Print
From 1981 until the early-2000’s, the preferred display technology for desktops was the cathode-ray tube (CRT), which ranged in size from 12-inches to 21-inches diagonal measure.
The first monochrome liquid crystal displays (LCD) for computers were built into mid-1980's laptop computers such as the HP-110 shown below. The first laptops with LCD color displays were introduced in 1989, but ran at low resolution CGA (640x200) or double-scan CGA (640x400), while the first LCD color screens with VGA resolution appeared in 1992.
Early color LCD displays used slow passive-matrix displays with washed-out colors, but by the mid-1990’s, active matrix displays (which use a transistor for each pixel), provided improved color and faster response. Starting in the early 2000s, LCD displays began to show up on desktops, and by 2003, LCDs outsold CRTs. A KDS RAD-5 similar to the one shown below was the author’s first desktop LCD panel and is still going strong after 9 years.
Starting in about 2004, widescreen LCDs in various sizes began to push aside 4:3 aspect ratio LCDs, and most recent 19-inch or larger displays support 720p HDTV, while most recent 22-inch or larger displays support full 1080p HDTV. The current size champion is the 30-inch LCD with resolutions up to 2560x1600, such as this HP ZR30w (chosen for the 2010 Dream Machine).
The latest trend in LCD panel design is the use of LEDs for backlighting, providing lower power usage and better black levels while eliminating the need to use mercury in the panel's construction (mercury is a component of fluorescent tubes and CFL's, and is a dangerous element).
If you want to see the 3D action on your display in true 3D, you need special glasses and a monitor or HDTV capabole of a 120Hz refresh rate. NVIDIA has you covered right now with its GeForce 3D Vision kit, and its 3D Vision Surround now supports 3D viewing on three displays, as tested recently by our own Alan Fackler.
AMD supports 3D graphics, too, but you'll need to acquire 3D glasses from third-party manufacturers such as Sapphire. With more data going to the display(s) than ever before, the venerable VGA port isn't up to the challenge.
LCDs, unlike CRTs, use digital signaling. But when an LCD is plugged into a VGA (analog) port, an extra conversion step is required. The Digital Visual Interface (DVI) port developed in mid-1999 supports both pure digital connections (DVI-D) or the option to connect to either digital or analog displays (DVI-I) with an adapter. DVI-I ports are found on most graphics cards and some systems with integrated video.
Many recent graphics cards and systems with integrated video now also include an HDMI port. HDMI carries HD-quality video and audio signals, enabling direct connection to HDTVs and modern home theater systems.
Unlike DVI and HDMI, the DisplayPort 1.2 standard developed by the VESA tradegroup in 2009 enables daisy-chaining of displays and supports up to six displays. The ASUS Matrix HD5850 card shown includes an HDMI port (top), a DisplayPort port (middle), and a DVI-I port (bottom).
DisplayPort can use powered adapters to drive displays with DVI or VGA ports, it can group multiple displays into a single logical unit, and it can daisy-chain displays. AMD takes advantage of these features in its Eyefinity surround gaming technology. Eyefinity is supported by AMD's Radeon HD 5400-series (and higher) GPUs and can display a single game across six independent monitors.
Touchscreen technologies have been around for years for such duties as information kiosks, but didn’t become common in PCs until the development of tablet-based computers starting in the mid-2000s. The development of Windows 7, with its support for multitouch capabilities (see the sample of Microsoft Surface below), is enabling touchscreen portables to break out of the traditional medical and business uses into mainstream use.
Since the first IBM PC and its monochrome green phosphor display rolled out of the IBM Boca Raton facility in 1981, display technologies for PCs have gone through almost unimaginable changes. Who would have believed then that computer displays could be used as completely satisfactory replacements for TVs? That 3D viewing would be possible in the living room? That computers could be used to replace darkrooms and slide projectors for photo processing and viewing? The advances in PC display technology have made all of these uses common.
What's next on the display horizon? Put on your wizard's cap, fire up your crystal ball, click Comment, and tell us what you see in the future of PC display technology. And, while you're at it, share your favorite stories of the best (and worst) of PC displays and graphics cards past.
