Exploring the Insides of the PC
By Bruno Auger On November 20, 2008
Posted under Computer Basics
The personal is truly an extraordinary device. Since its inception it has been used and applied to many different facets of life whether it is in home, school, business, and wherever we could imagine. Its popularity rose in the mid 80’s when PC clones of the original IBM personal computers was introduced. This made the PC to make inward strides to be one of the main needs of modern man. Today when you refer to a PC what comes into mind is a machine that runs on Microsoft Windows with an X86 compatible microprocessor. We will discuss the basic parts that makes the personal computer hum to life.
First the main parts of the computer will be divided into two; these are the software and the hardware. The hardware part is the physical thing that you see and could hold. Examples are the CPU, mouse, keyboard and monitor. The software part is the intangible part of the system it is composed of the operating system (Microsoft Windows) and some of the program application associated with it. Without any of the two a computer will not be able to do its main task.
Lets start with the Central Processing Unit (CPU). This is the familiar “white box” that is inherent to any personal computer system. Nowadays CPU’s may not necessarily come in a white box; they now come in many colors, shapes, and sizes. The new Apple Mac’s doesn’t even have a CPU, per se, because the whole unit is now integrated along with the monitor.
The CPU contains many parts but the most important component it has is the microprocessor. The microprocessor is considered as the “brains” of the personal computer. It does all the major calculations and processes the inputs and outputs of the computer.
Also found in the CPU is the memory module. There are many kinds of memory used in the computer. There is the RAM (Random Access Memory) where information is stored temporarily. The ROM (Read Only Memory) is where permanent information is stored. The BIOS (Basic input/output system) is a type of ROM that the computer use to achieve basic communication when the computer starts up.
There is also the Hard Disk Drive (HDD). It is a large capacity storage device where data and application are stored. The computer’s operating system software (Microsoft Windows) is stored and utilized from the HDD. Usually it is measured by the capacity of its stored data (usually measured in Gigabytes).
The one that connects it all physically is the Motherboard (MOBO). This is the main circuit board where the memory and microprocessor is connected. Other internal systems like the power supply and HDD are also connected via a secondary connection.
Now we come to the input device which is the mouse and keyboard. This is the main interface of the user with that of the computer. This is the way we tell the computer what to do.
And finally there are the output devices like the monitors, printers, and speakers. These devices are the ones that show us the result of what we instructed the computer to do.
Bruno Auger
Tags: RAM, input devices, software, PC, hard drive, hardware, ROM, cpu
