Hardware refers to all the components that make up a PC. The different hardware that is included in a desktop or laptop includes processors, memory cards, hard drives, video cards, optical drives, motherboards and even USB drives. Computer hardware also includes the various electrical elements of a PC, including the case, motherboard, central processing unit, main computer data storage, optical drives, sound card, power supply and fans.
While the basic components of a pc are the ones that make it up, other hardware additions are available. The first piece of hardware that is added to a pc after it is assembled is the computer’s operating system (OS). The os serves as the interface with the hardware and the user’s computer. This operating system also controls the different software applications that are installed on the system.
Other components that can be considered hardware include keyboards, processors, printers, word-processing documents, and disk drives. It is also possible to install additional components onto a computer, although this has not always been done. Earlier versions of PCs did not have hard drive or any other type of internal storage device. In fact, most computers were strictly paper based, using folders and bookmarks for storing files.
Computers require one or more internal components to operate. The first component that is required by a computer is an operating system which controls all the different software applications. Other internal components are the memory unit, which holds stored programs and data; the microprocessor which actually does the work of running the applications; the hard drive where programs and data are stored; the graphics card which actually produces the images displayed on the screen and also handles sound; the Ethernet card which allows your internet to connect to your computer; a keyboard; and a microprocessor. Many times all these components will work together in one integrated circuit (IC), sometimes however there will be separate components. These separate components are referred to as modules.
The physical parts of a PC are the parts that a user sees and can touch. They include the monitor, the keyboard, the CPU, the hard drive, the optical disc, the USB flash drive, the keyboard port and the mouse. A typical computer system has four primary physical elements, namely the mother board, the CPU, the hard drive and the memory. It is the task of the user to combine all of these components into one working configuration. In fact, many times it is the motherboard that actually does all the work while the processor allows the user to manipulate all the other hardware elements of the computer system.
Motherboards, or just simply motherboards, are what connects the different components together to form the PC. There are actually four main types of motherboards, the serial ATX, the quad core, the dual core, and the socketable. The socketable motherboards connect the processor with the rest of the components through a socket on the motherboard. The other type of motherboards have a PCI slot in them, where the processor and all of the other components of the computer can be installed.