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~ What is a computer? ~ Hardware ~ Inside the computer ~ Specifications

What is a computer?

A machine. You enter information - INPUT You get information out - OUTPUT. The computer carries out a very simple task, very very quickly, over and over again. It does exactly what you tell it. Not what you think you tell it! Whatever their size or function all computers have Hardware & Software.

Hardware

Screen/Monitor:

• Displays the program you are using – the bigger the screen the better – 17" minimum (15" flat screen)

CPU (Central Processing Unit):

• Where the work is done, contains ROM, RAM and the hard drive. This is where the computer chip lives that is the heart of the computer.

Keyboard:

• For entering data and text.

Mouse:

• Allows you to navigate around the screen

Floppy Disc:

• A method for storing data – contains just over 1MB of data

CD/ DVD Drive:

• CDs contain over 600 MB of data. You can now buy rewritable/ recordable CDs. DVDs contain over 4GB of data, rewritable / recordable versions are available

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Inside the computer

RAM:

• Random Access Memory

Windows XP

• Requires at least 256MB. Most computers will allow the user to add more RAM. The area where the computer actually does the work. RAM is volatile, loosing all its information and data when the power is turned off.

HD:

• Hard Drive or Hard Disk. Again the bigger the better. 80GB basic these days. This is where all the data the computer needs to operate is stored, it needs to be moved into RAM to actually be used. Hard drives are non-volatile.

CHIP:

• Intel Pentium III or 4 & Celerion. AMD Athol or Duron. Although the computer is full of chips, the Chip refers to the CPU where the main work gets done. Measure by speed, normally gigahertz (GHz) 2GHz normal these days, over 2GHz (gigahertz) are available.

Bytes/kilobytes and gigabytes

• A byte is the computers equivalent of a letter in a word eg "Disc" contains 4 bytes.
• A kilobyte is around 1000 bytes which is an A4 page of text.
• A megabyte is around 1000 kilobytes.
• A gigabyte is around 1000 megabytes.

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Specifications

Buying a computer depends on many factors.

The first question you have to ask is "Why do I want a computer?" Be honest, if you really want to play games then it will be no use buying a budget computer, on the other hand if you really want just to write letters then it is a complete waste of money buying a games machine, money that could be better invested in software, peripherals or a holiday!

The second question is "What do I want to achieve with my computer?" and "is there any particular software I want to run?"

The last question, or maybe it should be the first, is "How much do I want to spend?"

Once you have the answers to these questions you can approach the stores - Be especially careful of the software bundle, make sure it is really useful to you.

An excellent computer can be purchased for under £1000 which will include a printer and a scanner.

Look at the computer magazines: Personal Computer World and PC Pro are two good examples. Any magazine with the word "buyer" or "shopper" is useful as they will show up-to-date specifications for different types of computer.

Here are some sample specifications for 2003.

	Basic Office	Family PC	Power gamer
Typical Price	£400-£700	From £700	£1400-£1800
Processor	2GHz Pentium 4	2.2GHz Athlon	2.2GHz Athlon 64
RAM	512 MB	512 MB	1GB or more
HD	80GB	128GB	400GB
Other Drives	CD writer	CD or DVD + CD writer	DVD + CD writer or DVD writer
Operating system	Windows XP Pro	Windows XP	Windows XP
Monitor	17"	17" or 15" flat screen	17" or 19" or 15" flatscreen
Sound	Yes, basic	Multimedia	Surround multimedia
Peripherals	Ethernet networking	Modem Software Printer Scanner.	Graphics cards Joystick Pedals Game bundles
The pragmatic solution for	Basic workhorse,	Good general-purpose machine	Gamers
What its not	Suitable for real beginner	State-of-the-art	Cost-effective. State of the art comes at a cost.
Instant upgrades	Software Modem Scanner Printer	Specialist software, better quality peripherals	The next thing out, a never-ending race!!

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