The monitor is an important component of your computer system, whether you are using a desktop or a laptop. Without a monitor, you can't actually see what you are doing – so your computer might run like the wind, but it won't be doing you any good. There are many things to consider when choosing a monitor for yourself, but before you get started on that, you need to know some of the technical terms and specifications associa

ted with monitors. Being informed will help you make the best choice to suit your needs, and you will be sure to get a monitor that looks great and does what you want it to do!

There are many different kinds of monitors on the market today. Monitors will have different specs, such as various resolutions and refresh rates, that you should keep an eye out for when you are shopping for your own monitor. The default screen resolution for a Windows operating system is 640 x 480. That is a very low resolution that makes objects appear large and blocky, and it means that 640 pixels fit across the top of the screen width wise, and 480 pixels fit across the side of the screen, height wise. Most people do not run their computers at that resolution, however, because it is not very attractive. Instead, more common screen resolutions are 1024 x 768 or 800 x 600. You can go higher, too, and set your resolution at, say, 1600 x 1200. The higher the resolution, the more pixels on the screen, so objects will be smaller, but they will also be clearer. Likewise, the higher the resolution, the more things you can fit on the screen. Running a very high resolution on a very small screen, however, may be counterproductive, as the objects may be too small to read properly, even if they are extremely sharp and clear!

The refresh rate is another thing to look for. The refresh rate refers to how fast the monitor can redraw or refresh the images that are on the screen. The fast it is able to do this, the smoother the picture will be on the screen itself. With monitors that have a low refresh rate, you may see a flickering or blinking that makes the picture much more choppy. While you can't see any graphics or pictures without the monitor, the monitor itself does not actually create or produce those graphics and pictures – that's the job of the video card. So bear in mind that you can have the best video card on the market, but if your monitor is not strong enough to handle it, the picture won't look anywhere near as great as you would like.