Hardware

A computer's hardware components are the parts you can touch. Computer hardware is the physical part of the computer. The smallest hardware component that can still perform computations is the computer chip. A computer chip is composed of semi-conductors and tiny wires laid out on top of thin wafers of silicon. Layers of wire and semi-conductors sandwiched between layers of silicon comprise a computer chip. The semi-conductors can be configured to represent either a 0 or a 1 when electricity is supplied to them. The configuration of most computer chips cannot be changed once they are built and most kinds of hardware are thus said to be 'hard-wired'.

Examples of computer hardware would include:

• Mainboard
• Basic Input Output System (BIOS)
• Central Processing Unit (CPU)
• Memory (RAM)
• Video Processor
• Sound Processor
• Hard Drives
• Floppy Disks
• Disk Drives
• CD-ROMs
• DVD-ROMs
• Adapter Cards

 

Primary Components

• Chassis
• Display / Monitor
• Adaptor Cards
• Peripherals

Chassis Components

• Mainboards
  • BIOS
  • Clock
  • Multiplier
  • Chipsets
  • Drive Controllers
  • I/O Controller
• Central Processing Unit (CPU)
• Memory (RAM)
• Disk Drives
• CD-ROM
• DVD-ROM
• Floppy Drive

PERIPHERALS

• Modems
  • AT Commands
  • Error Correction
  • Modulation
  • V.90 vs. K56Flex
• Printers
• Scanners
• Digital Cameras
• USB devices (USB Hubs)

• Keyboard
• Mouse

 

 

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