A computer monitor or a computer display is an electronic visual display for computers.

A monitor
usually comprises the display device, circuitry, casing, and power supply. The display device in
modern monitors is typically a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) or a flat panel LED
display, while older monitors used a cathode ray tubes(CRT). It can be connected to the computer
via VGA, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt, LVDS (Low-voltage differential signaling) or other
proprietary connectors and signals.
Originally, computer monitors were used for data processing while television receivers were used for
entertainment. From the 1980s onwards, computers (and their monitors) have been used for both
data processing and entertainment, while televisions have implemented some computer
functionality. The common aspect ratio of televisions, and computer monitors, has changed from 4:3
to 16:10, to 16:9.

History[edit]
Early electronic computers were fitted with a panel of light bulbs where the state of each particular
bulb would indicate the on/off state of a particular register bit inside the computer. This allowed the
engineers operating the computer to monitor the internal state of the machine, so this panel of lights
came to be known as the 'monitor'. As early monitors were only capable of displaying a very limited
amount of information, and were very transient, they were rarely considered for programme output.
Instead, a line printer was the primary output device, while the monitor was limited to keeping track
of the programme's operation.
As technology developed it was realized that the output of a CRT display was more flexible than a
panel of light bulbs and eventually, by giving control of what was displayed to the programme itself,
the monitor itself became a powerful output device in its own right.

Technologies[edit]
Further information: Comparison of CRT, LCD, Plasma, and OLED and History of display technology
Multiple technologies have been used for computer monitors. Until the 21st century most used
cathode ray tubes but they have largely been superseded by LCD monitors.

Cathode ray tube[edit]

The first computer monitors used cathode ray tubes (CRTs). Prior to the advent of home
computers in the late 1970s, it was common for a video display terminal (VDT) using a CRT to be
physically integrated with a keyboard and other components of the system in a single large chassis.
The display was monochrome and far less sharp and detailed than on a modern flat-panel monitor,

necessitating the use of relatively large text and severely limiting the amount of information that
could be displayed at one time. High-resolution CRT displays were developed for specialized
military, industrial and scientific applications but they were far too costly for general use.
Some of the earliest home computers (such as the TRS-80 and Commodore PET) were limited to
monochrome CRT displays, but color display capability was already a standard feature of the
pioneering Apple II, introduced in 1977, and the specialty of the more graphically sophisticated Atari
800, introduced in 1979. Either computer could be connected to the antenna terminals of an ordinary
color TV set or used with a purpose-made CRT color monitor for optimum resolution and color
quality. Lagging several years behind, in 1981 IBM introduced the Color Graphics Adapter, which
could display four colors with a resolution of 320 x 200 pixels, or it could produce 640 x 200 pixels
with two colors. In 1984 IBM introduced the Enhanced Graphics Adapter which was capable of
producing 16 colors and had a resolution of 640 x 350.[1]
By the end of the 1980s color CRT monitors that could clearly display 1024 x 768 pixels were widely
available and increasingly affordable. During the following decade maximum display resolutions
gradually increased and prices continued to fall. CRT technology remained dominant in the PC
monitor market into the new millennium partly because it was cheaper to produce and offered
viewing angles close to 180 degrees.[2] CRTs still offer some image quality advantages[clarification needed] over
LCD displays but improvements to the latter have made them much less obvious. The dynamic
range of early LCD panels was very poor, and although text and other motionless graphics were
sharper than on a CRT, an LCD characteristic known as pixel lag caused moving graphics to appear
noticeably smeared and blurry.

Liquid crystal display[edit]

Main articles: Liquid-crystal display and Thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display
There are multiple technologies that have been used to implement liquid crystal displays (LCD).
Throughout the 1990s, the primary use of LCD technology as computer monitors was in laptops
where the lower power consumption, lighter weight, and smaller physical size of LCDs justified the
higher price versus a CRT. Commonly, the same laptop would be offered with an assortment of
display options at increasing price points: (active or passive) monochrome, passive color, or active
matrix color (TFT). As volume and manufacturing capability have improved, the monochrome and
passive color technologies were dropped from most product lines.
TFT-LCD is a variant of LCD which is now the dominant technology used for computer monitors. [3]
The first standalone LCD displays appeared in the mid-1990s selling for high prices. As prices
declined over a period of years they became more popular, and by 1997 were competing with CRT
monitors. Among the first desktop LCD computer monitors was the Eizo L66 in the mid-1990s, the
Apple Studio Display in 1998, and the Apple Cinema Display in 1999. In 2003, TFT-LCDs outsold
CRTs for the first time, becoming the primary technology used for computer monitors. [2] The main

advantages of LCDs over CRT displays are that LCDs consume less power, take up much less
space, and are considerably lighter. The now common active matrix TFT-LCD technology also has
less flickering than CRTs, which reduces eye strain.[4] On the other hand, CRT monitors have
superior contrast, have superior response time, are able to use multiple screen resolutions natively,
and there is no discernible flicker if the refresh rate is set to a sufficiently high value. LCD monitors
have now very high temporal accuracy and can be used for vision research. [5]

