OUTPUT DEVICES

An output device is any piece of computer hardware equipment used to communicate the results of data processing carried out by an information processing system (such as a computer) to the outside world.

A. Monitor
A monitor or display (sometimes called a visual display unit) is an electronic visual display for computer. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure. The display device in modern monitors is typically a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) thin panel, while older monitors use a cathode ray tube about as deep as the screen size. The first computer monitors used Cathode ray tubes (CRTs), which was the dominant technology until they were replaced by LCD monitor in the 21st Century.

Technologies

1. Cathode ray tube The cathode ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun (a source of electrons) and a fluorescent screen, with internal or external means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam, used to create images in the form of light emitted from the fluorescent screen.

a CRT Monitor

2. Liquid Crystal

A liquid crystal display (LCD) is a flat panel display, electronic visual display, video display that uses the light modulating properties of liquid crystals (LCs). LCs do not emit light directly. LCDs have displaced cathode CRT displays in most applications. They are usually more compact, lightweight, portable, less expensive, more reliable, and easier on the eyes. They are available in a wider range of screen sizes than CRT and plasma display, and since they do not use phosphors, they cannot suffer image burn-in. LCDs are more energy efficient and offer safer disposal than CRTs. Its low electrical power consumption enables it to be used in battery-powered electronic equipment. It is an electronically modulated optical device made up of any number of segments filled with liquid crystals and arrayed in front of a light source (backlight) or reflector to produce images in color or monochrome. The most flexible ones use an array of small pixels. There are multiple technologies that have been used to implement LDC. 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, active matrix color (TFT). TFT is a variant of LCD which is now the dominant technology used for computer monitors.

LDC Monitor

3. Organic light-emitting diode Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) is a light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compounds which emit light in response to an electric current. This layer of organic semiconductor material is situated between two electrodes. Generally, at least one of these electrodes is transparent.

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) monitors provide higher contrast and better viewing angles than LCDs, and are predicted to replace them.

OLED monitor

Advantages: has a lower cost in the future light weight & flexible plastic substrates wider viewing angles & improved brightness better power efficiency faster response time

Disadvantages: OLED manufacture currently requires process steps that make it extremely expensive Limited lifetime OLED material used to produce blue light degrades significantly more rapidly than the materials that produce other colors, blue light output will decrease relative to the other colors of light Water can damage the organic materials of the displays The brightness of each OLED pixel fades depending on the content displayed OLED displays can be damaged by prolonged exposure to UV light.

B. Printer
Printer is a peripheral which produces a text and/or graphics of documents stored in electronic form, usually on physical print media such as paper or transparencies. Many printers are primarily used as local peripherals, and are attached by a printer cable or, in most new printers, a USB cable to a computer which serves as a document source. Some printers, commonly known as network printers, have built-in network interfaces, typically wireless and/or Ethernet based, and can serve as a hard copy device for any user on the network. Individual printers are often designed to support both local and network connected users at the same time. In addition, a few modern printers can directly interface to electronic media such as memory cards, or to image capture devices such as digital cameras, scanners. Some printers are combined with a scanners and/or fax machines in a single unit, and can function as photocopiers. Printers that include non-printing features are sometimes called multifunction printers (MFP), multi-function devices (MFD), or all-in-one (AIO) printers. Most MFPs include printing, scanning, and copying among their many features.

Printing Technologies

1. Toner-based printers A laser printer is a common type of computer printer that rapidly produces high quality text and graphics on plain paper. As with digital photocopiers and multifunction printers (MFPs), laser printers employ a xerographic printing process, but differ from analog photocopiers in that the image is produced by the direct scanning of a laser beam across the printer's photoreceptor.

Toner-based printer

2. Liquid inkjet printers An inkjet printer is a type of computer printer that creates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper. Inkjet printers are the most commonly used type of printer and range from small inexpensive consumer models to very large professional machines that can cost up to thousands of dollars.

