In this article I will explain the basis of what makes a computer a computer.
Computer Components:
--RAM: The RAM in a computer stands for Random Access Memory. This stores temporary memory, such as the code to open an application. The more RAM you have, the more tasks your computer can well, compute. My personal computer has 6GB of ram. I will tell you what GB, and all of that stuff means next.
--Forms of storage: A computer can have several means of storing things, whether it be a flash drive, hard disk drive (HDD) or Solid State Drive (SSD) The amount of programs, documents, and other files your computer can store depends upon the amount of space in your hard drive. My computer has 500GB, or GigaByte. One GigaByte is 1024 Megabytes. One megabyte is 1024 kilobytes. One kilobyte is 1024 bytes. A byte is the smallest general form of computer storage. (there are more, such as bit, but we won't get into that.) Most general computer programs are 10-50 MB of storage. You can read more about all this on Computer storage on wikipedia. Just click on the blue or purple text (depending on your computer) and go to the link. This gives more information on storage, and RAM.
--Disk Drive: This is what you will put a CD or DVD in. I'm sure you are familiar with the common round disks that movies come on. That's all they are. You can "burn" things to a disk, and like the storage section, you are limited on space depending on the size of the disk.
--CPU: Central processing unit. This is what runs the computer. If you've ever heard the term "Processor" when referring to computers, this is what they mean. This computes all of the data on your computer, and depending on the speed of your processor, the faster or slower tasks can be performed. My computer has an Intel Core 2 Quad Processor with 2.33GHz speed. This probably sounds like a bunch of jargon to you. (If you've taken english classes you probably know what that means.) Let me explain. GHz means Giga Hertz. I'm not really sure what hertz means, but I know its some measure of speed. Giga's just a billion Hertz. You might have an 800MHz processor, but Gigahertz is more common now.
Again, this is just a BASIS on computers, and I'm not getting into a lot right now. You should start out like this, learning about what makes a computer before you start to learn about how to use one. I really don't know what I should post in this section, so send me a comment or email, and I'll try to make a tutorial for it. Thanks for reading!!
--Matt
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