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Input Devices of Computer | Output Devices of Computer

DataFlair Team 3 years ago

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Input and Output devices are a major part of the computer. They are a type of hardware
device that makes up the computer system. These allow the system to function properly with
external help. They both deal with data but in different ways.

The input allows the user to send data while the output completes the task related to the
data. These all are auxiliary devices that connect to the device and complete all the tasks
accordingly. Keyboards, mouse, scanners, etc are some of the input devices while printers,
monitors, headphones, etc are some of the output devices.

Another important element of a hardware system is computer memory. It is where all the
data goes either temporarily or permanently. It is mainly of two types – volatile memory and
nonvolatile memory. Volatile memory needs the power to function and store information
like static RAM or dynamic RAM.

Dynamic one is complicated to handle in terms of interface and thus requires regular
refresh cycles. Meanwhile, SRAM has a better interface but requires six transistors per bit.
Non Volatile Memory doesn’t require power to retain information and some of the examples
are – ROM, Flash memory, Optical Disks, etc.

Input Devices of Computer

As mentioned above the input devices allow the users to send signals to the computer to
perform a certain task. The receiver at this end is the Central Processing Unit (CPU) which
then sends the signal to the output devices. Input devices further classify according to
modality like visual or audio, discrete or continuous, and is it direct or indirect.

Some of the classifications are –

1. Keyboard Devices

Keyer
Keyboard
 Lighted Program Function Keyboard (LPFK)

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2. Pointing Devices

A mouse sitting on a desk.

A computer mouse
3D mice
Joysticks
Pointing sticks

3. Composite Devices

Wii Remote
Wii Remote with attached strap

4. Game controller

Gamepad (or joypad)

Paddle (game controller)
Jog dial/shuttle (or knob)
Wii Remote

5. Visual Devices

Digital camera
Digital camcorder
Portable media player
Webcam
Microsoft Kinect Sensor
Image scanner
Fingerprint scanner
Barcode reader
3D scanner
Laser rangefinder
Eye gaze tracker
 Medical Imaging
Computed tomography
Magnetic resonance imaging
Positron emission tomography
Medical ultrasonography

6. Audio Input Devices

Microphones
MIDI keyboard or another digital musical instrument

Some of the important input devices are −

1. Keyboard

The most basic input device to enter data on the system or any other device with the help of
the keys is a keyboard. They establish a connection with the computer either by wifi or by a
USB system. There are keys for everything – numbers, letters, characters, and functions.

The typing keys are A – Z and number keys till 09. The numeric keypad has 17 keys allowing
users to perform different calculations. Then there are function keys for special computer
features at the top row. The control keys have arrow signs on them allowing users to scroll
on the page and select. Then there are special-purpose keys like space, enter, shift, etc.

There are several types of keyboards according to geographic location but the most popular
one is QWERTY. The go-to keyboard of the modern-day, even the Latin-based countries use
this type of keyboard very frequently. The top six letters of the keyboard are qwerty, giving
us the name of the keyboard. Many people even think that this is the only keyboard that
exists.

2. Mouse

A hand-supported input device that allows users to move the cursor on the screen is a
mouse. It works on a flat surface with a wheel between the left and right buttons. Laptops
have a touchpad as does the function of a mouse. The invention of the mouse took place in
1063 by Douglas C. Engelbart.
The earliest version of the mouse had a rollerball underneath but the modern ones are made
with optical technology with a light beam. The port of the mouse connection depends on the
computer and mouse type. Its advantages are –

Easy to use
Affordable
Moves the cursor faster

3. Joystick

Joystick is a pointing device to move the cursor on the monitor screen but not the same as a
mouse. It has a spherical ball stick-type structure. It can move in all directions and is a
computer aid design mainly for gaming purposes.

4. Light Pen

Again a pointing device with a pen-like structure allowing users to select on the screen and
even draw on it. Photocells and optical systems are inbuilt inside the small tube allowing the
flow of signals to the CPU. The tip of the pen moves on the screen with the button pressed,
the CPU receives the signals.