Liquid inkjet printer

Technologies There are two main technologies in use in contemporary inkjet printers: continuous (CIJ) and Drop-on-Demand (DOD). Continuous Inkjet (CIJ)

Continuous ink jet is one of the oldest ink jet technologies in use and is fairly mature. The major advantages are the very high velocity (~50 m/s) of the ink droplets, which allows for a relatively long distance between print head and substrate, and the very high drop ejection frequency, allowing for very high speed printing. Another advantage is freedom from nozzle clogging as the jet is always in use, therefore allowing volatile solvents such as ketones and alcohols to be employed, giving the ink the ability to "bite" into the substrate and dry quickly. Thermal (thermal DOD Inkjet)

Most consumer inkjet printers, use print cartridges with a series of tiny chambers each containing a heater, all of which are constructed by photolithography. Piezoelectric (piezoelectric DOD Inkjet)

Piezo inkjet technology is often used on production lines to mark products - for instance the "use-before" date is often applied to products with this technique; in this application the head is stationary and the product moves past. Recent developments of piezo inkjet technology are extending the technique from printing into manufacturing processes. The newest of these technologies is to deposit layers of plastic material as digital embossing over the top of printed works. Advantages Quieter in operation than impact dot matrix or daisywheel printers print finer, smoother details through higher print head resolution, and many consumer inkjets with photographic-quality printing are widely available inkjets have the advantage of practically no warm up time, and lower cost per page

Disadvantages The ink is often very expensive The lifetime of inkjet prints produced by inkjets using aqueous inks is limited; they will eventually fade and the color balance may change The very narrow inkjet nozzles are prone to clogging

3. Solid ink printers Solid ink printer is a laser-class printer that uses solid wax inks that are melted into a liquid before being used.

Solid ink printer

Advantages print quality is considered to be excellent with lively colors solid ink printers have one of the fastest first page out time of any printing technology ease of use there is less waste generated than is with laser printers or inkjet printers, which produce empty ink or toner cartridges, in addition to packaging and packing materials Solid ink printers do not produce ozone Solid ink printers are able to print on many different types and thicknesses of media many third-party ink manufacturers provide a guarantee and will pay for the replacement of a damaged print head long shelf life

Disadvantages A page printed on the highest quality print setting can have the ink scraped off rather easily with a fingernail When the device is cold the first page may take several minutes to print More power consumption

4. Dye-sublimation printers

Dye-sublimation printer (or dye-sub printer) is a printer which employs a printing process that uses heat to transfer dye to a medium such as a plastic card, paper or canvas. The process is usually to lay one colour at a time using a ribbon that has colour panels. Dye-sub printers are intended primarily for high-quality colour applications, including colour photography; and are less well-suited for text. While once the province of high-end print shops, dye-sublimation printers are now increasingly used as dedicated consumer photo printers.

Dye-sublimation printer

5. Thermal printers Thermal printer (or direct thermal printer) produces a printed image by selectively heating coated thermo chromic paper, or thermal paper as it is commonly known, when the paper passes over the thermal print head.

Thermal printer

6. Dot-matrix printers A dot matrix printer or impact matrix printer is a type of computer printer with a print head that runs back and forth, or in an up and down motion, on the page and prints by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper, much like the print mechanism on a typewriter. However, unlike a typewriter or daisy wheel printer, letters are drawn out of a dot matrix, and thus, varied fonts and arbitrary graphics can be produced.

Because the printing involves mechanical pressure, these printers can create carbon copies and carbonless copies.

Dot-matrix printer

Advantages can print on multi-part stationery or make carbon-copies able to use continuous paper rather than requiring individual sheets useful for data logging reliable workhorses ideal for use in situations where printed content is more important than quality the ink ribbon also does not easily dry out

Disadvantages create noise when the pins or typeface strike the ribbon to the paper can only print lower-resolution graphics, with limited color performance, limited quality, and lower speeds compared to nonimpact printers

C. Speaker
Computer speakers, or multimedia speakers, are speakers external to a computer, that disable the lower fidelity built-in speaker. They often have a lowpower internal amplifier. The standard audio connection is a 3.5 mm (approximately 1/8 inch) stereo jack plug often color-coded lime green (following the PC 99 standard) for computer sound cards. A plug and socket for a two-wire (signal and ground) coaxial cable that is widely used to connect analog audio

and video components. Rows of RCA sockets are found on the backs of stereo amplifier and numerous A/V products. The prong is 1/8" thick by 5/16" long. A few use an RCA connector for input. There are also USB speakers which are powered from the 5 volts at 500 milliamps provided by the USB port, allowing about 2.5 watts of output power. Some computer speakers have equalization features such as bass and treble controls.