Organic light-emitting diode[edit]

Main article: Organic light-emitting diode
Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) monitors provide higher contrast and better viewing angles than
LCDs but they require more power when displaying documents with white or bright backgrounds. In
2011, a 25-inch (64 cm) OLED monitor cost $7500, but the prices are expected to drop. [6]

Measurements of performance[edit]
The performance of a monitor is measured by the following parameters:

Luminance is measured in candelas per square meter (cd/m2 also called a Nit).

Aspect ratio is the ratio of the horizontal length to the vertical length. Monitors usually have
the aspect ratio 4:3, 5:4, 16:10 or 16:9.

Viewable image size is usually measured diagonally, but the actual widths and heights are
more informative since they are not affected by the aspect ratio in the same way. For CRTs, the
viewable size is typically 1 in (25 mm) smaller than the tube itself.

Display resolution is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed.
For a given display size, maximum resolution is limited by dot pitch.

Dot pitch is the distance between sub-pixels of the same color in millimeters. In general, the
smaller the dot pitch, the sharper the picture will appear.

Refresh rate is the number of times in a second that a display is illuminated. Maximum
refresh rate is limited by response time.

Response time is the time a pixel in a monitor takes to go from active (white) to inactive
(black) and back to active (white) again, measured in milliseconds. Lower numbers mean faster
transitions and therefore fewer visible image artifacts.

Contrast ratio is the ratio of the luminosity of the brightest color (white) to that of the darkest
color (black) that the monitor is capable of producing.

Power consumption is measured in watts.

Delta-E: Color accuracy is measured in delta-E; the lower the delta-E, the more accurate the
color representation. A delta-E of below 1 is imperceptible to the human eye. Delta-Es of 2 to 4
are considered good and require a sensitive eye to spot the difference.

Viewing angle is the maximum angle at which images on the monitor can be viewed, without
excessive degradation to the image. It is measured in degrees horizontally and vertically.

Size[edit]
Main article: Display size

The area, height and width of displays with identical diagonal measurements vary dependent on aspect ratio.

On two-dimensional display devices such as computer monitors the display size or viewable image
size is the actual amount of screen space that is available to display a picture, video or working
space, without obstruction from the case or other aspects of the unit's design. The main
measurements for display devices are: width, height, total area and the diagonal.
The size of a display is usually by monitor manufacturers given by the diagonal, i.e. the distance
between two opposite screen corners. This method of measurement is inherited from the method
used for the first generation of CRT television, when picture tubes with circular faces were in
common use. Being circular, it was the external diameter of the glass envelope that described their
size. Since these circular tubes were used to display rectangular images, the diagonal measurement
of the rectangular image was smaller than the diameter of the tube's face (due to the thickness of the
glass). This method continued even when cathode ray tubes were manufactured as rounded
rectangles; it had the advantage of being a single number specifying the size, and was not confusing
when the aspect ratio was universally 4:3.

With the introduction of flat panel technology, the diagonal measurement became the actual diagonal
of the visible display. This meant that an eighteen-inch LCD display had a larger visible area than an
eighteen-inch cathode ray tube.
The estimation of the monitor size by the distance between opposite corners does not take into
account the display aspect ratio, so that for example a 16:9 21-inch (53 cm) widescreen display has
less area, than a 21-inch (53 cm) 4:3 screen. The 4:3 screen has dimensions of 16.8 in 12.6 in
(43 cm 32 cm) and area 211 sq in (1,360 cm2), while the widescreen is 18.3 in 10.3 in (46 cm
26 cm), 188 sq in (1,210 cm2).

Aspect ratio[edit]
Main article: Display aspect ratio
Until about 2003, most computer monitors had a 4:3 aspect ratio and some had 5:4. Between 2003
and 2006, monitors with 16:9 and mostly 16:10 (8:5) aspect ratios became commonly available, first
in laptops and later also in standalone monitors. Reasons for this transition was productive uses for
such monitors, i.e. besides widescreen computer game play and movie viewing, are the word
processor display of two standard letter pages side by side, as well as CAD displays of large-size
drawings and CAD application menus at the same time. [7][8] In 2008 16:10 became the most common
sold aspect ratio for LCD monitors and the same year 16:10 was the mainstream standard
for laptops andnotebook computers.[9]
In 2010 the computer industry started to move over from 16:10 to 16:9 because 16:9 was chosen to
be the standard high-definition television display size, and because they were cheaper to
manufacture. Eventually, monitors with non-HD resolutions such as 1920x1200 were no longer
produced.[10]
In 2011 non-widescreen displays with 4:3 aspect ratios were only being manufactured in small
quantities. According to Samsung this was because the "Demand for the old 'Square monitors' has
decreased rapidly over the last couple of years," and "I predict that by the end of 2011, production on
all 4:3 or similar panels will be halted due to a lack of demand."[10]

