Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
A display screen has a maximum resolution , which is the highest display
mode it can support. Display modes are expressed as horizontal number
of pixels × vertical number of pixels, such as 1600 × 900. On an LCD
monitor, maximum resolution is sometimes called native resolution.
See Figure 3.20.
resolution The number of pixels that comprise a
display, horizontally and vertically.
maximum resolution The highest display
mode (the greatest number of pixels) a display
can support.
Figure.3 20 A screen's resolution is described as horizontal x vertical pixels.
One quirk of LCD monitors is that if you use any resolution that is lower than the native one, the display may
not appear as sharp and crisp. Therefore, you should run an LCD in its native resolution whenever possible.
If the icons and text are too small to read, adjust the text and icon size in the operating system's settings.
TIP
When selecting a display mode in the operating system, you should
choose one that matches the aspect ratio of the display screen. The
aspect ratio is the ratio of width to height—in other words, the relative
dimensions of the screen. Some monitors have a traditional 4:3 aspect
ratio, but many LCD screens use a wide-screen 16:9 aspect ratio instead.
aspect ratio The ratio of width to height on a
display screen, such as 4:3 (standard) or 16:9
(wide).
All display screens have a maximum refresh rate , the number of times
each pixel is refreshed per second. The operating system's display mode
determines the actual refresh rate that is used. On a CRT, using a high
refresh rate (greater than 80 Hz) makes the monitor flicker less, result-
ing in less eyestrain for the user. On an LCD monitor, the refresh rate
is somewhere around 60 Hz but is not as important because an LCD
monitor is not prone to flickering.
refresh rate The number of times each pixel in a
display is refreshed per second.
A display screen relies on the computer's display adapter to tell it what
to do. The display adapter, in turn, takes its orders from the operating
system to specify the display mode (resolution, refresh rate, and color
depth). The display adapter requires its own memory, which it uses to
hold the color information for each pixel as it operates, and which it uses
to render 3D objects and control special video effects in certain applica-
tions. If the display adapter is built into the motherboard, the display
display adapter The computer component that
communicates instructions from the operating
system to the display.
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