subject: What Is A Computer Made Up Of? [print this page] What Is A Computer Made Up Of? What Is A Computer Made Up Of?
A computer is basically a machine made up of various components that will only function once an appropriate software or operating system is installed. These physical components are collectively called computer hardware and they are many of them in any particular machine. As much as they are several, they can be fall under the following main categories.
One of them is the motherboard, which is the main hardware in any computer. It is a rectangular board that connects almost all parts of the machine to work properly. These parts can either be attached directly to the mother board or indirectly. Some of the computer hardware that function by being attached to the it include RAM stands for Random Access Memory stick (s) which does the function of storing the applications and the OS running in the machine. Then there is the CPU, which has the main work of performing calculations that enable the machine to run well. Others include hardwares like the internet card, TV card, external sound drive and many more.
The other important computer hardware is the power supply. Power consumed by the computer has to be converted to direct current (DC) from the alternate current (AC) that is usually supplied from the source. The component that does that is power supply, which also has to regulate the power to come in as per the required voltage; this usually helps the machine meet its power requirement. They also have several wires that are used to supply power to other hardware like CD/DVD drives.
There are also hardwares for Removable devices. These are used to hold storage devices that are not permanent. They include CD, DVD, Floppy drives, USB drive and many more. The important thing to note here is that these devices can be used to perform various functions like play music that is on the removable device, write/ burn information to CDs and DVDs or simply transfer or hold information that is on the computer. The work of these hardwares is to provide mechanisms which one can use various storage devices on the computer.
There is the secondary storage category that has things like internal hard drives. These are permanent storage devices found in the computer and they come in various capacities, which can be upgraded to store more stuff.
Another important category of computer hardware is the input and the output, which has components that you can use to get information in or out of the machine. They include things like the keyboard and mouse, which can be optical, touchscreen or trackball. Others include gaming devices like joysticks and pads, audio devices like microphones, printers, monitor, speakers and many more.
