> For what it's worth, does "TFT" actually mean something? Or is it just a 
> marketing term that means "hey, this screen is great!!!1!1 please buy 
> me!!1"?

As Michael said, it is the type of transistor that is laid down onto the 
glass in every sub-pixel.  TFT is also called active matrix (ie each 
sub-pixel is "active" because it has some control circuitry).

FWIW the opposite is passive matrix, which is basically a grid of wires, 
with a layer of LC (and no electronics) between the X and Y grid lines. 
Because LC needs above a certain voltage to work (let's say 5V), you can 
apply +4V to each row in turn, and then a voltage between -1 and -5 V to 
each column to set the brightness of just that row.  If you do the frame 
quick enough you can make a steady image, but then you get problems with 
stray charge "spilling over" from one line to the next because there is no 
time for voltages to settle.

There are numerous other problems with this method which makes it only 
suitable for black and white displays or very low resolution colour displays 
(eg low-end mobile phones).  Any monitor or TV is going to be TFT.

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