Chapter 5

Output Devices
 Outline

• Output Devices
– Monitor
– Printer
– Speakers
– Projector

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 Output Devices

• Any peripheral that receives or displays

output from a computer.

• Computer hardware equipment used to

communicate the results of data processing
carried out by a computer to the outside
world.

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 Monitor

• The device which displays computer output.

• The monitor displays the video and

graphics information generated by the
computer through the video card.

• Monitors are very similar to televisions but

usually display information at a much
higher resolution.

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 Monitor

Monochrome Monitor

• A monochrome monitor is a type of CRT

computer display which was very common in
the early days of computing, from the 1960s
through the 1980s, before color monitors
became popular.

• They are still widely used in applications such

as computerized cash register systems.

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 Monitor

Monochrome Monitor

• Monochrome monitors actually display two

colors, one for the background and one for the
foreground.

• The colors can be black and white, green and

black, or amber and black.

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 Monitor

Color Monitor

• Color monitors can display anywhere from 16

to over 16 million different colors.

• Color monitors are sometimes called RGB

monitors because they accept three separate
signals -- red, green, and blue.

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 Monitor

Types of Monitor

• Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

• Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
• Light-emitting Diode (LED)

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 Monitor

Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Monitor

• Large
• Heavy
• Produce heat
• Not expensive

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 Monitor
Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Monitor

• In CRT monitors, electrons are fired at phosphor dots

on the screen.
• The dots are grouped into pixels, which glow
when struck by electrons.

a pixel (picture element) is

the smallest piece of
information in an image.

• In color CRTs, each pixel contains a red, green, and blue

dot. These glow at varying intensities to produce color
images.
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 Monitor

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) Monitor

• Less space
• Lighter
• Low power consumption
• Expensive
• Limited viewing angle

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 Monitor

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) Monitor

• Passive matrix LCD uses a grid of vertical and

horizontal conductors, comprised of Indium
Tin Oxide (ITO).

• Inexpensive to manufacture.

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 Monitor

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) Monitor

• Active matrix LCD uses a transistor for each pixel on

the screen.
• Each pixel turn on and off individually
- High refresh rate
- Wider viewing angle
• Many active matrix displays use thin-film transistors
(TFT).
• Thin-film transistor displays use multiple transistors
for each pixel.

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 Active Matrix LCD
It uses thin film transistors (TFT) that
are arranged in a matrix on a glass
surface. These tiny switching transistors
and capacitors control the voltage at each
pixel location.
They are more costly.
It has high response time.
It allows the viewer much more freedom
to choose his/her viewing angle.
They have high refresh rates.
They display higher resolution.
They can create gray scale and offers 256
They do not reproduce colors accurately.
levels of brightness per pixel.
They are used in full-color LCD TVs
monitors, cell phones etc.
Passive Matrix LCD
It uses a grid of vertical and horizontal
conductors comprised of Indium Tin Oxide
(ITO) to create an image. Each pixel is
controlled by an intersection of two
conductors.
They are less costly.
It has low response time.
They are best viewed head on and moving
to either side to view screen from an
oblique angle causes color distortion,
dimming and other problems.
They have low refresh rate.
Resolution is low as compared to active
matrix LCD.
They are used in calculator display or a
digital wrist watch where the display
contains a limited number of segment and
does not require full color.
 Monitor

Light-emitting Diode (LED) Monitor

• Less space
• Lighter
• Very expensive
• Use much lesser power than CRT and LCD
• Provide higher contrast and better viewing
angles than LCD monitor

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 Monitor Features
Screen Size

• The actual amount of screen space that is

available to display a picture, video or working
space.

• Desktop screens are usually 14 - 25 inches by

diagonal measurement.

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 Monitor Features

Aspect Ratio

• The aspect ratio of a display is the fractional

relation of the width of the display area
compared to its height.