5. Track Ball

A common accessory for notebooks and laptops, that works as a replacement for a mouse.
With a similar structure, it has a half inserted ball which the fingers move to send signals for
cursor movement. It is kind of stationary taking very little space. It comes in a ball, button,
and square shape as well.

6. Scanner

A scanner works like a photocopy machine is an input device to make information available
on a pc from paper. This is mainly to manipulate the information by converting an image
into a digital form and then printing it.

7. Digitizer
Responsible for converting analog information into digital form, a digitizer converts signals
into numeric values stored in a computer. The computer can now do anything with it as long
as the camera is pointing out the image. A graphic tablet is also a digitizer converting
graphics into binary data. It is ideal for drawing and image manipulation applications.

8. Microphone

It is an inbuilt voice input device to take in the sound signals and then convert them into
digital form. It is a very common device present in multimedia presentation and music-
related applications.

9. Magnetic Ink Card Reader (MICR)

MICR is a device commonly present in banks as they deal with many cheques every day. The
bank’s code number and cheque number have magnetic ink present in them allowing
machines to read the letters. This process is Magnetic Ink Character Recognition that has
fewer errors and is very fast.

10. Optical Character Reader (OCR)

It is also a reading device that reads printed text by scanning it character by character. It
first converts them into machine-readable code and saves them in the system memory.

11. Bar Code Readers

Again a reading device but to read barcode data like on goods, books, etc. It can be a
handheld scanner or a stationary one but they both scan the image by converting it to
alphanumeric value on the computer.

12. Optical Mark Reader (OMR)

It is an optical scanner to recognize marks by pen and pencil and is commonly present in
educational institutions to check objective exam papers.

Output Devices of Computer

The output devices take care of displaying the result after data processing by the input
device. It may be in image, graphic, textual or audio form. These devices show the visual
elements on the display. The information on the screen is soft copy and some of the
important output devices are –

1. Monitors

The visual display units are the most important output device responsible for showing the
visual made of pixels to the user. The pixels decide the image sharpness. There are two types
of viewing screen on the monitor:

a. Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) Monitor

The pixels make up the image on the CRT display. The smaller pixels mean the image is more
clear. Even a single character like ‘k’ is made of numerous pixels on the screen. A screen can
have limited pixels at once, it is usually 80 by 20 characters horizontally and vertically.

Disadvantages of CRT Monitor −

Large Size
Power consumption is high

b. Flat-Panel Display Monitor

These are high-level video devices with low volume, lightweight, and low power
requirements. From wall hanging to smartwatches, they are everywhere. There are either
emissive displays or non-emissive displays. Emissive displays convert electrical energy into
light like LEDs in plasma panels. While the non-emissive display converts sunlight to light
energy like LCDs.

2. Printers

The primary feature is to print information on paper. It is mainly of two types –

a. Impact Printers

They have a ribbon on the front which prints characters on the paper by pressing it.

Characteristics –
 Consumable cost is less
Noisy in nature
Good for bulk printing
Physical contact between paper and machine

b. Character Printers

These printer print only one character at a time and are of two types –

i. Dot Matrix Printer

They have a very economical price and are easy to use. Each character print has a dots
pattern of the size (5*7, 7*9, 9*7, or 9*9) creating a complete symbol.

Its advantages are –

Inexpensive
Accessible
Multilingual Printing

Its disadvantages are –

Slow Speed
Quality is poor

ii. Daisy Wheel

With head lying on the wheel, the pins next to the characters form a petal shape thus giving
it its name. They print nice quality characters and are mostly present at word-processing
offices that need a few letters only.

Its advantages are –

Reliable than the dot matrix printer

Quality Characters
Exchangeable Fonts

Its disadvantages are –

Slow in speed
 Noisy Nature
A bit expensive

c. Line Printers

They print one line at a time. They are of two types –

i. Drum Printer

They have a drum-like shape with track division equal to paper size, like 100 width paper
will have 100 tracks. Each track has a character set embossed either 48 character set, 64 or
96 characters set. Each drum prints one line and is as fast as 300 to 2000 lines per minute.

Its advantages are –

High speed

Its disadvantages are

Very Costly
Only one set of font available in one printer

ii. Chain Printer

This printer uses a character chain to print like 48, 64, or 96 characters.

