Learn English – Difference between “display” and “screen”

terminologyword-request

What would we call the device that is used to deliver the computer's image on the bigger electronic screen (like a PC monitor)? It is about the actual device that provides a visual output of every other device connected to it.

So literally it is an external monitor that commonly called a monitor, a TV, a screen or a display.

I believe that the word monitor stands for the part of the computer equipment that is connected to it with wires.
The word TV stands for the device that is used only for telecasting receiving.
A display is the part of a device that has a function of displaying the image. While a screen is the glass part of the display.

So what is the proper word for such a device?

Best Answer

As electronics engineer I would say that those 3 words (Monitor, Display and Screen) sometimes could be used for the whole device in a non-tech context. For example, someone could say to you: "Look at the monitor/screen/display" in order to check some information.

But if you are in a tech level I think "Monitor" has a different meaning as follows:

  • Monitor: Any device composed by a (screen/display) and its case (plastic case, embedded in a panel), as a peripheral.
  • Screen/Display: Electronic device for showing images. The one which has resolution parameters (HD, FHD, etc), technology used (LCD, LED, AMOLED). I think screen could be used more in software and streaming context (logical) while display could be used in hardware context (physical).
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