So for a first entry, we’re going to take a brief overview as to what makes up a computer, this includes both laptops and desktops.
Let’s also get something straight, a lot of people have a tendency to refer to Windows based computers as a PC, and OSX based computers as Macs. Although it is true that the entire computer is built by Apple in the Mac’s instance, the word “PC” is an acronym to “Personal Computer” thus I’m sure you’ll agree this fits the description of computers of all kinds.
So now that that’s been established, let’s get into the overview:
There’s several main components that make up a computer. They are as follows:
- The Power Supply Unit (PSU)
- The motherboard
- The Central Processing Unit (CPU)
- Memory (RAM, or Random Access Memory)
- Optical drive(s) (Optional)
- Hard drive
- Graphic Processing Unit (GPU, or sometimes as a stand-alone video card)
There can be several other add-on cards and hardware added to it, but those are the core list of components required to create a computer. And yes, laptops have all those components in them, just in a significantly smaller package.
However, both desktops and laptops are contained within a case, either made of acrylic, plastic, steel, aluminum, or other materials. Cases vary in different sizes, colors, strengths, etc. Different cases will give different benefits, so it’s important to choose one which is suited for what you wish to use your computer for.
Over the course of the next few weeks, more entries will follow going more in-depth about each component and talking about the main technologies used within each component and what they do. There will also be entries explaining how each of these technologies communicate and work together.
Tags: Case, CPU, GPU, HD, Linux, Motherboard, Optical, OSX, PSU, RAM - Memory, Windows