Speaker

Speaker features vary by manufacturer, but may include the following: An LED power indicator A 3.5 mm headphone jack Controls for volume, and sometimes bass and treble A remote volume control

D. Headphone
Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker, or less commonly a single speaker, held close to a user's ears and connected to a signal source such as an audio amplifier, radio, CD player or portable Media Player. They are also known as stereophones, headsets or, colloquially, cans. The in-ear versions are known as earphones or earbuds. In the context of telecommunication, the term headset is used to describe a combination of headphone and microphone used for twoway communication, for example with a telephone.

Types of Headphones

1. Circumaural

Circumaural headphones (sometimes called full size headphones) have circular or ellipsoid earpads that encompass the ears.

Circumaural headset

2. Supra-aural Supra-aural headphones have pads that sit on top of the ears, rather than around them. They were commonly bundled with personal stereos during the 1980s. This type of headphone generally tends to be smaller and more lightweight than circumaural headphones, resulting in less attenuation of outside noise.

Supra-aural headset

3. Open or closed back Circumaural and supra-aural headphones can both also be further differentiated by the type of earcups: Open-back headphones have the back of the earcups open. This leaks more sound out of the headphone and also lets more ambient sounds into the headphone, but gives a more natural or speaker-like sound and more spacious "soundscape" - the perception of distance from the source. Closed-back styles have the back of the earcups closed. Depending on the model they may block 8-32db of ambient noise, but have a smaller soundscape, giving you a perception that the sound is coming from within your head.

4. Ear-fitting headphones 4.1. Earbuds

Among audio professionals, Earbuds and earphones refer very small headphones that are fitted directly in the outer ear, facing but not inserted in the ear canal; they have no band or other arrangement to fit over the head. (However, many consumer-quality in-ear-canal systems are also called earbuds by their manufacturers.) The outer-ear earphones are portable and convenient, but many people consider them to be uncomfortable and prone to falling out.

Earbuds headphones

4.2.

In-ear headphones

In-ear headphones, like earbuds, are small and without headband, but are inserted in the ear canal itself. They are sometimes known as canalphones. Canalphones offer portability similar to earbuds, block out much environmental noise by obstructing the ear canals, and are far less prone to falling out.

In-ear headphone

4.3.

Headset

A headset is headphones combined with a microphone, or one headphone with a microphone. Headsets provide the equivalent functionality of a telephone handset with hands-free operation. Headsets typically have only one speaker like a telephone, but also come with speakers for both ears. They have many uses including in call centers and other telephoneintensive jobs and for personal use at the computer to facilitate comfortable simultaneous conversation and typing.

A headphone

E. Plotters
A plotter is a computer printing device for printing vector graphics. In the past, plotters were widely used in applications such as computer-aided design, though they have generally been replaced with wide-format conventional printers. It is now commonplace to refer to such wide-format printers as "plotters," even though they technically aren't. Pen plotters print by moving a pen or other instrument across the surface of a piece of paper. Pen plotters can draw complex line art, including text, but do so slowly because of the mechanical movement of the pens. They are often incapable of efficiently creating a solid region of color, but can hatch an area by drawing a number of close, regular lines. Plotters offered the fastest way to efficiently produce very large drawings or color high-resolution vector-based artwork. Pen plotters have essentially become obsolete, and have been replaced by large-format inkjet printer and LED toner based printers. Such devices may still understand vector languages originally designed for plotter use, because in many uses, they offer a more efficient alternative to raster data.

A plotter

F. LCD Projector
An LCD projector is a type of video projector for displaying video, images or computer data on a screen or other flat surface. It is a modern equivalent of the slide or overhead projector. To display images, LCD projectors typically send light from a Metal halide lamp through a prism or series of diachronic filters that separates light to three poly silicon panels one each for the red, green, and blue components of the video signal.

LCD Projector

G. Computer Output Microfilm (COM)

COM (Computer Output Microfilm) is a process for copying data from electronic media on computers onto microfilm. A high-speed recorder transfers machine-readable digital data onto human-readable microfilm using laser technology and a processor, which develops the microfilm after it is exposed to the light source. The recorder can operate off-line as a stand-alone device, or online connected to a local or wide-area network. A COM recorder usually has a duplicator connected to it that can create as many copies as needed. A sorter separates the duplicate fiche cards into bins. Advantages

Reducing for paper use, because a microfiche card holds 230 documents (images) per card and a one-cubic foot box holds approximately 6.000 fiche cards, or a minimum of 1.380.000 pages COM is cheaper than most electronic media COM can improve the image quality COM offer an Access and indexing features, means it takes less time to go to a specific page COM offer an Archiving feature

Computer Output Microfilm (COM)