Chapter 2 - Hardware (ITEC)
Gigabyte
1 billion bytes
Petabytes
1,000 terabytes
Smartphones come with how much storage
2 gigabytes of RAM installed
ASC11
26 uppercase and lowercase letters used in the English language, numbers and many different symbols; represents a total of 256 characters
Laptops come with how much storage
4 gigabytes of RAM installed
Blu-Ray
50 GB per slide
CD
700 MB
DVD
8.5 GB
WiFi uses what protocol
802.11 which ensures that devices enabled with WiFi can connect to any WiFi network
Bus
A channel over which information flows inside a computer
Unicode
A coding standard using at least 16 bits to represent a character of information
embedded computer
A computer that is integrated; examples digital watch, thermostat or coffee pot, anti lock brakes
GPU (graphics processing unit)
A computer within your computer that creates images
hard drive
A computer's primary storage device
A computer
A digital device
Cache
A high speed storage area usually located directly on the CPU
The Rotating disc in an optical drive is read with
A laser beam within the optical drive's read/write head
Traditional hard drives
A platter, stores data magnetically, read/write head
Ports
A point designed to accept a specific connector; you always plug into a port
single-core processor
A processor composed of one control until and one Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
protocol
A set a rules for communication between devices that determines how data is transmitted and received
port
A slot or hole that matches the cord or expansion card being connected to the port
HDMI
A standard interface for audio-video connectivity which allows for the transmission of high-definition audio and video signals
Optical Drive
A type of computer drive that writes and reads data using lasers
USB (Universal Serial Bus)
A type of interface that enables communication between digital devices
Hertz
A unit of frequency representing one cycle per second
Two parts a bus has inside a computer
Address bus and the data bus
Solid state devices
All electronic storage devices
Solid State Drives(SSD)
All electronic storage devices that are used in a variety of products including smartphones, cameras, tablets and computers. SSD have no movong parts which makes them faster and more durable than hard drives
HDMI
Allows for the transmission of high-definition audio and video games
Wireless Ports
Allows transmission of data using radio waves
ASC11
American Standard Code for Information Interchange; common encoding standard
Wordsize
Amount of data a processor can hold and process at one time
word size
Amount of data a processor can hold and process at one time; 32 or 64 bits
Processor 2 main components
Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) and control unit
Location of CPU in smartphone
Behind touchscreen
Location of CPU in laptop
Beneath keyboard
Processor
Central Processing Unit, brains of the computer
Overclocking
Changing processor setting so computer runs faster than recommended by the manufacturer
Motherboard
Circuit board that holds the computer's central processing unit
Unicode
Common encoding standard that is capable of representing all of the world's languages; 16 bit encoding standard
Ethernet Cable
Commonly used for connecting devices in a network
Server
Computer system in a network that is shared by multiple users; host computers
Input
Computers accept data from many sources including keyboards, cameras, microphones, computers
Process
Computers compile and transform data into useful information
Output
Computers display information in many forms- images, video, and audio
store
Computers have the ability to store data for future use
Web Server
Controls access to resources on the web
Ripping
Copying data from a DVD onto hard Drive
Fragmented hard drive
Created when you use hard Drive and then new files are added and deleted which makes it run slower
Color Depth
Describes how much data defines each of the colors in a pixel
thunderbolt
Designed by Apple for Macintosh computers and Apple devices; high-speed data and power transfer connection
System Unit
Desktop computers that are stationary devices that consist of a separate case
Byte (1)
Eight bits combined together
Memory (such as RAM or cache) is
Electronic(solid state) and has no moving parts
Hertz
Equals one cycle (instruction) per second
Gigahertz
Equals to one billion (or instructions) per second
Megahertz
Equals to one million cycles (or instructions) per second
Hyper threading (in multi core processor)
Executed multiple instructions simultaneously
register
Extremely small piece of memory (size is measured in bits), located throughout the processor
Machine Cycle 4 Steps
Fetch, decode, execute, store instruction
Hard Drive
Hard Disk
Clockspeed is measured in
Hertz; modern processors - billions of instructions each second
Memory and Cache
High speed memory used by the CPU to store frequently accessed data and instructions
machine cycle
How a computer processes instructions
Location of CPU in desktop
In tower or chassis
Overclocking
Increasing the clock speed of a processor
IrDA
Infrared Data Association which establishes the protocols for infrared communication transfer
Four Basic Computing Functions
Input, process, output, store
processors/manufacturers
Intel, NVIDIA, AMD
Bit
Is the smallest unit of data a computer can process
Storage Capabilities from lowest to highest
Kilobytes-Megabytes-Gigabytes-Terabytes-Perabytes
Boot Process
Loading of an operating system into a main memory of a device
L1 Cache
Located directly on the processor and is the first memory used by the computer
control unit
