![]() Why, you ask? Today’s screens tend to use a lot of 3D-rendering and animation, which in turn use a bit of RAM and processing power – and push up your electrical bill. If you change your settings for your computer to slip into a sleep mode after several minutes of inactivity, you are actually doing more good than using an old-fashioned screensaver. Is there something better? Yes – letting your desktop computer sleep or hibernate. ![]() Screensavers and battery life – putting it to bed Screensaver Clayton Sieg/Flickrĭo you need a desktop screensaver? No. The screensaver has become superfluous, and almost no one noticed. While LCDs can suffer from some temporary image persistence (easily solved by turning the screen off for an extended period), they can’t be burnt. LCD – Liquid Crystal Display – monitors used a completely different lighting technique that involved neither phosphorous nor electron beams, but suspended crystals activated by an electrical current. The irony is that LCD screens removed the need for screensavers almost entirely. It became a fun, harmless way to customize with your desktop.īy the time that flat-screened LCD monitors showed up in homes, the idea of a screensaver was so rooted in the consumer mind that no one ever considered ditching them. And since people are easily bored, screensavers quickly grew in complexity, color, and customization. The rise of LCD LCD Monitors Tim Samoff/Flickrīecause screensavers were so ubiquitous back in the 1990s and early 2000s, no one questioned their necessity. The solution was a simple program that kicked in after several minutes and ran some basic images across the screen to keep the phosphors from getting bored. Thus, the screensaver was born. Those old CRT monitors also used a lot of power and time to start up again after being turned off, so shutting the monitor down wasn’t the best idea, either. This led to after-images and certain graphics, like menu bars, to stay on the screen constantly, essentially ruining the monitor. The burnt phosphors lost the ability to respond in different ways to the beams, and kept reproducing the same image over and over. ![]() If you left a computer on for hours, then the dreaded “burn in” effect occurred. You see, the phosphorus materials were not designed to be heated in the same colors for long periods of time. While all that sounds awesome, it was actually a very old technique dating back to the first TVs, and it had trouble keeping up with the uses of modern computers. CRT monitors heated phosphorus via electron beams to produce light that was bent using magnetic deflection. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |