|
The video card and the monitor work as a team. Almost all
video cards these days have a VGA interface (a 15-pin connector),
as do almost all monitors, so any monitor will work with pretty
much any video card. Some video cards also have extra outputs
for RGB connectors that go to TV sets and other display units,
like projectors.
Video Card
The video card acts as an interface between the computer
and the display monitor. Most of the video cards produced
today are high-end, with more capability and more features
than you'll ever need. The exception would be if you're a
serious game player who plays those shoot-em-up 3-D games;
then you'll want the best video card you can get. The same
goes for graphics professionals. But the average home or business
user doesn't need an expensive video card.
Video cards come with a certain amount of memory on them.
The memory doesn't have anything to do with their speed of
performance; it's purely a matter of what screen resolutions
and color depths they can display. A 4MB video card can display
16.7 million colors at 1024 x 768 resolution, which should
be enough for just about anybody, but most systems these days
come with 16 or even 32MB video cards. No biggie -- the extra
memory doesn't hurt anything.
There are two kinds of slots a video card can plug into on
a motherboard. The first is AGP. Motherboards have only one
AGP slot, and it's specifically for the video card. AGP is
a very fast bus (that is, connection to the processor), so
AGP video is best. The other is PCI. A motherboard typically
has several PCI slots, and most of the add-on circuit boards
are PCI. PCI video is okay, but not as good as AGP.
Monitor
Monitors come in various sizes. A 17" monitor is a fairly
standard size these days. An economy model runs 15", and those
in the luxury category might be 19" or 21". Bigger is more
expensive, but not always better for every situation.
When choosing a monitor, keep in mind that it's going to
be approximately as deep as it is wide. So a 21" monitor will
be 21" deep. If you have limited desk space, that might not
be the best choice. Some monitors have space-saving designs
that make them slightly less deep, but you're still looking
at over a foot and a half of your desk depth being occupied.
Most monitors are shadow mask or aperture grille in design.
A shadow mask monitor is the "standard" kind. I won't go into
the details of how it works here -- just know that such monitors
display text and graphics very nicely and are fairly inexpensive.
If a monitor doesn't say what kind it is, it's a shadow mask.
The other kind, aperture grille, is also known as Trinitron.
It's known for displaying richer colors and clearer images
but somewhat less crisp text. Aperture grille monitors also
have two faint stripes running across the display horizontally,
at about one-third and two-thirds down from the top. Some
people find these distracting.
Monitor quality is measured in dot pitch (or stripe pitch
for aperture grille). A lower number is better, and usually
more expensive. A measurement of .27mm is average for dot
pitch, or .26 for aperture grille.
New flat-panel monitors are now available that use a similar
technology to that of a laptop screen. These are very expensive
(around £750 for a 15-inch model), but some people find
them worth the expense. They take up almost no depth, so you
can place them in a very small workspace.
|
