Computer Monitor

Overview

A computer monitor is a desktop display that turns a video signal into a viewable image on a backlit liquid-crystal panel. This 27-inch model uses an IPS panel for wide viewing angles and accurate color, runs at 4K resolution, and accepts USB-C, HDMI, and DisplayPort so it serves both laptops and desktop towers.

The screen is an IPS Display Panel Module lit from behind by the Backlight Unit, all carried in the Enclosure Assembly. The Scaler Mainboard scales and drives the video, the Power Supply Board (SMPS) supplies the rails, the LED Driver Board runs the backlight, and the OSD Button Board handles the menu controls. A Stand Assembly positions the panel.

How it works

The IPS panel is a sandwich: a TFT Array Glass backplane, a liquid-crystal layer, and crossed polarizers. Each subpixel is a tiny shutter. A thin-film transistor sets the voltage across its slice of liquid crystal, twisting the molecules so they rotate the light's polarization by a controlled amount; the front polarizer then passes more or less of that light, setting the subpixel's brightness. Red, green, and blue color filters combine three subpixels into one full-color pixel.

Because liquid crystal only modulates light, it cannot make any, so the LED backlight floods the panel from the edges through a light guide. The Timing Controller (TCON) Board timing controller receives scaled pixel data from the mainboard and clocks it row by row into the TFT array sixty times a second. The LED Driver Board regulates backlight current for brightness, while the mainboard converts the incoming HDMI, DisplayPort, or USB-C stream to the panel's native timing.