Enlarge (credit: Dell )

Dell's Australia arm has been slapped with a $10 million AUD (about $6.49 million) fine for "making false and misleading representations on its website about discount prices for add-on computer monitors," the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced today. The Australian regulator said the company sold 5,300 monitors this way.

As Ars Technica previously reported, the ACCC launched litigation against Dell Australia in November. In June, the Australian Federal Court declared that Dell Australia made shoppers believe monitors would be cheaper if bought as an add-on item.

Here's how the "misleading representations" worked. Shoppers of Dell Australia's website who were buying a computer would see an offer for a Dell display with a lower price next to a higher price with a strikethrough line. That suggested to shoppers that the price they'd pay for the monitor if they added it to their cart now would be lower than the monitor's usual cost. But it turns out the strikethrough prices weren't the typical costs. Sometimes, the lower price was actually higher than what Dell Australia typically charged.

Enlarge / Acer continued selling laptops, like these Chromebooks, in Russia after saying it suspended business there, Reuters reports.

Per a report by Reuters on Thursday, Acer said it sold monitors in Russia after publicly declaring that it would suspend business there due to the Russia-Ukraine war. In Reuters ' report, Acer claimed it only sold a "limited number of displays and accessories" for "civilian daily use." Additionally, Reuters reported that Acer sold laptops in Russia after saying it wouldn't.

On April 8, 2022, Acer, like many tech companies (see: HP , Dell , Microsoft , Intel , Nvidia , etc.), said it would no longer do business in Russia for the foreseeable future.

"Acer strictly adheres to applicable international trade laws and regulations and is closely monitoring the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Due to recent developments, Acer has decided to suspend its business in Russia," the company's statement said at the time.

Enlarge / Philips' display connects a QHD IPS monitor to a 13.3-inch eReader via a hinge. (credit: Philips )

For daily productivity, work, web browsing, and entertainment, eReaders can't compete with the crisp colors and high refresh rates of LCD displays. LCDs (and increasingly OLEDs) have and will be center stage for monitors and laptops. But that doesn't mean LCDs can't share some of the spotlight. There have been various attempts to unite LCD and E Ink technology for computer users over the years. But with limited selection and the offerings typically involving sacrifice in other parts of the product, this hybrid display category hasn't become mainstream.

Even as the iPad and other tablets have become common household gadgets, eReaders have maintained value among certain technologists. Analysts say the market's declining, with Statista showing an expected fall from $396.4 million in 2021 to $204.7 million by 2027. But there are still exciting eReader releases, like the Kindle Scribe that came out in November. And as people grow increasingly concerned about preventing eye strain from screens, some are turning to E Ink for reading sessions over bright LCD screens.

But as stated, there are plenty of experiences that suffer on an eReader compared to a traditional computer display. And that's why some products try to offer both.

Enlarge / A promotional image for LG's larger OLED televisions. (credit: LG)

LG plans to introduce a 20-inch OLED panel by the end of the year, and unlike most other offerings in this size, it will be used in consumer devices.

LG is the leading manufacturer of OLED panels for several other device categories, and the company has been making panels for watches, TVs, and smartphones—but this will be the first time the company will make OLEDs suitable for computer monitors or smaller televisions.

The news comes from South Korean electronics news site The Elec , which reported details from a speech to the Korea Display Industry Association by LG Display Vice President Kang Won-seok.

Enlarge / Two Asus ProArt PA32DC OLED monitors. (credit: Asus )

OLED screens are slowly but surely making their way to desktops. The contrast-rich panel display tech is scattered across premium laptops, but when it comes to PC monitors, most options in the US are too big to fit on a typical desk. There are some, primarily from LG, but we need more options. The latest OLED looks to be the 31.5-inch ProArt PA32DC , which Asus announced Tuesday, and it will be available in October for $3.500.

Barring any surprise releases, the PA32DC should be the next member of a growing group of OLED monitors that can fit atop a desk. For a while, the OLED monitor space has been dominated by juggernauts and, even among the more moderately sized options, gaming displays . The PA32DC targets professionals and creatives to accommodate their office setup in a way that's rare for today's OLED monitors (the exceptions being LG's UltraFine series of 26.5-inch and 31.5-inch OLED monitors and portable monitors using OLED).

The monitor will ship with a hood and cable clips. (credit: Asus )

Asus' 4K OLED monitor has an impressive specs sheet, including 100 percent sRGB, 99 percent DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB, and 80 percent Rec. 2020 coverage. The display also foregoes a color filter, which Asus claimed helped the monitor achieve a color accuracy of Delta E <1.