PC - The outside of the PC - 7 : The monitor
One piece of equipment that you need to use with a PC is a monitor. Monitors come in two basic flavors: picture tubes and LCD displays. Monitors that use picture tubes are basically video screens, like TVs, that are surrounded by a box filled with electronics that produce the picture. Monitors generally have two cords attached to them. One cord plugs into the PC to transfer the images, and the other is the power cord. When you use a computer, the monitor shows you what's going on in the program that you are running. Monitors come in different shapes and sizes, but the most common sizes have screens that are between 13 and 21 inches. Generally speaking, the larger the screen, the more expensive the monitor. Monitors today can show up to 16 million colors, and the quality of their picture is as good, if not better, than most TVs. But it hasn't always been this way. The first monitors were monochrome (meaning a single color). Monochrome monitors showed white, green, or amber letters on a black background - and that's it. If you've ever seen a monochrome monitor, maybe in a movie or even a museum - you know that the monitors we use today have advanced quite a bit. Another advance in PC monitors is the flat LCD monitor. Most LCD monitors today have a screen encased in a thin, flat box, so the monitor can fit into small areas. Just as monitors increase in price as they get bigger, the flatter the monitor, the more it costs.
One piece of equipment that you need to use with a PC is a monitor. Monitors come in two basic flavors: picture tubes and LCD displays. Monitors that use picture tubes are basically video screens, like TVs, that are surrounded by a box filled with electronics that produce the picture. Monitors generally have two cords attached to them. One cord plugs into the PC to transfer the images, and the other is the power cord. When you use a computer, the monitor shows you what's going on in the program that you are running. Monitors come in different shapes and sizes, but the most common sizes have screens that are between 13 and 21 inches. Generally speaking, the larger the screen, the more expensive the monitor. Monitors today can show up to 16 million colors, and the quality of their picture is as good, if not better, than most TVs. But it hasn't always been this way. The first monitors were monochrome (meaning a single color). Monochrome monitors showed white, green, or amber letters on a black background - and that's it. If you've ever seen a monochrome monitor, maybe in a movie or even a museum - you know that the monitors we use today have advanced quite a bit. Another advance in PC monitors is the flat LCD monitor. Most LCD monitors today have a screen encased in a thin, flat box, so the monitor can fit into small areas. Just as monitors increase in price as they get bigger, the flatter the monitor, the more it costs.