Computers 101: The Basics About Computer Technology
Computers are complex machines built upon some very basic principals, but to begin to understand computers, you must first know the basic parts of the computer. So, let’s take a look at the basics.
The Body
The computer frame is the body of the computer. Frames are typically made of metal and plastic and designed to be rectangular shells for the computer’s internal organs.
The Brain
The main component of the computer is the central processing unit (CPU), which acts as the computer’s brain to oversee all of the general workings of the rest of the components. The Central Nervous System The motherboard is a completely different component that could be seen as the central nervous system: All other components in the machine connect through the motherboard to convey information to one another.
The Memory
Memory is a multi-faceted portion of the computer because there are many different types of memory: Random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), virtual memory, flash memory and hard disk storage. All of these memory sources complete different tasks, but in general, memory is storage for all of the data the computer holds.
The Voice and Ears
The sound card acts as the computer’s voice and ears: It can record (or listen to) and play (or speak in) analog sound by converting analog information to and from digital info.
The Facial Expressions
The graphics card acts by displaying all of the information visually, kind of like a person conveys information visually through facial expressions.
There are many other portions of the computer that help it work properly, but these are the main components that work together to think, remember and communicate important information. Each of these components speak to one another through electrical impulses, and the software, hardware and operating systems that you put onto your computer allow you to converse with the computer as well.