Hardware and Software

Hardware
Hardware: A physical component of a computer system.

Device: A hardware component of a computer system consisting of electronic components.

Input Device: A device that allows data to be entered into a computer system.

Output Device: Device used to communicate data or information from a computer system.

Storage Device: A device used to store data onto a storage medium.

Volatile: Data is lost when power is lost.

Non-Volatile: Data is not lost when power is lost.

Internal Hardware Devices

CPU: Central Processing Unit. Performs calculations, logical operations, and fetches instructions from
memory and executes them. They take inputs and convert them into outputs. CPUs usually consist of
multiple cores, to allow multiple functions/calculations to be executed simultaneously.

Motherboard: A printed circuit board which connects the main components of a computer. Other
hardware components are connected directly to the motherboard

RAM: Random Access Memory. It is volatile memory used to store currently active programs and
data. Its extremely high speeds mean that programs and software can open and operate in real-
time, without having to wait for data being written to/read off a disk.

ROM: Read-Only Memory. It is memory that can only be written to once - it is permanent and non-
volatile. These can usually be found on a motherboard containing the BIOS, or on small electronic
devices like calculators.

Graphics Card: A printed circuit board that generates the signals needed to output an image from
the computer. Sometimes, it can be found as part of a CPU or as part of the motherboard. Powerful
graphic cards are used for gaming, modelling, and simulations, since they contain hundreds of
powerful processing cores.

Sound Card: A printed circuit board that generates the signals needed to output sound from the
computer to speakers or headphones. Nowadays, they are usually integrated into the motherboard,
but higher-quality ones can also be purchased separately.
External Hardware Devices

Cloud: Cloud computing refers to anything where computing services are hosted over the internet
and not the same physical location as the computer being accessed. When data is stored in the
cloud, the hosting company takes all responsibility for storing and managing the data. The data can
be accessed remotely from a variety of devices, but will usually be more expensive than physical
storage methods.

Monitor: An essential part of most computer systems. Connected to the computer using a graphics
card, and displays the graphical user interface. Monitors come in many different resolutions, and
recent innovations have also made curved monitors possible. Touch-sensitive monitors also exist;
these are known as touch screens.

Keyboard: A number of buttons used to input text or control parts of an interface. In most
languages, each key will correspond to a specific letter.

Mouse: A pointing device which allows objects to be selected and manipulated on the screen. The
mouse controls a pointer known as a cursor, which moves according to the movement of the actual
mouse.

Speakers: They provide sound output from a computer.

Camera: Used to capture still or moving images. A higher-resolution camera will capture higher-
resolution media. Expensive cameras also include image stabilization technology, where shaky
footage is stabilized to make videos smoother. This is usually found in handheld devices.

Webcam: A camera used for the purpose of capturing images while using the computer. This is
usually lower-quality, and may also contain an integrated microphone. Usually used for video
conferences.

Microphone: A device which records sound and stores it digitally.

Printer: A devices which produces a hard copy from a computer, usually onto paper. There are four
main types:

● Laser Printer. It negatively changes a cylindrical drum which attracts toner (powdered ink).
The toner is the heated so that it melts onto the paper.

● Inkjet Printer. It uses four coloured ink cartridges (black, cyan, magenta, yellow) and
squirts small droplets of ink onto a piece of paper.

● Dot Matrix Printer. These were popular in the past, and used physical pins to push ink on a
‘ribbon’ onto a sheet of paper.

● Plotter. A large inkjet printer designed for large sheets of paper, usually A2, A1 and A0.
 Laser Inkjet Dot Matrix Plotter
Fastest of all printers. Standard speeds for Very slow. Very slow, since print
home use. area is very large.
Black and White Laser Cheapest of all Cheap in the past, but Most expensive
printers are the same printers. they are now because of their large
cost as coloured inkjet expensive since they size.
printers. Coloured are no longer mass
laser printers are very produced.
expensive.
Toner cartridges are Ink cartridges vary in Very cheap, as the Same as inkjet
more expensive than price, but a complete ribbon lasts for a long printers, but much
inkjet cartridges, but pack will often cost as time. more expensive since
they last longer and much as the printer the paper used is
the cost per page is itself. ‘Compatible’ much larger and more
actually less. cartridges can also be ink is needed.
purchased for
cheaper.
Usually black and Almost all inkjet Coloured ones are Can print in colour.
white only. Coloured printers print in very rare.
ones are more colour.
expensive.
Highest quality of all Reasonably good Usually poor. Same as inkjet
printers. quality, but ink can printers.
show through thin
paper and smudges
may occur.
Letters, bulk printing, Photographs, charts, Invoices or receipts Architectural
general office and general office and requiring duplicates, drawings, large maps,
home printing. home printing. ATMs, POS systems, canvas prints, posters.
hot and dusty
environments.