• Two common aspect ratio:

– 4:3
– 16:9

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 Monitor Features

Aspect Ratio

Extra Picture Area

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 Monitor Features

Display Resolution

• The resolution of a monitor indicates how

densely packed the pixels are.
• In general, the more pixels (often expressed
in dots per inch), the sharper the image.
• Most modern monitors can display 1024 by
768 pixels, the Super VGA (SVGA) standard.
• Some high-end models can display 1280 by
1024, or even 1600 by 1200.
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 Monitor Features
Refresh Rate
• The refresh rate is the number of times in a
second that a monitor draws the data.
• The refresh rate for a monitor is measured in
hertz (Hz).
• The standard refresh rate is 75Hz, this means
that the monitor redraws the display 75 times per
second.
• A flickering monitor can contribute to eyestrain
and headaches.
• The faster the refresh rate, the less the monitor
flickers 22
 Monitor Features
Refresh Rate

• Refresh rate of active matrix LCD is higher

than passive matrix LCD. 23
 Monitor Features
Color Depth

• Color depth describes how many colors that can

be displayed on a monitor’s screen.

• Common color depths used by monitor:

▪ 4-bit (EGA) = 16 colors
▪ 8-bit (VGA) = 256 colors
▪ 16-bit (High Color) = 65,536 colors
▪ 24-bit (True Color) = 16 million colors

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 Monitor Features

Color Depth

EGA Monitor VGA Monitor

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 Printers

• Printer is an external hardware device

responsible for taking computer data and
generating a hard copy of that data.

• Printers are one of the most used

peripherals on computers and are commonly
used to print text, images, and photos.

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 Overview of Printers - Evaluating Printers

When evaluating printers, consider four criteria:

• Image quality – Measured in dots per inch (dpi).

• Speed – Measured in pages per minute (ppm),

lines per minute (lpm) or characters per second
(cps).
• Initial cost – Consumer printers cost $300 or
less, but professional printers can cost thousands
of dollars.
• Cost of operation – This refers to the cost of
supplies used by the printer.
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 Types of Printer

Printers can be categorized into:

• Impact Printer
• Non-Impact Printer

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 Impact Printer

• It strikes paper and ribbon together to form

a character, like a typewriter.

Advantages Disadvantages
• Less expensive • Noisy
• Can make multiple • Print quality lower in
copies with some types
multipart paper • Poor graphics or
none at all
• Slow
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 Impact Printer
Daisy-wheel

• Is obsolete.
• Similar to a ball-head typewriter, this type of
printer has a plastic or metal wheel on which
the shape of each character stands out in
relief.
• A hammer presses the wheel against a ribbon,
which in turn makes an ink stain in the shape
of the character on the paper.

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 Impact Printer
Daisy-wheel
• Daisy-wheel printers produce letter-quality
print but cannot print graphics.

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 Impact Printer
Dot-Matrix

• Creates characters by striking pins against an

ink ribbon.

• Each pin makes a dot, and combinations of

dots form characters and illustrations.

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 Impact Printer
Dot-Matrix

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 Impact Printer
Line Printers

• Works like dot matrix, but uses a special

wide print head that can print an entire line
at one time.

• Do not offer high resolution, but fast

• Can print 3000 lines per minute.

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 Impact Printer

Band Printers
• Features a rotating band embossed with
alphanumeric characters.
• Rotates the band to the desired characters,
then a small hammer taps the band, pressing
the character against a ribbon
• Very fast
• Good quality printer can print 2000 lines per
minute

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 Non-impact Printer

• It uses ink spray, toner powder or inkless

Advantages Disadvantages
• Quiet • More expensive
• Can handle graphics • Occupies a lot of
and often a wider space
variety of fonts than • The cost of
impact printers maintaining it is high
• Fast

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 Non-impact Printer
Ink Jet Printers

• Inkjet printer operates by propelling variably-

sized droplets of liquid or molten material
(ink) onto almost any sized page.
• They are the most common type of computer
printer used by consumers.

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 Non-impact Printer
Ink Jet Printers

• Ink jet printers are available for color and

black-and-white printing.
• Ink jet printers offer speeds of (13 – 15 pages
per minute ppm) and resolution (300 – 720 dots
per inch dpi), comparable to low-end laser
printers.
• Ink jet printers are inexpensive and have low
operating costs.
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 Non-impact Printer

Laser Printers (Toner-based)

• A laser printer rapidly produces high quality

text and graphics.
• Laser printers are often used in corporate,
school, and other environments that require
print jobs to be completed quickly and in large
quantities.
• Laser printers are available for color and
black-and-white printing.
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 Non-impact Printer

Laser Printers (Toner-based)

• They use heat and pressure to bond particles of

toner to paper.
• Laser printers provide resolutions from 600 –
2400 dpi.
• Black-and-white laser printers usually produce
4 – 20 ppm.
• Laser printers produce higher-quality print
than ink jet printers, but are more expensive.
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 Non-impact Printer
Multifunction Printer (Toner-based)
• An MFP is an office machine which
incorporates the functionality of multiple
devices in one.

