Types of Computer Output Device

The output unit is responsible for displaying the output information which has been obtained after processing the data. The most commonly used output devices are the monitor, printer, plotter and speakers.

Monitor:

The monitor is known as the Visual Display Unit (VDU). It has a small screen which displays the output. The output displayed by the monitor is known as soft copy. The monitor also displays the software which is loaded in the computer.

These are different types of monitors available in the market such as the cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors, liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors and plasma monitors. The CRT monitors are heavy and bulky and could be black and white or colored. LCD monitors are flat, occupy less space and have much superior quality images. However, they are more expensive. Plasma monitors are mainly used for very large screens.

Printer:

A printer allows you to create a Hard copy of the information seen on the screen. The output that is printed on paper is called the hard copy. A hard copy does not allow you to alter the contents. Hence, it is permanent.

Let us learn about how the different types of printers function, in greater detail.

Printers fall into two main categories:- impact printer and non impact printers.

Impact Printers:

An impact printer creates an image by pressing an inked ribbon against the paper, while pins or hammers attached to the print head give shape to the character. Impact printers can be further divided into line printers and character printers.

Line Printer:- Line printers print one line of the text at a time. There are two types of line printer- chain printers and drum printers.

Character printers:- Character printers print one character at a time. Therefore, the process of printing is comparatively slow. The most commonly used character printer is the dot matrix printer. The print head of a dot matrix printer contains metal pins, which, after coming in contact with the inked ribbon, print dots on the paper. These dots take the shape of both text characters and graphics. The simplest dot matrix printer has a print head with a row of nine pins but better quality dot matrix printers have a 24 pin print head. These printers are less expensive, but at the same time, are very noisy due to the continuous sound of the pins striking the ribbon.

Non Impact Printer:- 
Non impact printers depend on thermal, chemical, laser beam or inkjet technology for printing. Non impact printers can be of two types’ inkjet printer and laser printers.

Inkjet Printers:- These printers have tiny nozzles on the print head that spray ink on the paper. As the ink is sprayed directly on the paper, the print quality is better. We can also get colored output using an inkjet printer. This printer uses color cartridges, which combine magenta, yellow and cyan along with the black ink to create color. For a monochrome or single color output, only the black cartridge is used. The running cost of these printers is higher as the cartridges need to be replaced once the inked gets exhausted. Canon and HP are the leading manufacturers of inkjet printers.

Laser Printers:- Laser printers use laser beams to produce high quality printouts. They use light beams to form images on a copier drum that is coated with photosensitive materials.

Monochrome laser printers are popular in offices as they offer the best balance among price, print quality, and speed. Home users who print a lot of documents also sometimes choose a laser printer over an inkjet printer. For almost the same price as an inkjet, some momocharme laser printer are faster, produces much better text quality and are less expensive to maintain because laser toner cartridges are much less costly than inkjet cartridges. HP is one of the leading manufacturers of laser printers.

Plotter:

Plotter are output devices that are used in cartography, graphics and design work for producing high precision output such as maps, engineering drawings and architectural drawings. A plotter like a printer produces hard copy outputs. Plotters print their output by moving a pen across the surface of a piece of papers. A plotter uses one or more pens that can be raised lowered and moved over the printing media to draw graphics or write text. Arbitrary lines and curves can be drawn in a signal action using combinations of horizontal and vertical movements. Modern color plotters usually use four pens to give a color output. HP is a leading manufacturer of plotters.

Speakers:

Computers usually come with two small speakers to amplify sound. Laptops usually have two small speakers on the front of the keyboard platform.