Following are some of the important output devices used in a computer.
Monitors
Graphic Plotter
Printer
Monitors
Monitors, commonly called as Visual Display Unit (VDU), are the main output device of a
computer. It forms images from tiny dots, called pixels that are arranged in a rectangular form.
The sharpness of the image depends upon the number of pixels.
There are two kinds of viewing screen used for monitors.
Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT)
Flat-Panel Display
Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) Monitor
The CRT display is made up of small picture elements called pixels. The smaller the pixels, the
better the image clarity or resolution. It takes more than one illuminated pixel to form a whole
character, such as the letter ‘e’ in the word help.
A finite number of characters can be displayed on a screen at once. The screen can be divided
into a series of character boxes - fixed location on the screen where a standard character can be
placed. Most screens are capable of displaying 80 characters of data horizontally and 25 lines
vertically.
There are some disadvantages of CRT −
Large in Size
High power consumption
Flat-Panel Display Monitor
The flat-panel display refers to a class of video devices that have reduced volume, weight and
power requirement in comparison to the CRT. You can hang them on walls or wear them on your
wrists. Current uses of flat-panel displays include calculators, video games, monitors, laptop
computer, and graphics display.
The flat-panel display is divided into two categories −
Emissive Displays − Emissive displays are devices that convert electrical energy into
light. For example, plasma panel and LED (Light-Emitting Diodes).
Non-Emissive Displays − Non-emissive displays use optical effects to convert sunlight
or light from some other source into graphics patterns. For example, LCD (Liquid-Crystal
Device).
Printers
Printer is an output device, which is used to print information on paper.
There are two types of printers −
Impact Printers
Non-Impact Printers
Impact Printers
Impact printers print the characters by striking them on the ribbon, which is then pressed on the
paper.
Characteristics of Impact Printers are the following −
Very low consumable costs
Very noisy
Useful for bulk printing due to low cost
There is physical contact with the paper to produce an image
These printers are of two types −
Character printers
Line printers
Character Printers
Character printers are the printers which print one character at a time.
These are further divided into two types:
Dot Matrix Printer(DMP)
Daisy Wheel
Dot Matrix Printer
In the market, one of the most popular printers is Dot Matrix Printer. These printers are popular
because of their ease of printing and economical price. Each character printed is in the form of
pattern of dots and head consists of a Matrix of Pins of size (5*7, 7*9, 9*7 or 9*9) which come
out to form a character which is why it is called Dot Matrix Printer.
Advantages
Inexpensive
Widely Used
Other language characters can be printed
Disadvantages
Slow Speed
Poor Quality
Daisy Wheel
Head is lying on a wheel and pins corresponding to characters are like petals of Daisy (flower)
which is why it is called Daisy Wheel Printer. These printers are generally used for word-
processing in offices that require a few letters to be sent here and there with very nice quality.
Advantages
More reliable than DMP
Better quality
Fonts of character can be easily changed
Disadvantages
Slower than DMP
Noisy
More expensive than DMP
Line Printers
Line printers are the printers which print one line at a time.
These are of two types −
Drum Printer
Chain Printer
Drum Printer
This printer is like a drum in shape hence it is called drum printer. The surface of the drum is
divided into a number of tracks. Total tracks are equal to the size of the paper, i.e. for a paper
width of 132 characters, drum will have 132 tracks. A character set is embossed on the track.
Different character sets available in the market are 48 character set, 64 and 96 characters set. One
rotation of drum prints one line. Drum printers are fast in speed and can print 300 to 2000 lines
per minute.
Advantages
Very high speed
Disadvantages
Very expensive
Characters fonts cannot be changed
Chain Printer
In this printer, a chain of character sets is used, hence it is called Chain Printer. A standard
character set may have 48, 64, or 96 characters.
Advantages
Character fonts can easily be changed.
Different languages can be used with the same printer.
Disadvantages
Noisy
Non-impact Printers
Non-impact printers print the characters without using the ribbon. These printers print a complete
page at a time, thus they are also called as Page Printers.
These printers are of two types −
Laser Printers
Inkjet Printers
Characteristics of Non-impact Printers
Faster than impact printers
They are not noisy
High quality
Supports many fonts and different character size
Laser Printers
These are non-impact page printers. They use laser lights to produce the dots needed to form the
characters to be printed on a page.
Advantages
Very high speed
Very high quality output
Good graphics quality
Supports many fonts and different character size
Disadvantages
Expensive
Cannot be used to produce multiple copies of a document in a single printing
Inkjet Printers
Inkjet printers are non-impact character printers based on a relatively new technology. They print
characters by spraying small drops of ink onto paper. Inkjet printers produce high quality output
with presentable features.
They make less noise because no hammering is done and these have many styles of printing
modes available. Color printing is also possible. Some models of Inkjet printers can produce
multiple copies of printing also.
Advantages
High quality printing
More reliable
Disadvantages
Expensive as the cost per page is high
Slow as compared to laser printer
