Basic Parts of a Computer with Devices

A computer is an electronic machine that processes data. Information given to the computer is called
data. Computer works very fast. It saves your time and energy. It does not make mistakes. It can remember a lot of
things. The basic parts of a computer are shown in the picture given here.

These parts of the Computer and some other devices are connected together with the help of wires and cables.

The basic parts of a computer system are:

Monitor
CPU (Central Processing Unit)
Keyboard
Mouse
Speakers
Printer
Let us find out about some more devices that can be connected to a computer.
Input Devices:
Devices that help us put data into the computer are called input devices. They help in giving instructions to the
computer. Let us learn about a few input devices.

Keyboard:

The keyboard is used for entering data into the computer system. It can type words, numbers and symbols.
Mouse:
The mouse is a pointing device. You can give input to the computer with the help of the mouse.

Joystick:
A joystick makes computer games a lot more fun. When it is moved, it passes information to the computer.

Microphone:

A microphone is the mike that can be attached to a computer. It allows you to input sounds like speech and songs
into the computer. You can record your voice with the help of a microphone.

Web Camera:

A web camera is used to take live photos videos. You can save them in the computer.
Scanner:
A Scanner Copies pictures and pages, and turns them into images that can be saved on a computer.
Processing Device:
All the inputs are stored, sorted, arranged and changed by a computer. The device that helps a computer do so is
called the processing device. The processing device in a computer is known as Central Processing Unit (CPU).

Output Devices:
The parts of a computer that help us to show the results of processing are called out devices. Let us learn about a
few output devices.

Monitor:

A monitor looks like a TV screen. It shows whatever you type on the keyboard or draw with the mouse.

Printer:
A printer prints the results of your work from the computer screen on a sheet of paper. This is called a printout.
 Speakers:

The speakers are the output devices that produce different types of sounds processed by the computer. You can
listen to songs or speeches stored in the computer with the help of speakers.

Headphone:
You can listen to music or any sound from a computer with the help of headphones without disturbing others.
Storage Devices:
The parts of a computer which are used for storing data are called. Storing data are called storage devices. They
help in storing any work done on a computer permanently. Let us learn about a few storage devices.

Hard Disk:

Inside the CPU there is a hard disk. It is made up of one or more metallic disks. It stores a large amount of
information.

Floppy Disk:
A floppy disk stores small amounts small amounts of information. It works when it is inserted into the floppy drive.
The floppy drive is fixed in the CPU.
 Compact Disc (CD):
A CD stores many times more information than a floppy disk. It works when it is inserted into the CD drive. The CD
drive is fixed in the CPU. A CD can hold approximately 700MB of data, while A DVD can hold a few GB of data.
Note: Not handling the CD properly may result in loss of data stored.

Video Card (Optional) - Pretty much every desktop processor now features an integrated graphics processor. This
makes video cards more specialized than they were in the past. You will use one of these if you are planning on
playing 3D games or will be accelerating non-3D programs like Photoshop or video encoding.

DVD or Blu-ray Drive (Optional) - Optical drives were once a required component for a desktop PC but they are not
the requirement they once were. You can even get Windows on a USB drive for installation. You really only need
one if you plan on using the system to playback CD, DVD or Blu-ray discs.

USB Port - A USB port is a standard cable connection interface for personal computers and consumer electronics
devices. USB stands for Universal Serial Bus, an industry standard for short-distance digital data communications.
USB ports allow USB devices to be connected to each other with and transfer digital data over USB cables.
VGA Port/Connector - In its simplest sense, a VGA (Video Graphics Array) port is a 15-pin, D-subminiature style
port usually located on the back or side of a laptop computer or the back of a desktop system. Users employ VGA
ports to transfer analog video signals from one machine to another using VGA cables.

Computer parts Glossary:

HDMI - Short for High Definition Multimedia Interface, HDMI is a connector and cable capable of transmitting high-
quality and high-bandwidth streams of audio and video between devices. The HDMI technology is used with devices
such as an HDTV, Projector, DVD player, or Blu-ray player.

Audio Ports

Green - L/R Line out

Blue - L/R Line in
Pink - Mic in

RAM - Random-access memory is a form of computer data storage which stores frequently used program
instructions to increase the general speed of a system.
Common Terminologies:

Compact disc: It stores information many times more than a floppy disk.
CPU: The processing device in a computer.
Data: It is the information given to the computer.
Floppy disk: It stores a small amount of information.
Hard disk: It stores a large amount of information.
Headphones: The device for listening to the recorded sounds without disturbing others.
Input devices: These help us put date into the computer.
Joystick: It is used for playing computer games.
Keyboard: This is used to enter data into the computer system.
Microphone: It is used for recording sound.
Monitor: It shows whatever you type on the keyboard or draw with the mouse.
Mouse: It is pointing device.
DOS: disk operating system
Output devices: These help us to show the results of processing.
Processing device: Helps to store, sort, arrange and change the inputs on a computer.
Scanner: It copies pictures and pages and turns into images that can be saved on a computer.
Speakers: These are used for listening to recorded sound.
Sound Card: A sound card is an internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals to and from
a computer under control of computer programs.
Storage devices: These are form the memory of the computer.
Web camera: It is used for taking live photos and videos.
OS (Operating System): the software that supports a computer's basic functions, such as scheduling tasks,
executing applications, and controlling peripherals.
Browser: A browser is an application program that provides a way to look at and interact with all the information on
the World Wide Web.
BIOS: stands for Basic Input/Output System
VGA: Abbreviation of video graphics array
HDMI: High-Definition Multimedia Interface
RAM: random access memory
DRAM: Dynamic random-access memory
Cache: Cache memory is usually tied directly to the CPU and is used to cache instructions that are frequently
accessed by the processes that are currently running.
SSD – A solid-state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies as memory to
store data persistently.
Units of information
Bit
The smallest unit of data in a computer is called Bit (Binary Digit). A bit has a single binary value, either 0 or 1. In
most computer systems, there are eight bits in a byte. The value of a bit is usually stored as either above or below a
designated level of electrical charge in a single capacitor within a memory device.