Scanner: Used to capture documents in the form of an image. They perform a function similar to
digital cameras, but at a much higher quality.

Optical Character Reader: Also known as OCR. A device that enables characters on a document
(usually a scan or a picture) to be identified and understood by a computer as actual characters. This
is usually found in the form of a scanner with OCR software, where the scanned document is
automatically converted into an editable document, and not a picture.

Magnetic Ink Character Reader: Also known as MICR. Reads characters printed in magnetic ink,
usually at the bottom of cheques.

Barcode Reader: Used to detect the width of lines and gaps that form a barcode. A laser beam is
shined on to the barcode, and the reflected light indicates the presence of a white gap while
absence of reflected light represents black gaps.
Pendrive/USB Drive: A small data storage device about the size of a thumb which stores data on
flash memory. The use of the USB interface means that it can be used on virtually all computers. The
lack of moving parts means that it is very safe to transport.

Portable Hard Disk Drive: This can be an external SSD or HDD, usually with a USB port for ease of
access. They are usually found in rigid enclosures to protect them from drops and magnetic
interference. Memory Card: Flash memory on a small card. Typically used in digital cameras and
mobile phones. They are physically very small and can have a considerable amount of storage space,
making them suitable for portable devices.

Storage Devices
Magnetic Tape Drive: Magnetic tape is used for backing up and archiving data. The low cost and high
capacity of tapes makes them ideal for this purpose. However, data is stored sequentially since data
is written as the tape is wound through the drive. This means that it will take a long time for a
specific file to be retrieved, making it unsuitable for everyday use. Tapes are only ideal for backing
up an entire system or all of the secondary storage for a computer or server since they can hold
several terabytes of data.

Optical Storage: This includes CDs, DVDs and Blu-Ray Discs. They are usually used to distribute
music, films, videos and software.

HDD: Hard Disk Drive. The most common form of secondary storage. It is composed of multiple disks
with a head that can read and write data to it. However, they are usually slow since data has to be
physically written and read to the disk. Hard Disks are non-volatile forms of data storage.

SSD: Solid State Drive. Also a secondary form of storage, but contains flash chips and no moving
parts. They are also non-magnetic, meaning that they are safe from drops and magnetic
interference. The lack of moving parts means that they are very fast, but also relatively more
expensive. SSDs are usually used to store the operating system and frequently used programs for
faster load times.

System, Application and User Interface

Software: Programs which give instructions to the computer.

User Interface: Method of communication between the user and the computers system.

System Software
System software consists of programs designed of programs intended to maintain or operate the
computer system.

Operating Systems: Software that manages the hardware within a computer system. It sits between
hardware and applications software and manages communication between the two, and it allocates
memory and transmits data connected to the computer system.

Device Drivers: This is software that comes with external hardware components, designed to allow
the operating system communicated with the device.
Application Software
Programs that are intended for productivity or to carry out a task for the user are known as
application software.

Word Processors: As their name suggests, they process words. They are suitable for writing large
pieces of text and for mail merging. They often include features for tables, headers, footers, and a
variety of formatting options.

Spreadsheets: This is used mainly for performing calculations and modelling, often for financial and
statistical information.

Database Management Systems: These are used for viewing and editing data within a database,
which is a structured collection of data in the form of tables which are related to each other. It will
contain features such as data entry forms, filters, queries, graphs and security features.

Graphics Manipulation Software: They contain features for manipulating bitmap and vectors. Using
graphics manipulation software requires a lot of skill and advanced features are usually more
appropriate for serious artists.

Photo Editing Software: A specific type of graphics manipulation software focused on editing
photographs. Home users can use it to make minor changes, while photographers can use it to
enhance their photos.

Video Editing Software: This is used to edit videos by merging and separating videos, adding
transitions and animations, overlaying videos with text or images, etc.

Communications Software: This can cover a range of tasks including instant messaging, audio
conferencing, video conferencing and email.

Web Authoring Software: A type of software used for the creation and editing of websites. They can
be very hard to use, but many provide previews of the webpage for the developer.

Control and Measuring Software: Control software is used for controlling devices that are not part
of the computer system, while measuring software is used to measure values in the real world.

Apps: Another name for a program. It is a piece of software that can run on a desktop computer,
over the internet, table computer or on a mobile phone. The most common reference to ‘apps’ is
when referring to software designed to work with mobile phones.

Applets: An applet is a small program designed to carry out a specific task. It cannot run on its own
but must be executed from within another piece of software.