Output devices

Output devices
Definition: An output device is a peripheral device that enables the computer to
communicate information to humans or machines. An output data receives data
from a computer and transforms them into a usable form.
Output devices consist of computer components such as monitor, printer, speaker
and plotter that transfer information from computer memory to the outside
world. They display or print text, graphics or pictures.
Output is of two types: Hardcopy and softcopy
Hardcopy: The output generated on paper by an output device such as printer or
plotter is called Hardcopy output.
Softcopy: The output in the form of data or information stored on a storage
device or displayed on a monitor is called Softcopy output.

A. Monitors
i. Definition: A monitor, sometimes called a VDU (Visual display unit), is a
commonly used electronic output device for computers. It displays the results of
the user activities. The output produced by monitors is called softcopy output. It
consists of a screen and different electronic components.
In a desktop computer, a monitor is a separate unit. In portable computers,
monitor is built on top of the casing of the device.
ii. Characteristics of monitors
Monitors are of different types. We classify them on the basis of following
characteristics:
a. Size: A monitor's size affects how well you can see images. With a larger
monitor you can make the objects on the screen appear bigger, or you can
fit more of them on the screen. The size of the monitor is measured
diagonally. Standard size of monitor is from 15 to 22 inches.
b. Color: The monitor can be either monochrome, greyscale or colored.
1. Monochrome monitors display only one color (green, amber or
white) against a contrasting background, which is usually black.
These monitors are used for text-only displays where the user does
not need to see color graphics.
2. Grayscale monitors display varying intensities of gray (from a very
light gray to black) against a white or off-white background and arc
essentially a type of monochrome monitor.
3. Color monitors can display between 16 colors and 16 million colors.
Pixels in color monitors are made up of three dots; red, green and
blue.
c. Resolution: The term resolution refers to the sharpness or clarity of an
image. A monitor’s resolution is determined by the number of pixels on the
screen, expressed as a matrix. The more pixels a monitor can display, the
higher its resolution and the clearer its images appear. The number of
pixels (or dots) per square inch is called the resolution of the monitor. For
example, a resolution of 640 X 480 means that there are 640 pixels
horizontally across the screen and 480 pixels vertically down the screen.
1. Pixel: Short for Picture Element. Pixel is a collection of small/tiny dots on
the monitor which form the image.
2. Standards for resolution: There are various standards for monitor
resolution. The Video Graphics Array (VGA) standard is 640 X 480 pixels.
The Super VGA (SVGA} standard expanded the resolutions to 800 X 600
and 1024 X 768.
d. Dot Pitch: The distance between adjacent pixels on the monitor is called
dot pitch. The lesser the dot pitch more will be resolution of the monitor.
 Dot pitch is measured as a fraction of a millimeter (mm), and dot pitches
can range from .15 mm (very fine) to .40 mm or higher (coarse). As a
general rule, the smaller the dot pitch, the finer and more detailed images
will appear on the monitor.
e. Refresh rate: A monitor's refresh rate is the number of times per second
that the electron guns scan every pixel on the screen. Refresh rate is
important because phosphor dots fade quickly after the electron gun
charges them with electrons. If the screen is not refreshed often enough, it
appears to flicker, and flicker is one of the main causes of eyestrain. Refresh
rate is measured in Hertz (Hz), or in cycles per second. This means that if a
monitor’s refresh rate is 100 Hz, it refreshes its pixels 100 times every
second.

Pixels on a screen Pixels of a cursor on screen

 Resolution (pixels per inch)

Resolution (Dots per inch (DPI))

Dot pitch (distance between pixels)

