Hardware of a Computer

The hardware of a computer are the physical pieces of the computer that make the computer work. To have a simple knowledge of a computer, you must have a simple knowledge of these parts. This isn't going to be as deep as computer science class, but you should be able to knowledgably talk about computers with a simple knowledge of these parts.

Inside the Tower

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

The CPU is considered by some the "brains" of the computer (while I disagree with this analogy, it does help some understand the importance of this part). When you run a program, instructions are sent to the CPU to complete a certain function. For example, if you wanted the computer to complete the equation "2+2=?" the instructions telling the computer to complete this equation would be sent to the CPU and it would send for information from/to other parts of the computer (if needed) and give you an answer that "2+2=4". This is where most of the action in a computer happens and without a CPU, there would be no computer (for the sake of this article).

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)/Graphics Card

This picture is made up of thousands (if not millions) of tiny dots that are called pixels. You can sometimes see these pixels by looking at a round image and seeing the squares within that image. You CPU needs some way to convert the data that it calculates into these little dots to create an image, and that is where your GPU comes in. It takes a lot of power to create images that you see on your computer, especially for fast paced 3-D games (in which it has to turn lines and points into a complete picture about 60 times per second). This kind of thing would be too much for your computer to handle without a graphics card. Your GPU acts as a translator that converts the binary information you CPU makes into a collection of pixels that make an image. As time has gone on, even simple graphics have gotten more and more complex requiring faster and faster GPUs. Chances are if what you are seeing one your computer doesn't seem right, your GPU might not be fast enough to handle the images.

RAM (Random Access Memory)

RAM (sometimes simply called memory) is your computer's most used form of memory. To help things move along quickly your CPU saves previously used data into this memory so that if it needs it again it can simply fetch the data here rather than having to process the information all over again. This is the reason that more memory tends to speed up your system, there is more room to store your data for immediate use. There is a downside to this memory though, once your computer loses power all of this memory becomes erased and irretrievable. Pretty inconvenient if you want to save a document you are working on for school and save your progress in a game you have been playing. That is where hard drives come in.

Hard Drive (HDD/SSD)

This hard drive is an HDD (Hard Disk Drive). A lot of people today are switching to SSD (Solid State Drives) due to their quicker response time and lack of physical parts that you break.

The hard drive is a format of long term memory that will not go away when the computer is turned off. They come in various sizes (most today are between 500 GB and 1.5 TB) and are a staple in modern computers' functionality. There are two types of hard drives, Hard Disk Drives (HDD) and Solid State Drives (SSD). A HDD is a hard drive that has (a) disc(s) inside along with a needle that writes and reads information to/from the disc(s). You can imagine it in some ways as a record player, the disk spins around and the needle reads the information requested by the CPU and sends it back and the CPU in turn tells the needle what to write on the disc. A SSD (Solid State Drive) is like a bigger version of a USB stick. It doesn't have a disc but rather a solid circuit board (hence Solid State) that saves the information into "blocks" that can quickly be read later. Today we are slowly switching from HDD to SSD due to the speed difference. The speed of an HDD is dependent on how fast we can spin the disc(s) before they break, but since an SSD doesn't have any moving parts it is easier to increase speed.

Motherboard

This is where all those pieces come together. This is (more or less) the "body" of the computer. The motherboard allows all of those pieces to interact with each other seamlessly so that your computer can work quickly and efficiently. It has every type of port that you will need, and some will come with extra ports to make your computer that much faster (two CPUs for example). Motherboards rarely have problems, and if they do you will usually end up buying a new computer rather than motherboard. Motherboards are usually made to fit a specific CPU, a certain amount of RAM (and sometimes specific types of RAM), certain sized fans, different hard drive types (SATA vs IDE), etc. You can obviously see why replacing the motherboard would be a hassle, and just as expensive as buying a new computer, but none the less this is the most reliable piece of hardware in your computer (and it is made to be that way).

 

Outside the Computer

 

Power Cable

The importance of this cable is pretty obvious. This is what supplies electricity to your computer through the power supply (which regulates how much power your computer gets a once and changes the currents to the correct type). Pretty much all modern power cables will have 3 prongs (two for the in and out current and one to prevent electrical fires and such) but some older ones (I am talking floppy disc days) will have 2 prongs.

Video Graphics Adapter (VGA) Cable

The VGA Cable is used to transfer the image your GPU creates onto a monitor. This is a rather old cable and was/is being replaced by the DVI and HDMI cables slowly but surely. This usually plugs in directly to the port on your GPU and is colored blue on your computer and monitor. If it isn't colored blue, it is still distinguishable by the 15 prongs that align with the 15 holes.

Digital Visual Interface (DVI) Cable

This cable became more common amongst PC users around 2000-2001 due to the increased transfer speed over the previous VGA. DVI cables have a few different kinds of pin configurations depending on how high the resolution on the computer will be, but it can be distinguished by the rectangular pin configuration in all DVI cables.

High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) Cable

A HDMI cable is another cable used for transferring your GPU's data to the monitor to display a picture. This is the latest and greatest of the display cables due to it's ability to carry large amounts of data in a smaller form. Some computers may have a port for HDMI, and some may not. Because it is so new only the newer computers will have it as a standard. The difference in quality between different HDMI cables is not noticeable at all, so if you are going to buy an HDMI cable, the cheapest will do.

