The distinct Hardware Devices / Components found inside and attached to a typical personal computer are hard disk,

mother board, RAM, processor, CD-ROM, speakers, keyboard and mouse.

The hard disc is usually the main backing storage media for a typical computer or server. It is used to store the operating system, applications software and files such as documents, music, video, etc. A typical home/school microcomputer would have a disc capacity of over 100 gigabytes (GB). Programs and data are held on the disc in blocks formed by tracks and sectors. These are created when the hard disc is first formatted and this must take place before the disc can be used.

Hard disk

A typical desktop computer has its microprocessor, main memory, and other essential components connected to the motherboard. Other components such as external storage, controllers for video display and sound, and peripheral devices may be attached to the motherboard as plugin cards or via cables, although in modern computers it is increasingly common to integrate some of these peripherals into the motherboard itself.

MOTHER BOARD
RAM (Random Access Memory) chips are described as volatile, the contents are lost when the computer is switched off. When a computer is started up, the operating system (i.e. Windows Vista) is copied into the RAM. Any software that is run (such as a word processor) is also loaded into RAM and run from there. When a file is loaded (such as a word processor document) that is also loaded into RAM.

RAM

The CPU (Central Processing Unit) or sometimes called processor carries out all the instructions the computer has to do. It is made up of a control unit which controls each of the steps the CPU makes as it works and an ALU (Arithmetic and Logic Unit) which carries out the step-by-step calculations and processing.

PROCESSOR

CD-ROM - means Compact Disc - Read Only Memory. This means you can only read from the disc, not write or store data onto it. They are also known as optical discs because the data is read by a laser beam reflecting or not reflecting from the disc surface. Most software programs are now sold on CD-Rom. CD-ROM's hold large quantities of data (700 MB).They are relatively tough as long as the surface does not get too scratched.

CD-ROM

Speakers are used to get sound output. Their main uses are listening songs, listening to multimedia representations or listening to the sounds of videos. These are attached to sound card.

Speakers
The mouse is used to control the movement of a pointer on the screen when it is moved horizontally over a flat surface. A ball under the mouse rotates when it is moved and turns two rods, one for left/right and one

for up/down. Buttons on the mouse let you select options from menus and drag objects around the screen etc. Some models are now wireless.

Mouse

The standard QWERTY keyboard is the commonest way to enter text and numerical data into a computer. Each individual key is a switch, which when pressed, sends a digital code to the computer. For example, pressing the 'A' key produces the binary code 01100001representing the lower case letter 'a'. Holding down the shift key at the same time produces the binary code01000001 representing the upper case letter 'A'.

Keyboard

A monitor or display (sometimes called a visual display unit) is an electronic visual display for computers. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure. The display device in modern monitors is typically a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) thin panel, while older monitors use a cathode ray

tube (CRT), typically about as deep as the screen

Monitor