PERIPHERAL DEVICES– These are devices outside the central processing unit (CPU) but

under its control. They may be input devices such as keyboards, output devices such as printers
or storage devices such as disk drives.

Difference between Input and Output Devices

Input and output devices performs two types of operations in a computer system. Input is any
data that we send into a computer for processing. That can be an image from a digital camera or
some letters types via keyboard in a word document. Output is the result of the data we can see
through some output device like a picture displayed by the monitor, a word documented printed
by a printer, etc.

Biometric Devices– These are devices that read/use human physical characteristics (face shape,
finger prints, etc.) for identification data to be sentinto a computer for processing. E.g. Finger
print scanner, Facerecognition systems, Voice recognition systems, Retinal recognition systems,
etc.

INPUT DEVICES

An input device feeds data to the computer system for processing.

A list of common input devices of a Computer System.

 Keyboard
 Mouse
 Scanner
 Digital Camera , Camcorder
 Gamepad, Joystick, Steering wheel.
 Microphone
 Barcode Reader / Optical Character Reader (OCR)
 Light Pen / Stylus
 Touch Screen
 Webcam
 Biometrics (Thumb impression / Face detection)
 Magnetic Stripe Reader
 Optical Mark Reader (OMR)

Keyboard

Keyboard is the most common input device of a Computer System. The keyboard resembles a
typewriter. Modern Keyboards have more than just the letter and numeric keys. They have
multimedia keys for volume control, Play / Pause videos etc. Every single key on a keyboard is
assigned a binary numbers to it which transmits that binary pattern to the computer.

Now, have you ever wondered why the keys on a keyboard are not in alphabetic order? The keys
are laid out in the QWERTY order so that those key that are often struck in succession were not

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next to each other. Therefore, the QWERTY layout is intended for slow typists. While for speed
typing there is another keyboard available with "DVORAK" layout.

Same is the case with the numeric keys layout. If you have noticed, the layout of a Phone is
different from that of a numeric keys on a Keyboard. It's because earlier phones cannot handle
fast dialers. However, the layout of numeric keys on a keyboard are designed for speed typing.

Mouse

Mouse is another commonly used input device of a computer system. The mouse is a pointing
device that moves the cursor on the screen. You can place the cursor on icons and by clicking
you can launch a program. A typical Mouse has two buttons, the left and right clicking buttons
and a wheel in the center for scrolling. A user can perform many operations through a Mouse,
like selecting or arranging different program icons on the desktop. Copy / Paste text in a word
document, scroll webpages, and of course a mouse can come in handy while playing computer
games.

There are two types of Mouse, one type has a rubber-covered ball at the bottom. As the mouse is
slid on a surface, the ball rolls, resulting in movement of the cursor on the screen. This is the
traditional type of mouse which is getting obsolete these days and this type of Mouse does not
performs well on some surfaces. The other type is an Optical Mouse, which is popular these
days. The Optical Mouse tracks the mouse position using the optical sensor. The optical mouse
can perform well as compared to the traditional mouse.Laptops use a touch-sensitive pad or
track pads.

Touch-Sensitive pad

These are commonly found on laptops, you move a stylus (or your finger) across the pad and this
moves the cursor on the screen.

Tracker Ball

Atracker ball is like an upside-down mouse. The ball is rotated by the user, but in this case the
‘mouse’ stays still. The advantage of a tracker ball compared to a conventional mouse is that it
takes up much less space.

Scanner

A scanner converts printed documents in to images. Some types of scanners can scan documents
and produce the results in black & white or coloured images. The scanner operates in the same
manner as a Photocopier. A coloured scanner works somewhat in a complicated manner as
compared to a simple scanner.

Digital Camera

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Digital Cameras are used to capture images. Those images are then transferred into a computer
when the Camera is connected to the computer. Mostly the Digital Camera images are in JPEG
format.

Gamepad

A computer can serve many purposes. Besides work, a user can also play games on a computer.
A gamepad is used for controlling games, with few buttons that controls the movements of
characters in a Computer Game.You can use a keyboard and mouse for gaming but a specialized
hardware device used for that is a Gamepad or a Joystick.

Microphone

A microphone is used as an input device for speech recognition system. The voice pattern of the
user is then converted into instructions to the operating system or application software or into
text on the screen. A microphone can also be used as an input device to a voicemail system.

Light pen

A screen cursor can be moved by touching the screen with a light pen. Light pens are mainly
used for design work and need special software to make them function.

OUTPUT DEVICES

Output devices displays the processed form of data to the end user.They translate information
processed by the computer into a form which you can understand. Output devices can be divided
into two types; Soft Copy Output devices and Hard Copy Output devices.

 A soft copy output is a temporary output and it refers to the information displayed on the
screen or in audio or voice form through speakers. This type of information disappears when
the computer is switched off.

 A hard copy output is permanent and it refers to output printed on paper.