Resolution[edit]
Main article: Display resolution
The resolution for computer monitors has increased over time. From 320x200 during the early
1980s, to 800x600 during the late 1990s. Since 2009, the most commonly sold resolution for
computer monitors is 1920x1080.[11] Before 2013 top-end consumer products were limited to
2560x1600 at 30 in (76 cm), excluding Apple products.[12] Apple introduced 2880x1800 with Retina
MacBook Pro at 15.4 in (39 cm) on June 12, 2012, and introduced a 5120x2880 Retina iMac at 27 in
(69 cm) on October 16, 2014. By 2015 all major display manufacturers had released 3840x2160
resolution displays.

Additional features[edit]
Power saving[edit]
Most modern monitors will switch to a power-saving mode if no video-input signal is received. This
allows modern operating systems to turn off a monitor after a specified period of inactivity. This also
extends the monitor's service life.
Some monitors will also switch themselves off after a time period on standby.
Most modern laptops provide a method of screen dimming after periods of inactivity or when the
battery is in use. This extends battery life and reduces wear.

Integrated accessories[edit]
Many monitors have other accessories (or connections for them) integrated. This places standard
ports within easy reach and eliminates the need for another separate hub,camera, microphone, or
set of speakers. These monitors have advanced microprocessors which contain codec information,
Windows Interface drivers and other small software which help in proper functioning of these
functions.

Glossy screen[edit]
Main article: Glossy display
Some displays, especially newer LCD monitors, replace the traditional anti-glare matte finish with a
glossy one. This increases color saturation and sharpness but reflections from lights and windows
are very visible. Anti-reflective coatings are sometimes applied to help reduce reflections, although
this only mitigates the effect.

Curved designs[edit]
In about 2009, NEC/Alienware together with Ostendo Technologies (based in Carlsbad, CA) were
offering a curved (concave) 43-inch (110 cm) monitor that allows better viewing angles near the
edges, covering 75% of peripheral vision. This monitor had 2880x900 resolution, LED backlight and
was marketed as suitable both for gaming and office work, while for $6499 it was rather expensive.
[13]

As of 2013, the monitor is no longer available. Ostendo Technologies is no longer pursuing curved

monitor technology.

Directional screen[edit]
Narrow viewing angle screens are used in some security conscious applications.

3D[edit]
Main article: Stereo display
Newer monitors are able to display a different image for each eye, often with the help of special
glasses, giving the perception of depth.

Active shutter
Main article: Active shutter 3D system
Polarized
Main article: Polarized 3D system
Autostereoscopic
Main article: Autostereoscopy
A directional screen which generates 3D images without headgear.

Touch screen[edit]
Main article: Touchscreen
These monitors use touching of the screen as an input method. Items can be selected or moved with
a finger, and finger gestures may be used to convey commands. The screen will need frequent
cleaning due to image degradation from fingerprints.

Tablet screens[edit]
Main article: Graphics tablet/screen hybrid
A combination of a monitor with a graphics tablet. Such devices are typically unresponsive to touch
without the use of one or more special tools' pressure. Newer models however are now able to
detect touch from any pressure and often have the ability to detect tilt and rotation as well.
Touch and tablet screens are used on LCD displays as a substitute for the light pen, which can only
work on CRTs.

Mounting[edit]
Computer monitors are provided with a variety of methods for mounting them depending on the
application and environment.

Desktop[edit]
A desktop monitor is typically provided with a stand from the manufacturer which lifts the monitor up
to a more ergonomic viewing height. The stand may be attached to the monitor using a proprietary
method or may use, or be adaptable to, a Video Electronics Standards Association, VESA, standard
mount. Using a VESA standard mount allows the monitor to be used with an after-market stand once
the original stand is removed. Stands may be fixed or offer a variety of features such as height
adjustment, horizontal swivel, and landscape or portrait screen orientation.

VESA mount[edit]
The Flat Display Mounting Interface (FDMI), also known as VESA Mounting Interface Standard
(MIS) or colloquially as a VESA mount, is a family of standards defined by the Video Electronics

Standards Association for mounting flat panel monitors, TVs, and other displays to stands or wall
mounts.[14] It is implemented on most modern flat-panel monitors and TVs.
For Computer Monitors, the VESA Mount typically consists of four threaded holes on the rear of the
display that will mate with an adapter bracket.