Nibble
Half a byte (four bits) is called a nibble.
Byte
In most computer systems, a byte is a unit of data that is eight binary digits long. A byte is the unit most computers
use to represent a character such as a letter, number or typographic symbol (for example, “g”, “5”, or “?”). A byte
can also hold a string of bits that need to be used in some larger unit of application purposes (for example, the
stream of bits that constitute a visual image for a program that displays images or the string of bits that constitutes
the machine code of a computer program).

In some computer systems, four bytes constitute a word, a unit that a computer processor can be designed to
handle efficiently as it reads and processes each instruction. Some computer processors can handle two-byte or
single-byte instructions.

A byte is abbreviated with a “B”. (A bit is abbreviated with a small “b”). Computer storage is usually measured in
byte multiples. For example, an 820 MB hard drive holds a nominal 820 million bytes – or megabytes – of data. Byte
multiples are based on powers of 2 and commonly expressed as a “rounded off” decimal number. For example, one
megabyte (“one million bytes”) is actually 1,048,576 (decimal) bytes.

Octet
In some systems, the term octet is used for an eight-bit unit instead of byte. In many systems, four eight-bit bytes or
octets form a 32-bit word. In such systems, instructions lengths are sometimes expressed as full-word (32 bits in
length) or half-word (16 bits in length).

Kilobyte
A Kilobyte (kb or Kbyte) is approximately a thousand bytes (actually, 2 to the 10th power, or decimal 1,024 bytes).

Megabyte
As a measure of computer processor storage and real and virtual memory, a megabyte (abbreviated MB) is 2 to the
20th power byte, or 1,048,576 bytes in decimal notation.

Gigabyte
A Gigabyte (pronounced Gig-a-bite with hard G’s) is a measure of computer data storage capacity and is “roughly” a
billion bytes. A gigabyte is two to the 30th power, or 1,073,741,824 in decimal notation.

Terabyte
A Terabyte is a measure of computer storage capacity and is 2 to the 40th power of 1024 gigabytes.

Petabyte
A Petabyte (PB) is a measure of memory or storage capacity and is 2 to the 50th power bytes or, in decimal,
approximately a thousand terabytes (1024 terabytes).

Exabyte
An Exabyte (EB) is a large unit of computer data storage, two to the sixtieth power bytes. The prefix exa means one
billion billion, or on quintillion, which is a decimal term. Two to the sixtieth power is actually
1,152,921,504,606,846,976 bytes in decimal, or somewhat over a quintillion (or ten to the eighteenth power) bytes.
It is common to say that an Exabyte is approximately one quintillion bytes. In decimal terms, an Exabyte is a billion
gigabytes.

Zettabyte
A Zettabyte (ZB) is equal to one sextillion bytes. It is commonly abbreviated ZB. At this time, no computer has one
Zettabyte of storage. It has 1024 Exabytes.

Yottabyte
A Yottabyte is equal to one septillion bytes. It is commonly abbreviated YB. At this time, no computer has one
Zettabyte of storage. It has 1024 Zettabytes.
Multiple Choice Quiz

1. Which part is the "brain" of the computer?

a) Monitor
b) CPU
c) RAM
d) ROM

2. What is the permanent memory built into your computer called?

a) RAM
b) CPU
c) ROM
d) CD-ROM
3. Approximately how many bytes make one Megabyte
a) One Thousand
b) One Million
c) Ten Thousand
d) One Hundred
4. The capacity of your hard drive is measured in
a) MHz
b) Gigabytes
c) Mbps
d) 52X
5. Which of the following is not an input device?
a) Keyboard
b) Joystick
c) Microphone
d) Monitor
6. Which of the following is not an output device?
a) Monitor
b) Keyboard
c) Printer
d) Speakers
7. Which device allows your computer to talk to other computers over a telephone line as well as access the
internet?
a) RAM
b) CD-ROM drive
c) Modem
d) Hard Drive
8. How much information can a CD (Compact Disk) usually store?
a) 1.4 Mb
b) 150 Mb
c) 700 Mb
d) 10 Mb
9. Which of the following is an operating system you would be using on the computer?
a) Internet Explorer
b) Netscape
c) Microsoft Word
d) Microsoft Windows
10. BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System
a) False
b) True
11. What does RAM stand for?
a) Remote Authorization Mechanism
b) Readily Accessed Mailer
c) Random Access Memory
d) Random Authorization Mechanism
12. DOS stands for
 a) Disk Operating System
b) Dual Operating System
c) Dual Organized System
d) Disk Organized System
13. Physical components that make up your computer are known as:
a) Hardware
b) Software
c) Operating Systems
d) CPU
14. Which of the following companies is famous for manufacturing computer processors?
a) Sony
b) Intel
c) Macromedia
d) Corel
15. Which of the following will you require to hear music on your computer?
a) Video Card
b) Mouse
c) Sound Card
d) Joy Stick

Unit Conversion:

In Decimal

1. 500kb to MB
2. 2 bytes to bits
3. 432.3 MB to kb
4. 32 bits – byte
5. 900 MB – GB
6. 0.021 GB to MB
7. 12.6 MB to KB
8. 1.5 TB to GB
9. 320 GB to TB
10. 0.6 PB to TB
11. 8 TB to PB
12. 32 bytes – bits
13. 500 GB to MB
14. 1024 MB to TB
15. 245765 KB to GB