Common Output devices include;

 Monitor
 Printer
 Speaker
 Projector

Monitor

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The monitor is the display unit/screen of a computer. It is also referred to as the Visual Display
Unit (VDU).It forms images from tiny dots, called pixels that are arranged in a rectangular form.
The sharpness of the image depends upon the number of pixels.

CLASSIFICATION OF MONITORS (On the basis of Colour display)

 Monochrome monitor - It is a single colored monitor. It can display only text and images of
a single color against a contrasting background. The first monitor displayed text and images
of light green color against black background.

 Gray scale monitor - It displays different variations of black and white color. It can also
display video. The first television set was gray scale.

 Color monitor - It uses 3 basic colors Red, Blue and Green. All the other colors are the
combination of these colors. It can display 16-42 million colors. Color monitor is also known
as RGB monitor.

TYPES OF MONITORS (On the basis of architecture)

 Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitor –Are large in size and looks like the old model
television. At one end of CRT monitor there is a device that produce electrons and bombard
it towards the other end where the screen is located, resulting in the screen glowing because
of a substance on the screen.

Advantages/Merits of CRT monitor are:

 It has better brightness to display the finer details of images.

 It is cheaper in cost of buying and maintenance.
 It is more durable.
 It has better graphics and larger viewing angle (~180)

Disadvantages/De-merits of CRT monitor are:

 Due to its high brightness human eyes are negatively affected.

 It requires high power.
 It is large in size so occupies more space.
 It is not portable.

 Light Emitting Diode (LED) monitor- Contains multiple small bulbs. The contents are
displayed by turning the bulbs “on” and “off”. Initially it was used only for simple digital
displays like in calculator, digital watch, etc. At the present moment it is also used in
television, desktop PC, laptop, etc.

Advantages/Merits of LED monitor are:

 It is light in weight so, it can be used in portable devices.

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 It requires less power.
 It is small in size therefore occupies less desktop space.
 Its viewing angle is larger compared to LCD.

Disadvantages/De-merits of LED are:

 It has low brightness but is better than LCD and plasma.

 It is expensive to buy compared to CRT.
 It is difficult to maintain.

 Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) monitor - Contains liquid crystals in between two plates of
the screen. The plates are made by either glass or plastic. The front plate is transparent and
the back plate is reflective. Liquid crystals are charged electronically to display the content.
This monitor is popular for portable devices because of its small size, light weight, low
power requirement however it has low brightness and it requires viewing angle of almost 90.

Advantages/Merits of LCD monitor are:

 It is small in size.
 It is light in weight.
 It has low power requirements, so can be used in portable devices.
 It is cheaper to buy than LED and plasma display.

Disadvantages/De-merits of LCDmonitor are:

 It has low brightness to display the finer details of images.

 It is expensive to buy compared to CRT.
 It requires a viewing angle of almost 90 degrees.

 Plasma display monitor- It contains neon gas in between the two plates of the screen in
place of liquid crystals of LCD. It has larger viewing angle and is expensive than LCD. It is
smaller in size, light in weight and it has low power requirement and low brightness.

Advantages/Merits of plasma displaymonitor are:

 It is smaller in size and light in weight.

 It has low power requirement so can be used in portable devices.
 It has larger viewing angle.

Disadvantages/De-merits of plasma display monitor:

 It has low brightness to display the finer details of images.

 It is expensive to buy than LCD.

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  Comparison between CRT and Flat Panel monitors

Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitor Flat Panel monitors (LCD, LED, Plasma)
 Large in size and occupies more  Small and portable in size, occupying less
space on the desktop. space on the desktop.
 Heavy in weight  Light in weight
 Poor picture quality  Good picture quality
 Less expensive/cheap to buy  Expensive to buy
 Has high power consumption  Has less power consumption
 More/high brightness  Low brightness

Speakers

Speaker is an essential part of a computer because they can notify about various system
notifications through various sounds. Some systems have a built-in speaker, though they are
small in size. Big speakers, woofers & sub-woofers are used for enhance sound quality or
creating a mini home theater.

Printers

A Printer takes print commands from a computer and print out text / images on a paper. Different
classes and types of printers are available for various purposes.

CLASSIFICATION OF PRINTERS

 Impact Printers: The impact printers print the characters by striking them on the ribbon
which is then pressed on the paper. This printers print a continuous or multi-part stationery
with layers of paper.E.g Dot-matrix printer, Daisy wheel printer, etc.

 Non-Impact Printers: Non-impact printers print the characters without using ribbon. These
printers print a complete page at a time so they are also known as Page Printers.E.g Laser-
jet printer, ink-jet printer, graph plotter printer, etc.

Impact Printers

Advantages: -They can print on multi-part Disadvantages: - They are very slow to print.
stationery. - They are noisy in operation.
- They can print on continuous - Theyproduce poor quality
stationery. print out.
- They are cheap to buy and

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 maintain.