Ethernet Cable

This is the cable that you will use to access the internet. All computers will have an Ethernet cable port to connect to the internet. Some modern computers don't need cables but use WiFi instead, but the router that broadcast the WiFi still need to be connected through an Ethernet cable. Not much has changed in the design of Ethernet cables over the years (that is noticeable to the untrained eye) so identifying these should be pretty simple. They usually have a plastic piece that sticks out on top so that it can lock itself into the computer or router, so make sure not to break it (otherwise your internet will become very annoying).

Universal Serial Bus (USB) Cable

This is probably the most recognizable cable of all of the cable types. The USB has been used for a long time and has not made any noticeable changes. We use it for all types of things: printers, mouses, speakers, external hard drives, etc. There are even USB sticks that we use for the quick transfer of data (also called flash drives and thumb drives). This has become one of our most useful ways of transferring data between computers, and for charging electronics at the same time (iPhones for example).

TRS Connector

Often simply called a headphone jack, a TRS (tip, ring, sleeve) connector is used mainly for audio transfer. You use this to plug your headphones into your portable music player, plug your speakers into your stereo or computer, and transfer audio between two sources. The TRS Connector come in many different sizes, but the general design has not changed between sizes. Make sure that you are using the correct size for your computer (the standard size is 3.5 mm).



Main Parts of a Computer

So first thing's first, a lot of you are probably confused by a lot of the terminology that computer people use when telling you about things. Well my friends, I am here to help. For the sake of keeping this simplistic I won't go into detail about all the little bells and whistles that make a computer work (although I will if I get requests to do so) but there are a few parts of a computer that you need to know to survive in this crazy computer run world we live in.

Main Parts of a Computer

Desktop

A desktop computer is exactly what it sounds like. It is a computer that is not made to be portable but rather just sits on your desk (hence the word desktop). There are four parts to a desktop computer that is essential to you having a good user experience:

Tower

Your tower is probably not is tricked out as these. Here is a picture of a more normal tower.

The tower on a computer is essentially the computer. This is where all the action happens. CDs, Flash Drives, Floppy Discs (anybody remember those?) all go into here where they are processed and the information is given back to you in a form you understand (pictures, text, movies, etc.). It has multiple ports (where you plug things in) to control the monitor, mouse, speakers, keyboards, and anything else you might plug in. All in all, you don't have a tower then everything else won't do anything (for the sake of this tutorial).

Monitor

The computer monitor is the screen that receives the output of your computer. The computer usually generates an image that is understandable by people so that you can control you computer easily. If you are older you may remember that computers required you to code things out in MS-DOS. That is no longer the case, now you have icons and buttons that you can use instead. The icons that you use to control your computer are called a Graphical User Interface (or GUI). When a program says that it is a GUI version, that means rather than you having to look at code and decipher what is happening it creates a window with simple buttons so that you can navigate and use the program more easily. If it doesn't say it is GUI version, chances are (if it isn't an old program) it will have a GUI. As time has gone on these icons have become much simpler and better looking to increase the user satisfaction.

Keyboard

The keyboard is the main medium for input to the computer. Theoretically, you can use only the keyboard to control your computer, even within the Graphical User Interface. It is extremely hard to do though and there is no point in having the GUI if you have to use the keyboard to do everything. There are different types of keyboards out there for different languages, but my guess is you are using they QWERTY keyboard. Why is it called QWERTY? That seems like a really weird name. Well if you look down at your keyboard in the upper left you will see the letters Q, W, E, R, T, and Y all in a row, hence the name QWERTY. There are other keyboard layouts such as Dvorak or JCUKEN but we won't go into those here.

Mouse

The mouse is what people use for most of the functions on the computer (assuming you are using a GUI). This moves a cursor (the little white arrow on the screen) that you use to select objects. Most mouses (for computers the plural is mouses) have four functions: left click, right click, scroll, and move the cursor. Left click is what you normally use to make the icon work like normal. Right clicking something brings up a small menu of different things you can do with whatever icon you clicked on. This is good for special functions (such as if you wanted to save a picture off of a website you would right click and select "Save Picture As..."). Scrolling is done with the scroll wheel between the left and right click buttons. This moves the screen up or down so you can see what all is on the screen.

Laptops

The parts of a laptop computer are generally the same as a desktop computer with two exceptions: the "tower" part of the computer is generally under the keyboard to conserve space and the mouse is replaced with a touchpad (although this doesn't mean you cannot plug in another normal mouse). Laptops are generally not as powerful as a desktop due to it being made to conserve space and be portable rather than run high end programs.

 




First Post

Hello everyone. My name is Larry and I started this blog for those who have trouble with Microsoft Windows, and computers over all. I realize there are a thousand ways to get information about computers and how to use them, but all of those seem to be written for computer people. I am writing these posts as if you had no idea what a computer was and will be happy to answer any questions that may come up (even if they are about Mac or Linux). I am mainly a Microsoft Windows guy, but a lot of the Windows skills apply to both Mac and Linux so you won't be wasting your time here.

I will cover the basics of a computer, defining a lot of common terms used in the computer world so that the common man (or woman) can understand what they mean. I will also go into commonly used programs such as Microsoft Office (I am certified in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Powerpoint which are the three most used programs in the suite), Internet Explorer (while some may say it isn't that great, I can teach you how it actually can outperform Chrome), and other requested programs.

I hope everyone will benefit from what I post! Please forgive me for poor grammar, I am a tech guy not an English guy!