● Introduction to computer hardware
● Programs and hardware
● Bios
● Components
Cpu
Motherboard
Storage
Power supplies
Mobile device
Batteries and charging system
Peripherals
Introduction to Computer Hardware
While computers are complex and can seem daunting to learn, they ultimately just calculate,
process, and store data. Desktops are just computers that can fit on or under our desks.
We'll call these physical components, hardware. Let's take a look at the back of the computer.
You can see common connectors here, the power outlet here, and the common ports here.
,Ports are connection points that we can connect devices to that extend the functionality of our
computer.
There's another important one here for our network connection
There are also physical components inside the laptop case that are hidden for portability. Once
you figure out how one computer works, you can figure out how any other computer works.
Okay, this is my favorite part. Let's open up this desktop and take a deeper look. Let me first
clean up my desk.
A CPU or central processing unit, which is covered by this heat sink. You could think of the
CPU as the brain of our computer. The CPU does all the calculations and data processing. It
communicates pretty heavily with this component right here, RAM or Random Access Memory.
RAM is our computer's short-term memory. We use this component when we want to store data
temporarily. Like let's say, you're typing something into a chat or a piece of text in a word
processor. This information is stored in the RAM.
When we want to store anything in long-term memory, we use this component here, the hard
drive.
The hard drive holds all of our data, which can include music, pictures, applications. Let me
show you something else interesting.
This is our motherboard.It holds everything in place and lets our components communicate with
each other. It's the foundation of our computer. You can think of the motherboard as the body or
circulatory system of the computer that connects all the pieces together.
The last component we'll talk about is our power supply, which converts electricity from our wall
outlet into a format that our computer can use.
You know what's interesting? All these components make up most computers, even a mobile
phone. While it might look very different from your laptop, a mobile phone just uses a smaller
version of the hardware that we saw in the desktop and laptop today.
, Programs and Hardware
Our computers speak in machine language, but we of course speak in human languages.
Right now, you're probably using a web browser, music player, text setter or something else on
your computer. We interact with these applications on a daily basis. They are referred to as
Programs. Programs are basic instructions that tell the computer what to do. We technically
store programs on durable media like hard drives.
You can think of programs like cooking recipes. We get these recipes all stored together in a
cookbook just like apps stored in a hard drive. Now we want to make a ton of food. So we hire a
chef to follow our recipes and whip up something good. The faster our chef works, the more
food she'll prepare.
The chef is our CPU, she processes the recipes we send her and makes the food. Our chef
works super fast, so fast that she can cook faster than she can read.
So, we take a copy of the recipes and put them into RAM.
Remember that RAM is our computer's short-term memory. It stores information in a location our
CPU can access faster than it could with our hard drive.
Now we can give our chef one or two recipes at a time, instead of reciting the entire cookbook
to her. Okay, now let's say I want to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I see a pretty
good recipe, and send it to our chef to make.
Our chef can only communicate with us in ones and zeroes. So instead of sending something
readable, like the recipe for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, we have to send her something
like this. In reality, this process is a little more complicated.
Our CPU is constantly taking instructions and executing them. These instructions are written in
binary, but how do they travel around the computer? In our computer, we have something called
the External Data Bus or EDB.It's a row of wires that interconnect the parts of our computer,
king of the veins in our body.
● Programs and hardware
● Bios
● Components
Cpu
Motherboard
Storage
Power supplies
Mobile device
Batteries and charging system
Peripherals
Introduction to Computer Hardware
While computers are complex and can seem daunting to learn, they ultimately just calculate,
process, and store data. Desktops are just computers that can fit on or under our desks.
We'll call these physical components, hardware. Let's take a look at the back of the computer.
You can see common connectors here, the power outlet here, and the common ports here.
,Ports are connection points that we can connect devices to that extend the functionality of our
computer.
There's another important one here for our network connection
There are also physical components inside the laptop case that are hidden for portability. Once
you figure out how one computer works, you can figure out how any other computer works.
Okay, this is my favorite part. Let's open up this desktop and take a deeper look. Let me first
clean up my desk.
A CPU or central processing unit, which is covered by this heat sink. You could think of the
CPU as the brain of our computer. The CPU does all the calculations and data processing. It
communicates pretty heavily with this component right here, RAM or Random Access Memory.
RAM is our computer's short-term memory. We use this component when we want to store data
temporarily. Like let's say, you're typing something into a chat or a piece of text in a word
processor. This information is stored in the RAM.
When we want to store anything in long-term memory, we use this component here, the hard
drive.
The hard drive holds all of our data, which can include music, pictures, applications. Let me
show you something else interesting.
This is our motherboard.It holds everything in place and lets our components communicate with
each other. It's the foundation of our computer. You can think of the motherboard as the body or
circulatory system of the computer that connects all the pieces together.
The last component we'll talk about is our power supply, which converts electricity from our wall
outlet into a format that our computer can use.
You know what's interesting? All these components make up most computers, even a mobile
phone. While it might look very different from your laptop, a mobile phone just uses a smaller
version of the hardware that we saw in the desktop and laptop today.
, Programs and Hardware
Our computers speak in machine language, but we of course speak in human languages.
Right now, you're probably using a web browser, music player, text setter or something else on
your computer. We interact with these applications on a daily basis. They are referred to as
Programs. Programs are basic instructions that tell the computer what to do. We technically
store programs on durable media like hard drives.
You can think of programs like cooking recipes. We get these recipes all stored together in a
cookbook just like apps stored in a hard drive. Now we want to make a ton of food. So we hire a
chef to follow our recipes and whip up something good. The faster our chef works, the more
food she'll prepare.
The chef is our CPU, she processes the recipes we send her and makes the food. Our chef
works super fast, so fast that she can cook faster than she can read.
So, we take a copy of the recipes and put them into RAM.
Remember that RAM is our computer's short-term memory. It stores information in a location our
CPU can access faster than it could with our hard drive.
Now we can give our chef one or two recipes at a time, instead of reciting the entire cookbook
to her. Okay, now let's say I want to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I see a pretty
good recipe, and send it to our chef to make.
Our chef can only communicate with us in ones and zeroes. So instead of sending something
readable, like the recipe for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, we have to send her something
like this. In reality, this process is a little more complicated.
Our CPU is constantly taking instructions and executing them. These instructions are written in
binary, but how do they travel around the computer? In our computer, we have something called
the External Data Bus or EDB.It's a row of wires that interconnect the parts of our computer,
king of the veins in our body.