Non-Impact Printers

Advantages: - They are very fast to print. Disadvantages: - They cannot print on multi-
- They are not noisy in part stationery.
operation. - They cannot print on
- They produce good quality continuous stationery.
print out. - They are expensive to buy
and maintain.

Examples of Printers

i. Laser-jet printers – Offer both high speed and excellent print quality for text and graphics.
Laser printers use toner cartridges that contain a fine powdered black (even coloured) plastic
called toner.

ii. Ink-jet printers – Operate by spraying ink onto the paper and can produce very high quality
colour or black and white printouts. They are ideal for stand-alone computers, but not good for
networked computers as they are slow. They are also cheaper to buy, however they are
expensive to run because of the high cost of ink cartridges. Ink-jet printers need a special
glossy paper which is more expensive, however an ordinary paper can be used where the
image quality is not crucial.

 Both the Laser-jet printers and Ink-jet printers can be colour printers. Colour printers are
useful for improving the appearance of the output from a computer system. E.g Outputs
such as posters, brochures, business letters with letter-heads, invitation cards,
photographs, financial reports, etc.

iii. Dot-matrix printers – Are impact printers which can transfer print through layers of paper.
This means that they are able to print multi-part stationery; so if you want to print a multi-part
sheet where for example - the white top-sheet goes to the customer, the yellow goes to accounts
department and the blue to the stores department, then you will need to use a dot-matrix
printer.

iv. Graph plotter printers - A graph plotter is a specialized output device (large sized printer)
designed to produce high quality graphics in a variety of colours. Graph plotters are especially
useful for creating maps, architectural drawings, billboards and three-dimensional drawings.
Graph plotters use pens to produce images to produce images from the different various
coloured ink penscontrolled by the mechanical arm. There are three types of graph plotters are
drum plotter (commonly used for very large drawings), flatbed plotterand Micro grip
plotter.

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 ADVANTAGES OF LASER-JET PRINTERS

 More efficient use of toner - a laser printer is efficient on toner use, compared to Inkjet printer
usage of ink.
 Faster print speeds - a laser printer can print documents quite fast, especially larger
documents, when compared to an Inkjet printer. The speed of a laser-jet printer is typically
about 10 ppm (pages per minute).
 Less mess to clean up - toner does not stain like ink and cleaning a laser printer is not the
messy as an Inkjet printer.
 Excellent print quality - a laser printer can produce excellent print quality, both black &
white, as well as color. Printed documents, with or without colour, look very sharp, usually
more than the same documents printed on an inkjet printer. Typically laser-jet printers print at
600 or 1200 dpi (dots per inch).
 They are not noisy in operation compared to dot-matrix printers which are very noisy. The
only sound laser printers make is the sound of the cooling fans and the paper moving.
 Laser printers are equipped with paper trays for both the input and output paper, which means
that once the printer has been set up it does not need monitoring when in operation.

DISADVANTAGES OF LASER-JET PRINTERS

 Laser printers are more expensive to buy and repair than dot-matrix or ink-jet printers.
 They are large in size hence can occupy a lot of desktop space.
 They are expensive to run due to the high cost of toner cartridges despite lasting longer.
 They are non-impact printers; cannot print on multipart stationery.
 Laser-jet printers are page printers, so they cannot be used with continuous stationery.

ADVANTAGES OF INK-JET PRINTERS

 Smaller Size - most Inkjet printers are relatively small in size hence occupy less desktop
space.
 Low Cost - Inkjet printers, overall, have lower prices than laser printers. When the time
comes, they are also cheaper to replace since it is often easier and cheaper to just buy a new
printer if it breaks down.
 Cheaper Ink cartridges - ink cartridges for Inkjet printers are cheaper compared to laser-jet
printer’s toner cartridge.
 Easier to replace cartridges - replacing ink cartridges in an Inkjet printer is quick and easy
to do.
 Excellent photo quality - Inkjet printers produce high quality print outs especially on
photographs.

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 DISADVANTAGES OF INK-JET PRINTERS

 Less efficient ink use - Inkjet printers have a higher cost per page when it comes to
printing, due to their rather inefficient (more use) usage of ink. When compared to Inkjet
printers laser printers are much more efficient with their toner.
 Slower printing of large documents - printing a document with multiple pages takes a
bit longer on an Inkjet printer than a laser printer.
 Messy to clean - Inkjet cartridges can sometimes leak, and the ink can stain almost
anything it comes in contact with, including clothes and hands. This also makes cleaning
an Inkjet printer to be not an easy task.

ADVANTAGES OF A DOT MATRIX PRINTER

 It can print on multi-part stationery.

 It can print on continuous stationery.
 It is cheap to buy and maintain.

DISADVANTAGES OF A DOT MATRIX PRINTER

 It is very slow to print.

 It is noisy in operation.
 It produces poor quality print out.