Comments are closed on this article
lunchbox73
October 22, 2010 at 5:19pm
No way!! Microprose games kicked some serious ass back in the day.
F-15 Strike Eagle
Gunship
Airborne Ranger
3 of the best games ever on the Commie 64. Especially Gunship. I dreamed of being an Apache pilot for years because of that game.
Conin
October 22, 2010 at 1:54pm
At the final page of the document, it says "The ASUS Matrix HD5850 card shown" but the card shown is NOT a "5850", it is an Asus Matrix HD5870".
Talcum X
October 22, 2010 at 12:43pm
Bought that at Radio Shack I believe. I think I played that on my Tandy 1000 SX. Was going to be an Eagle Drive some day...that was my dream. Well, never got into the USAF, almost...but not quite. Will have to settle for flight sims...still.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I remember every step of the way.
lunchbox73
October 22, 2010 at 5:21pm
Yes! One of the few games at Radio Shack near the Tandy rigs. I remember it clearly.
violian
October 22, 2010 at 12:32pm
I remembered when I made the plunge for LCD back in 2004 - freshman college. I still have it and still works awesome to this day: 17" 1280*1024 Acer with 10ms refresh. Paid $230 with shipping from Newegg. Not bad I guess considering this sized LCD still hovers around $100 these days. Living in a super tiny dorm with a super tiny desk, it was the BEST purchase ever. Replacing that CRT, I had so much more room to do homework on my desk!
Ravenhurst
October 22, 2010 at 9:48am
That first image looks like a screen from "F-119" not F-15 Strike Eagle.
Marsel
October 21, 2010 at 8:16pm
OH MY GOD MAXIMUMPC your spam filters are SHIT, 7/9 comments on this post are spam right now, wtf!
aaronj2906
October 21, 2010 at 7:13pm
I remember it well. I was a child and my parent put the C=64 in my bedroom. I Spent many, many evenings bombing foreign countries' bases (triangles) and dogfighting. 1-button joystick. Great memories of a simpler COMPOSITE time.
I remember this game took what seemed light FOREVER to load up via that dusty 1541 floppy drive. It was so cool!!
Very good memories!!
"Please enter authenticate code"
Eoraptor
October 21, 2010 at 6:42pm
Back in the day, my school hit it big in the "Apples for Students" program. Got like twenty Apple II E and GS computers, mostly with Green Phosphor screens. The thing I remember about those? They made the most obnoxious electrical humming sound, like an outdoor transformer.
On the flipside, my mom got a Cybervision C112 (I'm looking at it in her stored stuff at the moment) attached to a TNT2 vid card... this thing still produces color and refresh rates that put modern LCD's to shame, and its 12 years old!
CRT's are still great, except for their weight. You can find them and some, (like this cybervision) can still display DVD resolution graphics perfectly well. but getting them shipped anywhere sucks (the C112 weighs 61 lbs and requires a solid wood desk, hence being in storage). Of course some are losing phosphoresence, or their electron guns are shot. And I'm not aware of any company thatactually still makes tubes for monitors, and only one that does them for TVs.
michaelh
October 21, 2010 at 5:40pm
If I weren't spoiled by the smaller footprint and lower power usage I'd go back to CRT in a heartbeat. I'm tired of upgrading LCDs only to still have ghosting, mediocre viewing angles and poor color reproduction. I can't wait until we can buy an LCD based upon size, features & design instead of inaccurate specifications.
BTW, the F-15 screenshot is EGA, since it's got at least 8 unique colors. I found a CGA image and it's nowhere near that pretty: http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/original/995051190-00.gif
CGA had a total pallete of 16 but could only display 4 colors at once in pixel graphics. You could cheat it up to 16 with ASCII characters but few games used this.
Zachary K.
October 21, 2010 at 5:05pm
the next BIG display revolution will probably be glasses-less 3D.
after that.... holographic (3d or flat, 2d, floating in the air display) displays or the ability to display every color the human eye can see.