Classification of colored monitors
Colored monitors are divided into following two types:
1. Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT) Monitors
2. Flat-panel monitors
a. Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) Monitors
1. Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Monitors
CRT monitors are similar to the standard television sets because they contain
Cathode Ray Tube. A CRT is a vacuum-tube that contains one or more electron
guns of different colors.
i. Structure:
Cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a phosphors
coated screen. Near the back of a monitor's housing is an electron gun. The back
of the monitor’s screen is coated with phosphors, chemicals that glow when they
are struck by the electron beam.
The screen’s phosphor coating is organized into a grid of dots. The smallest
number of phosphor dots that the gun can focus on is called a pixel.
ii. Working:
CRT monitors convert electrical signals into electron beam and these electron
beams strike with phosphor coated pixels on the screen and generate a physical
display.
The electron gun, fires a beam of electrons which falls repeatedly on the
phosphors coated screen and it glows for a fraction of a second. The electron gun
does not just focus on a spot and shoot electrons at it. It systematically aims at
every pixel on the screen, starting at the top left corner and scanning to the right
edge. Then it drops down a tiny distance and scans another line
In color CRT monitors there are three electron guns while the phosphors atoms
are in three different colors i.e. Red, Green, and Blue (RGB). Other colors are
produced by the combinations of these three colors. In a color monitor, each pixel
includes three phosphors—red, green, and blue—arranged in a triangle.
iii. Characteristics of a CRT monitor:
a. Weight: It is big in size and bulky. It has a curved screen.
b. Use: It is used with desktop computers
c. Electricity consumption: CRT monitors require a lot of power to run.
d. Main element: It uses cathode ray tube to display the output.
e. Cost: Less expensive than LCD and LED monitors.
f. Resolution: Lesser than LCD and LEDs.
g. Radiation: Emits a lot of radiation and can be harmful to eyes.

RGB pixels in a colored monitor

Scanning pattern of CRT electron gun

 CRT Monitor
Watch this video for understanding
[Link]

2. Flat-panel monitors
A new generation of large, high-resolution, flat-panel displays is gaining popularity
among users of desktop systems. These new monitors provide the same viewable
area as CRT monitors, but they take up less desk space and run cooler than
traditional CRT monitors.
a. Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) is a type of flat-panel monitor. It is thin and light
weight and has a flat screen.
The LCD monitor creates images with a special kind of liquid crystal that is
normally transparent but becomes opaque when charged with electricity.
Molecules of liquid crystal are long and cylindrical in shape.
i. Structure: In LCDs, pixels are made up of liquid crystal molecules. There are
millions of liquid crystals present on the back side of LCD screen. These crystals
are arranged in the form of matrix, sandwiched between two polarized glass
plates. Thousands of electrodes are present to provide voltage to pixels. Liquid
crystals are affected by electric field, when we apply a voltage it will react and
change its arrangement. This unique behavior of liquid crystals made the key to
LCDs.
ii. Polarized glass: It is used to remove glare or extra radiation from the surface of
the screen.
iii. Working: The molecules of this substance are lined up in such a way that the
light behind the screen is blocked or allowed to create an image on the screen.
When electrodes provide voltage to pixels, some liquid crystals store or block the
voltage. Pixels that store or block the voltage are ‘on’. Those pixels that do not
store the voltage are ‘off’.
iv. Application areas: They are used in a wide range of applications, including
computer monitors, televisions, and clocks.
For in-depth understanding: [Link]

Arrangement of liquid crystal in a matrix

v. Types of LCD:
LCDs are of two types:
a. Passive matrix LCDs
b. Active matrix LCD
a. Passive matrix LCDs
A passive LCD is a low cost option when a display is needed for an application that
doesn’t require a high performance display.
Passive-matrix is an LCD technology that uses a grid of vertical and horizontal
wires to display an image on the screen. Each pixel is controlled by an intersection
of two wires in the grid. By altering the electrical charge at a given intersection,
the color and brightness of the corresponding pixel can be changed.
Since the charge of two wires (both vertical and horizontal) must be altered in
order to change a single pixel, the response time of passive-matrix displays is
relatively slow. This means fast movement on a passive-matrix display may
appear blurry or faded, since the electrical charges cannot keep up with the
motion. This is called ‘submarining’.
b. Active matrix LCDs
The active matrix LCD technology assigns a transistor to each pixel, and each pixel
is turned on and off individually. This enhancement allows the pixels to be
refreshed much more rapidly, so submarining is not a problem.
Active matrix screens have a wider viewing angle than passive matrix screens.
TFT: Active matrix displays use thin-film transistor (TFT) technology, which
employs as many as four transistors per pixel. Today, most notebook computers
feature TFT displays.

Active vs. passive matrix LCDs

Watch this video
[Link]

B. Data projectors
Data projectors also are called digital light projectors or video projectors. A data
projector plugs into one of the computer’s ports and then projects the video
output onto an external surface.
These small devices weigh only a few pounds and can display over 16 million
colors at high resolution. Many projectors can work in either still video (slide)
mode or full-video (animation) mode, and can display output from a VCR or DVD
drive as well as from a computer disk.
Most projectors use LCD technology to create images. (For this reason, these
devices are sometimes called LCD projectors.) Like traditional light projectors, LCD
projectors require the room to be darkened. They display blurry images in less-
than-optimal lighting conditions.