• A typical MFP may act as a combination of

some or all of the following devices:
– Printer
– Scanner
– Photocopier
– Fax
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 Non-impact Printer
Snapshot Printers

• Snapshot printers are specialized, small-

format printers that print digital
photographs.

• Snapshot printers are fairly slow, and can

be more expensive to operate.

• Snapshot printers are popular

among digital camera users.

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 Other High-Quality Printers

Print shops and publishers use these printers

to create high-quality color images:

• Thermal-wax

• Dye-sublimation

• Photo Printers

• IRIS

• Plotters
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Thermal-wax

• Thermal printers work by selectively heating

regions of special heat sensitive paper.

• These printers are commonly used in

calculators and fax machines; and although
they are inexpensive and print relatively
fast, they produce low resolution print jobs.

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Dye-sublimation
– Used by desktop publishers and graphic artists.
– Gives realistic quality and color for photo
images.
– Creates extremely sharp images.
– Slow and costly.
– Needs special paper.
– A ribbon containing panels of color is moved
across a focused heat source capable of subtle
temperature variations.
– The heated dyes evaporate from the ribbon and
diffuse on specially coated paper.
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Photo Printers
– Used by publishers and print shops.
– Easy to print hard copies of images taken on
a digital camera.
– Work slowly.
– Can print multiple images on a single sheet.
– Takes several minutes for a printout to dry.
– Do not need a computer (remove the memory
card from the camera and plug it into the
printer).
– Many printers use inkjet technology, a few
use dye-sublimation technology.
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IRIS
– Used by print shops
– Produces high-resolution presentation
graphics
– Form of inkjet printing in which individual
sheets of paper are mounted onto a drum
– The nozzles on the ink jet printing head pass
from one end of the spinning drum to the
other, spraying tiny drops of colored ink to
form image.
– Can produce an image with the resolution of
1,800 dpi.
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Plotters

– Special kind of output device.

– Produces images on paper, but used to print
large format images.
– Plotters are used in applications such as
computer aided design such as diagrams,
layouts, specification sheets and banners.
– Plotters use mechanical, ink jet, or thermal
technology to create large-format images
for architectural or engineering uses.

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Plotters

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 Speakers

• A hardware device connected to a computer’s

sound card that outputs sounds generated by
the computer.
• Speakers can be used for various sounds
meant to alert the user, as well as music and
spoken text.

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 Headphones
• Headphones give sound output from the
computer.

• They are similar to speakers, except they are

worn on the ears so only one person can hear
the output at a time.

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 Projector

• An output device that can take the display of

a computer screen and project a large version
of it onto a flat surface.

• Projectors are often used in meetings and

presentations so that everyone in the room
can view the presentation.

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 Projector

Types of projector

• Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) projector

• Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) projector
• Digital Light Processing (DLP) projector

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 Projector

Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) projector

• In the early days of projectors, CRT projectors

were commonly used.
• They utilized three tubes, one for each of the
primary colors.
• Due to their large size, low light output and the
frequent need to converge and align the images
projected from each of the three tubes, they
are no longer commonly used.
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 Projector

Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) projector

• Long service life; CRT tubes maintain good

brightness to 10,000 hours.
• CRT projectors are both considerably larger and
heavier than comparable LCD and DLP
projectors.
• CRT projectors require far more time to set up
and adjust than LCD and DLP based projectors.

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 Projector
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) projector

• LCD projectors work by utilizing polarized

mirrors that pass and reflect only certain
colors of light.
• This causes each channel of red, green and
blue to be separated and later re-converged
via a prism after passing through an LCD panel
that controls the intensity and saturation of
each color.

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 Projector

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) projector

• An LCD projector can achieve greater

brightness at a lower energy consumption.

• Smaller than CRT projectors.

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 Projector

Digital Light Processing (DLP) projector

• DLP projectors can be classified as one-chip or

three-chip.
• One-chip DLP projectors can produce more
than 16 million colors while three-chip models
can produce more than 35 trillion colors.
• This allows DLP projectors to reproduce more
natural and lifelike images.
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