OUTPUT DEVICES

Output Devices are all part

of the Hardware of a
computer system
Output Devices are about
seeing the results of your
work!
SOME OUTPUT DEVICES

Paper
Video Monitor

Sound

Controlling
Other
Machines
TYPES OF OUTPUT

 Soft Copy
 Hard Copy

 Communications

Channel
 SCREEN OUTPUT – SOFT COPY

 Video Monitor
 Also called Video
Display Terminal (VDT)
 Image exists in video
memory—VRAM
 Monitor size is
measured diagonally
across the screen
 PIXELS

 Images are made up of

dots called pixels for
picture elements
 The number of pixels determines

the clarity of the picture on the

screen
 More pixels = higher resolution =

clearer picture
 COLOR DEPTH (BIT DEPTH)
 Thismeans the amount of information
stored in each pixel about what is
being shown on the monitor
 Monochrome (1 bit of information per
pixel)
 This can only be black or white
 Gray-scale (8 bits of information per pixel)
 This can show more shades of grey
 True color (24 or 32 bits of information per
pixel)
 This can realistically reproduce a photograph on
the screen that looks very close to the original
 EXAMPLES OF COLOR DEPTH

The greater the color depth the more

colours that can be represented on the
screen

1-bit depth 4-bit depth

8-bit depth 16-bit depth

 CLASSES OF MONITORS

CRT (cathode ray tube)

LCD (liquid crystal display)

 CRT (CATHODE RAY TUBE)

 A CRT is a television-style monitor

 Its features include:
 Clear image
 Quick response time
 Low cost
 Very popular
 LCD (LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY)

 LCDs comprise flat-panel monitors

 Found on watches, calculators, digital

cameras and notebook computers

 Lighter weight
 Crisp,clear images
 Extra viewing area for same size
 More expensive to buy
 Consume less power
 PAPER OUTPUT – HARD COPY

 A printer is a device that produces

output on paper
 Most printers today can produce
both text and graphics
 Two types of printers:
 Impactprinters
 Non-impact printers
 Printers

Impact Printers Non-Impact Printers

Daisy Dot- Inkjet Thermal Laser

wheel Matrix

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 WHAT IS A PRINTER?
 An external hardware device responsible for
taking computer data and generating a hard
copy of that data. Printers are one of the
most commonly used peripherals and they
print text and still images on the paper.

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 “PRINT QUALITY”
 (1) Near typeset quality:
A Lower quality print similar to the output of a
type-writer.
 (2) Letter quality:
Print made up by fully formed (solid line)
characters.
 (3) Near letter quality:
A print of high quality formed by multiple passes
of print head over the same letter.
 (4) Standard quality:
A high quality print formed by a single pass of the
print head.
 (5) Draft quality:
A print formed with minimum number of dots or
lines and are smaller than the standard quality
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 “FACTORS AFFECTING PRINT
QUALITY”
 (1) DPI:
It is a measurement of printer’s resolution indicating
how many ink dots can be placed by the printer in one
square inch. The higher the DPI, the sharper is image.
 (2) Type of printer:

Each type of printer has its own capabilities of

printing. Some types of printers produce high quality
print while other produce low quality print.
 (3) Print Mode:

The printing mode may also affect the quality. For

example the draft mode increases the print rate but
quality is reduced.
 (4) Toner:

The quality and amount of toner also affects print

quality.

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IMPACT PRINTERS

 There is some physical contact with the

paper to produce the image ie physically
striking the paper
 Types
 Lineprinters
 Dot matrix printers
 LINE PRINTER

 Line printers
 Used by mainframes for
jobs that need a large volume of printing
 Limited characters available
 Print an entire line at a time
 Cheap to run
 Not high quality
DOT MATRIX PRINTER

 Have a printhead made up of columns of

pins
 The pins form characters and images as
patterns of dots produced when the pins
strike the paper
 Reasonable quality text and graphics
 Inexpensive to buy and run
 Noisy
NON-IMPACT PRINTERS

 Laser Printers
 Ink-jet printers

 Bubble-jet printers
 LASER PRINTERS

 Laser printers
 Image transferred to paper with a
laser beam
 Faster and more expensive
than dot-matrix
 High-resolution output

 Expensive to buy

 Quite expensive to run

 INK-JET PRINTERS

 Ink-jet
 Dots of ink are sprayed onto the paper to
form the image
 Reasonably high quality
 Available in colour or B/W
 Speed measured in pages per minute
 Reasonably priced
 Expensive to run
 PLOTTERS
 Used by graphic designers/architects
 Image transferred to paper with ink
pens
 Very high resolution
 Excellent for scientific and engineering
applications
PRINTING TERMS

 Dots per inch (dpi)

 Pages per minute (ppm)

 Characters per second (cps)

 Laser printers – 50 ppm

 Ink-jet printers – 12 ppm

 “PRINTERS FOR DIFFERENT USERS”
 To choose a printer from a printer’s
family following considerations are to
be made.
 (1) What’s the budget?
 (2) Is color needed or just black&
white?
 (3) What is the Volume of the output?
 (4) How important is the quality of the
output?
 (5) What special features are needed?
 (6) Is the printer is to be used by a
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 “PRINTER FOR HOME USERS”
For home users, the quality of the print and
the price of the printer both matter. So a
better choice in such case is a portable color
Inkjet printer.
 If the budget of the user is good enough

then the best choice is a personal laser

printer which enhances both the speed and
quality of the print.

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 “SMALL AND MEDIUM OFFICES”
For small and medium scale offices a better
option is a multi-function printer which is an
integrated device fulfilling various
requirement of the office.
 For better output, a laser printer is the best

choice.

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 “PRINTERS FOR BANKS, LARGE BUSINESS
ORGANIZATIONS AND COMPANIES”
 In banks, large size business environments
and companies printers with networking
capabilities should be preferred which can
increase productivity and reduce the cost
without compromising on the quality. Of
course laser printer is quite suitable choice
but multi-functional printer and inkjet printer
can also play vital role.

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 OUTPUT YOU CAN HEAR

 Synthesizers can be
used to generate
music and sounds
 Many computers

have synthesizers
 Sound cards have

built-in synthesizers
 MACHINES CONTROLLING
OTHER MACHINES

 By turning bit information into

movements (robots) or measurements
(sensors), machines can control other
machines:
 Automated factory equipment
 Telephone switchboards
 Robot arms
 Spacecraft
OUTPUT TO A NETWORK –
COMPUTER TO COMPUTER
 Needs a
Communications
channel
 The Internet and

WWW
 Needs a modem to

convert data for

transmission across
network