Display screen

Viewing the screen is almost an uninterrupted feature of working with a laptop notebook computer. With the exception of listening to songs, the laptop notebook user has to view the screen constantly. Hence, the choice of the screen demands some thought, as it does affect the eyes directly. Modern laptops come in LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and TFT (Thin Film Transistor) varieties. TFT is a type of LCD screen that uses thin film transistor (TFT) active matrix technology. Each pixel is controlled from 1 to 4 transistors, giving TFT screens the best resolution of all flat-panel displays. Currently, TFT screens are the best that a notebook computer monitor can be.

TFT LCD laptop screens

TFT LCDs are variants of active matrix LCD screens. They are used in projectors and flat panel displays. In computers, traditional CRT screens are replaced by LCD screens, which are again being replaced by TFT LCD screens. Due to the immense cost of TFT factories, there are not many players in this manufacturing segment. Notable manufacturers are Sharp Corporation, Samsung Electronics, LG. Philips LCD, and AU Optronics. Raw LCD TFT panels are factory sorted into three categories depending on dead pixels, backlight evenness and general product quality. The lowest quality of TFT monitors are sold as "value" TFT monitors, with the letter V marked behind the type number. the medium quality TFT monitors, are usually marked with the letter S and the highest quality TFT monitors are marked with the letter P after their type number.

Resolution

Resolution with respect to display screen is the physical number of columns and rows of pixels creating the display, for example, 800 x 600 resolution. Aspect ratio is the ratio expressed by dividing the physical width of the screen by the physical height of the screen. CGA (Computer Graphics Adapter) supported NTSC and PAL resolutions like 320 x 200, 640 x 200 and 320 x 256, 640 x 256 with display aspect ratios of 4:5 or 5:4. Nowadays, 1024 x 768 is the standard display resolution with display aspect ratio of 4:3 and showing 786,432 pixels.

Common standards in laptop screen resolutions

Common laptop screen sizes

TFT LCD sizes are measured in the diagonal in inches. Few available sizes are 12", 13.3", 14", 15", 15.7", and 16" for laptop. For desktop varieties, 17" and 19" are also available.

Taking care of the laptop screen

There are many good quality TFT LCD screen-cleaning products available in the market. They mostly contain diluted isopropyl alcohol, which has to be applied with any soft cotton cloth in a uniform motion and applying little pressure. Tissue papers leave flakes on the screen, hence, they are not recommended. Water leaves mineral spots so cleaning with plain water is also not recommended. Reports are there that scratch marks may be filled up with Vaseline, but in the absence of controlled studies, this may be experimented upon with some risk.