Computer monitor

A monitor is a screen.

It shows us pictures and words.

Long ago, monitors were big and heavy. They used a glass tube to make images.

These old screens were not very sharp.

Now, most screens are thin and light. They use special parts to show colors. These new screens use less power.

Most screens are wide now. This helps us watch movies. They look like a TV.

We connect the screen to the computer with a cord. This lets the screen show what we do.

A computer monitor is a device that shows us pictures or words.

It works with a computer to show what is happening.

Long ago, monitors were very different. They used a cathode ray tube, or CRT. This was a large glass tube that made images.

These screens were often heavy and not very sharp. They could show colors, but many were just black and white.

Today, most people use an LCD. This stands for liquid-crystal display.

LCDs are thin and light. They use less power than old tubes. They also do not flicker much. This helps your eyes feel better when you look at them.

Many monitors are now wide. This is called a 16:9 aspect ratio.

This shape is great for movies and games. Some new screens use OLED technology. These screens can be very good, but they cost more.

To work, you must connect the monitor to a computer. You might use a cord called HDMI or USB-C. This lets the computer send information to the screen.

A computer monitor is a device that shows information. It can show words or pictures. This device is called an output device. It helps us see what a computer is doing. A monitor has many parts. It needs a display, a power supply, and a housing. It also has electronics to help it work. Most monitors connect to a computer using cables. Common cables include HDMI, DisplayPort, or USB-C.

How a monitor works depends on its technology. Older monitors used a cathode ray tube, or CRT. These used a large tube to create images. Most modern monitors use a liquid-crystal display, or LCD. These use a backlight to make the screen bright. Some use an LED backlight. There are also OLED monitors. These can be very good, but they are expensive. They can also suffer from burn-in.

Monitors have a long history. Early computers used light bulbs on a panel. These bulbs showed if a part of the computer was on or off. Engineers called this panel a monitor. Later, monitors were called visual display units, or VDUs. In the 1970s, some monitors were part of a large machine. They were often called "glass TTY" because they acted like typewriters.

Many important changes happened over the years. In 1972, a Tektronix 4010 terminal became affordable. The Apple II computer came out in 1977 with color. IBM released a color adapter in 1981. By 1997, LCD monitors were competing with CRTs. In 2003, LCDs outsold CRTs for the first time. Most monitors changed their shape recently. They moved from a 4:3 ratio to a 16:9 ratio.

We can measure how well a monitor works. We look at the aspect ratio. This is the width compared to the height. We also look at the resolution. This is the number of pixels on the screen. Pixels are the tiny dots that make up the image. We can also measure the refresh rate. This is how many times a second the image changes. This is measured in hertz, or Hz.

A computer monitor is an essential output device used to display information. This information can appear as text or as pictorial images. A complete monitor unit includes several distinct components. It consists of a visual display and support electronics. It also requires a power supply, a protective housing, and electrical connectors. Many monitors include external user controls for adjustments. Most modern monitors connect to a host computer through specific interfaces. These include DisplayPort, HDMI, USB-C, DVI, or VGA.

The history of the monitor began with very simple indicators. Early electronic computer front panels used an array of light bulbs. Each bulb showed the on or off state of a specific register bit. Engineers used this panel to monitor the internal state of the machine. This is why the term "monitor" was first applied to these light panels. At that time, monitors were not used for program output. Instead, a line printer served as the primary output device. In British English, monitors were often called visual display units, or VDUs. This term was common until it fell out of use during the 1990s.

For many decades, the cathode ray tube, or CRT, was the dominant technology. Before home computers arrived in the late 1970s, these were often integrated into large workstations. These devices were sometimes called "glass TTY" because they emulated paper teletypewriters. Early CRT displays were monochromatic, meaning they showed only one color. They were not as sharp as modern screens and required large text. High-resolution CRTs were developed for specialized military and scientific uses. However, they were too expensive for most people. A Tektronix 4010 terminal made wider commercial use possible in 1972.

Color technology evolved rapidly through the late 1970s and 1980s. The Apple II, introduced in 1977, featured color display capability. In 1981, IBM introduced the Color Graphics Adapter, which could show four colors. By 1984, the Enhanced Graphics Adapter could produce 16 colors. By the end of the 1980s, color progressive scan CRT monitors were widely available. These monitors were increasingly affordable for consumers. By the early 2000s, CRT technology remained dominant because it was cheap to produce. However, liquid-crystal displays, or LCDs, began to change the market.

LCD technology offers several physical advantages over the older CRT design. LCD monitors are lighter, smaller, and consume less power. They also produce less flicker, which can help reduce eyestrain. TFT-LCD is a specific type of LCD that is now the dominant technology. In the 1990s, LCDs were mostly used in laptops due to their low power needs. Standalone desktop LCDs appeared in the mid-1990s at high prices. By 1997, they were competing with CRTs. In 2003, LCDs outsold CRTs for the first time.

While LCDs are popular, other technologies exist to provide different benefits. Organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, monitors provide many advantages. They offer benefits found in both LCD and CRT monitors. However, OLEDs are more expensive and can suffer from burn-in. We can measure monitor performance using several specific parameters. The aspect ratio describes the relationship between horizontal and vertical length. Common ratios include 4:3, 5:4, 16:10, and 16:9. Since 2010, the typical ratio for both TVs and monitors has been 16:9.

Resolution and color accuracy are also vital for understanding display quality. Resolution is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension. Pixel density, often measured in pixels per inch (ppi), tells us how tightly packed pixels are. Luminance is the brightness, measured in candelas per square meter. Contrast ratio compares the brightest white to the darkest black. Color depth is measured in bits per primary color. A monitor with 10bpc can display approximately 1 billion shades of color. This is much more precise than traditional 8bpc monitors, which show about 16.8 million colors.

Finally, we must consider how quickly a monitor responds to input. The refresh rate is the number of times a second the image changes. In LCDs, this is expressed in hertz, or Hz. This rate determines the maximum frames per second a monitor can show. Response time is the time a pixel takes to change between two shades. This is usually measured in milliseconds (ms) as grey to grey, or GtG. Lower numbers mean faster transitions. Faster transitions help reduce visible artifacts like ghosting. Input latency is the delay between receiving an image and displaying it.