A Summary of Personal Computer (PC) Components
Investigate all underlined words for detailed information.
System Unit ( System Box: Horizontal * Desktop & System Box:
Vertical * Tower )
A system
unit, known as a base
unit is the main body of a computer,
typically consisting of a plastic
or metal
enclosure and the motherboard. It includes a power
supply, cooling fans, internal disk drives,
and the circuit boards that are plugged into the motherboard, such as video and network cards.
Keyboard ( Standard QWERTY * Letter, Number,
Symbol = Byte of Memory )
A computer
keyboard is modelled after the typewriter keyboard. Designed to be used by a
human
to enter
data by depression of keys. Most keyboards have characters engraved or printed
on keys,
these
usually represent characters selected from some language alphabet along
with numbers and
punctuation and other control keys. (Generic Keyboards)
Mouse ( One Button or Two Button , Wired or Wireless, Trackball or Touchpad)
A mouse
is a handheld pointing device for computers,
involving a small object fitted with
one or more buttons and shaped to sit naturally under the hand. The underside of the
mouse
houses a device that detects the mouse's motion relative
to the flat surface on which it sits.
The mouse's 2D motion is typically translated into
the motion of a cursor
on the display.
Monitor ( Cathode Ray Tube * CRT
& Liquid Crystal Display * LCD )
A computer display,
monitor or screen is a computer peripheral device capable of
showing still or moving images generated by a
computer and processed by a graphics card.
Monitors generally conform to one or more display standards.
Printer (
Impact
Printers
& Non-Impact Printers
)
( Dot Matrix Printer , Ink Jet Printer, Laser Printer )
A computer peripheral
device that produces hard copy (permanent
human-readable
text
and/or graphics usually
on paper) from data
stored in a computer
.
One specical type printer is a Thermal Printer
used in many Credit Card transactions.