showing 1 response by jmcgrogan2

It's the same as the Sampro that sells at Costco for about the same price. It's not a HDTV monitor. The Sony is better, but at a higher cost. The Sony PFM-42B2 is 1024 X 1024 pixels, but cost a couple grand more. I'm reluctant to go plasma for reliability reasons. It's so new that no one knows the life expectancy of the screen. Everyone admits that they cannot be fixed or recharged. Once they are dead they're dead. The manufacturers estimate (possibly biased) is 12 to 15 years of life expectancy. That's if you only watch 4 hours a day and don't turn the brightness up too high. What a dilemma. They look so beautiful, but is it worth the risk of spending $5K and up for something that may be a paperweight in 4-6 years (maybe more, maybe less). I think I'll try to hold out another year and see how the technology evolves.