C. Sound system
Microphones are now important input devices, and speakers and their associated
technologies are key output systems.
Today, nearly any new multimedia-capable PC includes a complete sound system
with:
 a microphone
 speakers
 a sound card
 a CD-ROM or DVD drive
Sound card:
A computer's sound card is a circuit board that converts sound from analog to
digital form, and vice versa, for recording or playback.
Structure: A sound card has both input and output functions.
If you want to use your computer’s microphone to record your voice, you
connect the microphone to the sound card’s input jack. If you want to listen to
songs, you connect speakers to the output jack.
a. Headphones and headsets
These devices are helpful when using portable computers, which do not
have very high-quality speakers, or when playing audio might disturb other
people.
Headphones include a pair of speakers, which are attached to an adjustable
strap that can be custom-fitted to the wearer’s head.
Headset includes one or two speakers and a microphone, all mounted to an
adjustable head-strap. The headset's microphone plugs into the sound
card's microphone input, and the speakers connect to the sound card's
speaker jack.
Headsets replace both remote microphones and speakers and are useful
for speech-recognition applications, or when using the computer to make
phone calls or participate in videoconferences.
C. Printers
Printers are one of the most commonly used output devices. They are used to
produce hardcopy of the output. The output printed on a paper is called a
hardcopy. In the old computers, printers were connected to the computer
through parallel port but now they are connected through USB port or Wi-Fi
devices.
Characteristics of printers
Printers are differentiated on the basis of following characteristics:
i. Image quality: Image quality, also known as print resolution, is usually
measured in dots per inch (dpi). The more dots per inch a printer can
produce, the higher its image quality.
For example, most medium-quality ink jet and laser printers can print
300 or 600 dots per inch, which is fine for most daily business
applications. If a printer's resolution is 600 dpi, this means it can print
600 columns of dots and 600 rows of dots in each square inch of the
page, a total of 360,000 dots (600 X 600 = 360,000) per inch
ii. Speed: Printer speed is measured in the number of pages per minute
(ppm) the device can print. Most printers have different ppm ratings for
text and graphics because graphics generally take longer to print. As
print speed goes up, so does cost.
iii. Initial cost: It is the cost at which a printer is purchased. The cost of new
printers has fallen dramatically in recent years, while their capabilities
 and speed have improved just as dramatically. Color printers always cost
more than black-and-white printers, and this is especially true of laser
printers.
iv. Cost of operation: The cost of ink or toner and maintenance varies with
the type of printer. Many different types of printer paper are available,
too, and the choice can affect the cost of operation.
Types of printers
There are two main categories of printers:
1. Impact printers
2. Non-impact printers

Types of printers

1. Impact printers
Impact printers use electro-mechanical mechanism, which causes the
character shape to strike against the paper and leave an image of character
on the paper. An impact printer creates an image by using pins or hammers to
press an inked ribbon against the paper. Impact printers are not commonly
used today.
Impact printers produce output on paper by directly striking the print
hammer or wheel against an inked ribbon.
i. Quality: Impact printers produce low-quality output.
ii. Speed: They are slow in printing. Their speed is measured in characters
or liner per minute.
iii. Graphics: They can print graphics but the quality is low.
iv. Noise: Impact printers produce noise during printing.
Examples:
a. Dot matrix printers
b. Chain printers

a. Dot matrix printers: Dot matrix printer makes a hardcopy by printing one
character at a time.
i. Structure: Dot matrix printer contain a print-head with a matrix of small
pins arranged in a form of matrix (i.e. rows and columns). It has 9 to 24 pins.
Pins arranged in one or more columns. The printer can push any of the pins
out in any combination. By pushing out pins in various combinations, the
print head can create alphanumeric characters.
ii. Working: When pushed out from the cluster, the protruding pins’ ends
strike a ribbon, which is held in place between the print head and the paper.
When the pins strike the ribbon, they press ink from the ribbon onto the
paper. This produces output on paper by striking pins against an ink ribbon. It
forms the shape of output (characters or characters) on the paper by a
number of dots.
iii. Resolution: The more pins that a print head contains, the higher the
printer’s resolution. The lowest-resolution dot matrix printers have only nine
pins; the highest-resolution printers have 24 pins.
iv. Speed: The speed of dot matrix printers is measured in characters per
second (cps). The slowest dot matrix printers create 50 to 70 characters per
second; the fastest print more than 500 cps.
Dot matrix print-head Comparison of number of pins

