In July 1964 the first prototype for a plasma monitor was invented by professor Donal Bitzer and Gene Slottow at the University of Illinois but only after the digital era began was possible the plasma computer monitors.  From Wikipedia we know that a plasma monitor is a display of emissive panel flat display where phosphors create light excited by discharge of the plasma between the two flat panels of glass. In the 60s televisions sets were used as computer monitors in the University of Illinois for the network. The inventors researched this plasma display as the alternative to the television cathode ray tube based that was used.

This kind of display has to be refreshed constantly which could be manageable for the broadcasts and video component but very bad for the graphics display. With one single cell, the team that was made out of Donald Bitzer, Gene Slottow and Robert Wilson, succeeded in making the first plasma computer monitor. Nowadays, there are used millions of cells by the plasma televisions. In 1964, television companies tried to develop plasma televisions giving an alternative to the cathode ray tubes but the LCD or liquid crystal display was the one that really made possible the flat screen television and this will stop the future development of the plasma displays.

Many years passed by until people recognized the usefulness of the plasma computer monitors, and they became successful only because of the efforts of one man, that man being Larry Weber. Comparing the two devices that are now on the market, and I mean by that the LCD and the plasma flat panel we see that the seconds are lighter and thinner than the majority of the direct rear and view projection TVs. With the appropriate kind of equipment they can hang from any kind of surface, being easy and easy to travel with.



The weakness in the past of the LCD monitors and plasma monitors were the fact that you could fit much more and better technology inside a television but nowadays that was beaten to the punch, the only thing that got bigger now being the price, many DLP televisions costing less then the LCD or plasma competitors. It has been proven that the plasma monitor has got a better picture than the LCD monitor being able to process the motion even better and faster.

They actually cost less except the high-end plasmas that will cost you more than an LCD monitor. The thing is, when you choose plasma you go big, because they do not come any smaller than 42 inches and with the LCDs you will not have that kind of issue, being on the market on all sizes. At the end of the day you kind of push them into the same category, the LCD monitors and the plasma computer monitors, because they are all flat panel screens, they look almost the same and the prices do not differ so much.



So the general opinion is that you want a new flat monitor for playing games and computer interactivity that I would suggest you the LCD monitor and if you decided that you want to watch the game in HD or just use the video component much more I am going to vote with the plasma. Before you purchase any of the two be more informed because the market is full of devices that will just fulfill your needs.