interesting possibilities, I can understand why the price of the 16F84 would rise i mean its ancient and time it went, I had no issues starting on the 16F88 and infact have moved down to the 12F615 as the 16F88 had more than i needed, now the 16F883 is bigger physically so more material goes in, it is still 20 MHz like the '88 it just has more ports I beleive. I can understand two chips the same size being different in price to give one the push but these are products meant for different things, apart from price there is no way I'd go for a '883 over a '88 if the '88 did all i need.