And thus does another rumor come to pass: during his WWDC "fireside chat" (and subsequently in yet another press release), Uncle Steve revealed that Apple has become the first computer manufacturer to move its entire line of displays to LCD flat-panel technology. Yup, kiss the venerable CRT buh-bye, because as far as Apple is concerned, it has already long outstayed its welcome. You just know that if the pricing realities had let him, Steve would have tossed the CRT out with the floppy drive years ago.

The company's lone remaining CRT, the $499 17-inch Apple Studio Display, has just been discontinued and replaced-- with another 17-inch Apple Studio Display. Naming confusion aside, we assure you that you won't mistake the new one for the old; Apple's latest display replaces the bulky cathode ray tube with a light, thin, and gorgeous LCD flat-panel. It looks just like the 15-inch model but, well, bigger; this is the "Peter" in Apple's LCD Brady boys lineup. You also probably won't mistake the price-- $999 for the new 17-incher, twice as much as the CRT version it replaces. But don't freak out too much just yet; that's an excellent price for a 17-inch 1280x1024 LCD, in our opinion (especially one that's guaranteed to be as high-quality as Apple's is). Meanwhile, the prices of the 15-incher and the 22-inch Apple Cinema Display have both dropped-- to $599 and $2499, respectively. Yes, that means that Apple's cheapest display option is now $100 higher than it was yesterday, but evidently that's the price of progress.

All of this means that the only CRTs still in Apple's product line are the 15-inch tubes installed in every iMac-- and you can bet that Apple won't be keeping those around for much longer, either. With the standalone 15-inch LCD display now selling for $599, we're entering pricing territory that will finally let Apple introduce a very different flat-screen iMac without raising the product's price much (or, hopefully, at all). With LCD prices continuing to free-fall, we're going to assume that an LCD iMac will make its debut this summer, even if Apple has to trim its iMac margins to the bone at first just to get them out the door ASAP.

By the way, cost-conscious Mac fans aren't the only ones wincing at Apple's all-LCD stance; graphic artists are also likely bemoaning the extinction of the CRT in Apple's product lineup. CRTs may be big, hot, heavy, and energy-inefficient, but they still seem to output better color fidelity and uniformity than even the best LCDs yet available. Of course, no one's forcing people to buy Apple displays for their Macs, and this may be a golden opportunity for a third party to fill the gap by offering a professional-quality CRT with an industrial design that complements Apple's sleek lines and silvery tones. Of course, such a display would probably use a standard analog VGA cable instead of Apple's all-digital (and all-proprietary) ADC connector, but hey, there's always a trade-off somewhere...