Television buying guide

Print
E-mail
Share

Your budget range

Televisions are expensive beasts, but they fall into a few distinct price categories. Here's a cheat sheet that will help better align the set of your dreams with the reality of your bank account. Note that these prices reflect the latest street/online price as of this writing. To sort TVs in CNET's database by price range, check out this list...

TV price brackets: Less than $300 | $300 to $500 | $500 to $800 | $800 to $1,100 |
$1,100 to $1,700 | $1,700 to $2,700 | More than $2,700

WHAT YOU'LL PAY		WHAT YOU'LL GET
Less than $300		CRT: up to 27 inches LCD: up to 24 inches
$300 to $500		LCD: up to 32 inches
$500 to $800		LCD: up to 42 inches Plasma: up to 42 inches Rear-projection: up to 50 inches
$800 to $1,100		LCD: up to 47 inches Plasma: up to 50 inches Rear-projection: up to 61 inches
$1,100 to $1,700		LCD: up to 52 inches Plasma: up to 50 inches Rear-projection: up to 67 inches
$1,700 to $2,700		LCD: up to 52 inches Plasma: up to 58 inches Rear-projection: up to 67 inches
More than $2,700		LCD: up to 108 inches Plasma: up to 103 inches Rear-projection: up to 73 inches