Printing function
Watch this video for understanding
[Link]

c. Chain printers:
Chain printer is a very old type of printer. It is an impact line printer.
i. Structure: This printer contains characters in a chain which is wrapped
around two pulleys. It also has a ribbon and print hammers.
ii. Working: The chain rotates with very high speed by two pulleys to print
the output. One rotation is required to print a single line and then page is
moved forward to print the next line. The print speed of this printer is 300 to
2500 lines per minute.
iii. Example: IBM 1430
 2. Non-impact printers
The printers that produce and output without striking the paper are called non-
impact printers. They use inkjet, laser and thermal technologies for printing.
i. Quality: They produce higher quality output than impact printers.
ii. Speed: They are faster than impact printers.
iii. Noise: They produce low noise than impact printers.
iv. Cost: They are more expensive.

Examples:
a. Ink-jet printer
b. Laser printer
a. Ink-jet printer:
Ink-jet printer is a character printer. It is a non-impact printer. It creates output on
paper by spraying small drops of ink. Ink jet printers create an image directly on
the paper by spraying ink through tiny nozzles.
i. Structure: It consists of print cartridge filled with liquid ink and has small nozzles
in the form of matrix. A colored ink-jet printer can print output in multiple colors.
ii. Working: Like dot-matrix printers, the combination of nozzles is activated to
form the shape of character or an image on the paper by spraying ink through
holes in nozzles.
iii. Quality: Their quality is lower than laser printers but better than impact
printers.
iv. Speed: Their speed is slower than laser printers but faster than impact
printers.
v. Cost: Cheaper than laser but expensive than impact. Maintenance is also less
than laser.

Ink-jet printers

b. Laser printer:
Laser printers are page printers which means that they can print entire page at a
time. They work like a photocopy machine. They use laser technology to print
image or output on the paper.
i. Structure: Laser printer has a special drum inside it. It also has ink powder called
toner.
ii. Working: This printer uses laser beam and ink powder to transfer image of
output on the paper. First, the image of output is created on the drum and then it
is transferred from drum to paper.
They work by using a heated wire to positively charge a drum, which is then
passed over by a laser that reverses the charge in the areas that it hits. The now-
negatively charged areas of the drum represents the image or text that is to be
printed. A toner roller is passed over the drum, and toner particles stick to the
negatively charged areas. A sheet of paper is then fed underneath the toner-
coated drum and the toner is passed onto its surface, creating a printer copy of a
digital document or image.
Just as the electron gun in a monitor can target any pixel, the laser in a laser
printer can aim at any point on a drum, creating an electrical charge.
iii. Quality: High quality print-out.
iv. Speed: It is very fast.
v. Noise: It is silent in operation.
Watch this video: [Link]
C. Plotters
Plotters are output device used to produce large size hardcopy output. Plotters
are used for a variety of applications, which include drawing graphs, making
maps, plotting civil engineering drawings/machine components and producing
large size panaflexes. It is a very slow output device.
Types of plotters
Plotters are of two types:
a. Flatbed plotter
b. Drum plotter

a. Flatbed plotter: A flatbed plotter is also called table plotter. It plots on

paper that is spread and fixed over a rectangular surface. It is used in the
design of cars, ships, aircrafts, buildings, highways etc.
i. Structure: Plotter has a table-like surface called a plot. The size of the plot is
equal to a bed. It has two robotic arms with pens of different colors.
ii. Working: The robotic pens move across the paper to draw charts or graphs
on paper. The movement of arms is controlled by computer system.
iii. Speed: Flatbed printers are very slow in drawing. Large and complicated
drawings can take several hours.
b. Drum plotters: Also known as roller plotter. It is used to produce continuous
output like earthquake readings.
i. Structure: It consists of a drum or a roller on which a paper which a paper
rotates during printing. The paper or sheet is fed to this plotter. It also has
robotic arms that have pens.
ii. Working: The paper is fed to the drum. The drum rotates back and forth
to draw the graph or paper.