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HardwareZone's 10th Anniversary Special

Looking into the Visual Paradise

Looking into the Visual Paradise

Ah, the ubiquitous monitor that's found next to all computers, without which, the use of a computer may not even be possible. As visual creatures, we tend to rely on visual cues more than our other senses; how else can we justify the newest user interface with all the fancy graphics?

A monitor is as much an integral component of any computer system as the processor, RAM or hard disk, yet remains the only part that's virtually compatible backwards with older hardware. Your newer monitor will still work with your older 486 computer if it still has a D-Sub video analog output (or through the use of a DVI-to-VGA converter) but you can't say the same for your current crop of multi-core processors or SATA hard disks.

Back then in the good ol' days of 1998, monitors came in two versions: cathode ray tube (CRT) and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), though the latter was much more expensive and the former more commonly found.

Monitor sizes then too were pretty limited by monetary constraints, 14-inch monitors were still around, but 15-inch and 17-inch had started coming down in pricing and were much more affordable. Given today's standards of monitor sizes, you'll not be surprised to find that most offices still use 15-inch and 17-inch monitors, though with technology taking its toll, these monitors are more likely to be LCDs instead of the older CRTs.

 The 22-inch Philips Brilliance 202P4 CRT Monitor was a giant compared to its 15-inch LCD cousins and weighed in at a back breaking 29kg.

Slowly but steadily and despite being slightly inferior in some aspects (contrast ratio, lousy viewing angles, low response times) and being much more expensive, LCDs were gaining market share, taking over the spots where CRTs used to roost.

Screen size however, continued to be a sore point between CRTs and LCDs. CRTs at that time could promise larger screen sizes at a cheaper cost, and LCDs seemed to be in a state of limbo, being unable to catch up with consumer demand for cheap and large screens that CRTs boasted, but yet want them to be slim, light and modern like LCDs. It wasn't a tough decision for most that could afford 17-inch LCD screen as these struck a good proposition between all the needed aspects.

 Back in 2005, the BenQ FP71G+ 17-inch TFT LCD was the first LCD monitor to have an 8ms response time.

While the death knell for CRTs may have been sounded as early as 2003, as Sony announced to the world that they would be discontinuing the smaller 17-inch and 19-inch CRT lines and instead would be focusing on their flat panel displays, it wasn't only until the fourth quarter of 2007 did worldwide sales of LCD panels finally overtake its older and bulkier predecessor (which we attributed to the developing countries who stayed on to opt for the cheaper CRTs for a little while longer).

These days, LCD monitors have somewhat become the norm for most home consumers, being much lighter and easier to transport than the older CRT monitors. Technology too has also caught up by addressing the issues that LCD monitors had such as a much faster response time (8ms and lower), much better contrast ratios and improved viewing angles for panels not using Twisted Nematic (TN) panels.

Thanks to the soaring consumer interest of watching high-definition content, the larger LCD monitors too now feature HDMI ports and the recently launched DisplayPort in addition to the older D-Sub Video Analog and DVI interfaces. While some of the newer interfaces aren't backward compatible with older hardware, the newer ports do allow the monitor to be used for other devices besides computers (console gaming, and other input devices come to mind here).

The future of visual computing looks to be a rich and colorful one, and peering into our crystal ball, it's not hard to visualize the future as one with huge touch sensitive screens (such as the HP TouchSmart PC) to allow the user to fully immerse him/herself into the digital world. The technology is already there, it's just waiting for us to grow with it.

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