Its advantages are –

Interchangeable character fonts

Multilingual printing

Its disadvantages are –

Noisy in nature

d. Non-impact Printers

They don’t use a ribbon to print but instead print an entire page in one go.

Characteristics of Non-impact Printers

 Very fast
Don’t make noise
High-Quality printing
Many fonts and character size available

e. Laser Printers

These use laser lights for producing dots to form characters on a page.

Its advantages are –

Fast Speed
Quality Output
Great graphic quality
Supports multiple fonts and size

Its disadvantages are –

Very Costly
Can’t print multiple copies at a time

Inkjet Printers

These are the new generation printers that use the spray to print the papers. They produce
high-quality characters with a focus on details. They make relatively lower voices and also
have an option to do color printing.

Its advantages are

High quality
Reliable
Multiple copy printing

Its disadvantages are –

Expensive
Slow compared to laser printer

3. Speakers
An output device that produces sound after receiving a command from the computer. They
support the computers as well as other hardware devices. Now we also have wireless
speakers with Bluetooth technology.

4. Projector

This is an optical device that presents visuals on the screen, stationary and moving both.
They are present at movie theatres, auditoriums, etc. It connects to the computer and
displays the image on it on a larger screen.

5. Plotter

It is a device to make graphics, prints and other vector images to give a real life illustration
vibe. It is mandatory to have a graphic card to use the device. The pen like device that comes
with it helps in replicating the exact design on the computer.

6. Braille Reader

Made for the blind users, this device is to process computer data in braille format. It allows
users with low or no vision to recognize the data as the braille reader put data on the paper
in embossed format. They can run their fingers over it to understand everything easily.

7. Television

A very common output device present in most of the households is a display output device. It
portrays video and audio files on the screen according to the user’s needs. Before we had
CRT screens but now most of us use plasma displays.

8. Video Card

This device goes inside the sockets of a motherboard of the computer system. It improvises
the digital content appearance in other output devices. It is very important now with many
people having multiple devices just for personal use.

9. Global Positioning System

A device to help users with directions, GPS uses satellite technology to track geographical
location of the users. There is a continuous latitudinal and longitudinal calculation to have
an accurate result every time. Most of the vehicles and smart devices have GPS as an inbuilt
feature.

10. Headphones

Similar to speakers, this device has a lower sound frequency. They can’t be easily heard in
large areas like grounds and parks but are only accessible to a single person using the
device. A headset is another name for them.

Both Input and Output Devices of Computer

There are many devices that have characteristics of both input and output devices. They can
receive data as well as give out a result becoming useful for both purposes.

Some of them are –

1. USB Drive – It is a detachable device which can receive data from any computer as well as
send out data to other devices.

2. Modems – It is responsible for transmitting data from one device to another using
telephonic lines.

3. CD and DVD Drives – Saves data from the computer in the given format and can also send
out data to other devices with disk space.

4. Headset – It has a speaker which is an output device and a microphone which is an input
device.

5. Facsimile – This is a fax machine with scanner being an input device and printer being
the output device.

Difference between Input Devices and Output Devices

INPUT DEVICE OUTPUT DEVICE

Accepts user data Reflects user data

The user commands them Processor commands them

Conversion of friendly instruction into a Conversion of machine’s instructions to
machine friendly user needs
Sends data to the processor for execution Sends processed data back to the user.
Helps computer in receiving data Helps computer in displaying data
Complex design structure Less complex design structure
Example – Keyboard, Image Scanner, etc. Ex: Monitor, Printers, etc.

Conclusion

These devices make the world of computer systems. Without them, all the innovation and
technology that we enjoy is not possible. This is why they become an important part of
general knowledge.

Many exams like UPSC, RRB, IBPS, SBI PO, Clerk Exams, etc will have questions from this
topic. This comes under the basic computer knowledge sections of the papers. All the
applicants should read all the details to understand the framework of a good computer
system. Following the flow will help your revision process easy as well.

Categories: Computer Basics Tutorials

Tags: Input and Output Devices of Computer, Input Devices of Computer, Output Devices of Computer

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