TAIWAN: Research firm LEDinside recently has gathered further information about NB with LED (light-emitting-diode) backlight on the market. Until February 2008, prices of LED NB ranged from US$2,100 to US$3,100, while CCFL (cold-cathode-fluorescent lighting) NB equipped with similar hardware cost $1,280 to $2,000.

CCFL NB and LED NB have a price gap of at least 50 percent, says LEDinside. Although with advantages in weights, sizes and energy consumption, it is still quite costly to have an environmental, energy-saving and light LED NB.

Since there is no 11.1-inch CCFL NB available on the market, no meaningful comparison can be made at this time; however, from 12.1-inch to 17-inch models, prices of LED NB are $1,000 higher on average than those of CCFL NB, according to LEDinside's data. Sizes do not directly correlate with differences in pricing. Evidence implies that pricing of LED NB is based on CCFL NB prices plus fixed margins.

As to NB sizes, the survey reveals that 10 kinds of 12.1-inch LED NB are currently on the market, followed by 13.3, 11.1, 14.1, 15.4, and 17. The 13.3-inch LED NB are still rather popular, while more and more products launched with 14.1, 15.4, and 17 inches LCD screens. This trend suggests that producers feel positive about utilizing LED NB applications in all sizes in the future.

Except Acer, LED NB has become one of major developments to almost all NB producers, including HP, Dell, Toshiba, Apple, Asus, SONY and Fujitsu. SONY has the most LED NB models (nine), followed by Apple (six), Toshiba (four) and Fujitsu (four).

As the market becomes more concerned about environment, energy consumption and weights, the percentage of LED NB will be on the rise. AUO recently declared that LED backlight will be adopted in all NB products in 2012, which clearly signals the coming of a LED NB era.

Technical obstacle on light guiding plate (LGP) will be eventually overcome. When designing LED backlight panel, lower cost has become a common concern, which influences the thickness of LGP. The yield rate improvement will cut down LED backlight costs and reduce LED NB prices further. LEDinside predicts that LED NB will grow prominently in models and penetration rates in 2008.