Located, analyzes, and executed each program instruction residing in memory
RAM
Main memory in the computer which means the memory available to programs to execute tasks
Native resolution
Maximum resolution of the display device; first number is horizontal and second number is vertical
L1 cache
Memory located directly on the processor itself
L3 cache
Memory located next to the processor
RAM (Random Access Memory)
Memory that is connected to the processor via the memory or the front size bus
disk cache
Memory used to increase a hard drive's efficiency
Mainframe Computers
More powerful than servers and are used by organizations to process large amounts of data
Processor
Most important hardware components that make up your computer; located on the motherboard or main circuit board of the computer
Supercomputers
Most powerful type of computer; can evaluate complex data very quickly
RAM
Not permanent
Clockspeed (clock rate)
Number of instructions a computer can process in a second
Resolution
Number of pixels in a display; quality of the image
Computer system unit
Part of the computer that houses the motherboard
Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
Performs mathematical tasks
RAM
Random Access Memory; found in microchips that are located on the motherboard
Colors used to create pixels in most output devices
Red, blue and green
USB drive
Relatively inexpensive, durable, solid state electronic storage devices
Memory cache
Relatively small area of memory quickly accessible by a processor
Bit
Represented by a 0 or 1
Byte
Represents a letter, symbol or number
chassis
Separate system unit that allows for easy hardware upgrades
Bluetooth
Short distance wireless communication technology that uses relatively short-wave length radio waves to transfer data
USB drives uses
Solid state flash memory to store information on an internal memory chip
MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)
Special connector for digital musical devices; carries extremely clean digital music signals and is very common in today's music scene
USB (Universal Serial Bus)
Specialized connector allowing data and power transfer
Connector
Specialized end of a cable or device that plug into a port
ROM(Read Only Memory)
Storage area in a digital device that is installed by the digital device manufacturer; can't be altered or removed
External Storage
Storage devices that reside outside the computer itself; hard drives, USB, thumb drives, DVD
internal storage
Storage that is integral to the computer itself; computers hard drive
RAM memory
Temporary storage area and is cleared off when a device in powered off
downward compatibility or backward Compatibility
The ability of hardware or software to work with data and information produced by older product or software
screen size
The actual viewable area of a display device; measured diagonally from one corner of the screen's viewable area to the other
bus width
The amount of data that can be transmitted at a given time
bus width
The amount of data that can be transmitted at a given time by a bus
Footprint
The amount of space a device takes up on a desk or table
hard drive capacity
The amount of storage you have available to ave data and information
Hard Drive Capacity
The amount of storage you have available to save data and information
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
The computers main microprocessor
Boot Process (4 steps)
The device is powered on and the CPU activates BIOS, the power-on self test is executed, the OS is loaded into RAM, the OS checks the registry settings and loads saved configuration settings
Boot Process
The loading of an operating system into the main memory of a device
native resolution
The maximum number is pixels (resolution) in a monitor
Graphics
The output of a computer that created a visual image
Computer Hardware
The physical parts of a computer
Computer's hardware
The physical parts of a computer such as the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and system unit
RAM
The place in a digital device where the data and programs that device is currently using and are accessible by the processor
HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) connector
The port/connector combination that is used for nearly all high-definition television or computer connections
Pixel
The smallest element in a electronic image; more pixel the better the image
connector
The specialized end of a cord, plug, or expansion card that connects into a port
clock speed
The speed at which the processor performs the operations required to run a digital device
Processor Speed
The speed of a digital device's processor is determined by a number of factors; clock speed and bus width
multi-core processor
Two or more complete processes residing on the same chip and can execute two or more sets of instructions at a time
File server
Used for data storage
Hertz
Used to measure frequency
hard drive
Uses fixed disk platters to store data and information
Buses
Where data flows between different parts of the computer
Address Bus
Where information and instructions about where the date should go inside the digital device are transferred through
embedded computer
Where the computer can be found inside a digital watch
Burning
Writing data onto an optical disc
multi-core processor
a single chip with two or more separate processor cores
Resolution
clarity of an image; more pixels the higher the resolution
network server
controls access to resources such as printers and applications on a network
single-core processor
has one processor on the chip
IPOS
input, processing, output, storage
