Hardware Components By Charlie Leivers

Motherboard The Motherboard is like the nerve system. It connects every component in the computer. it is also where all the circuitry is housed. It helps send signals from the CPU to the RAM and back. The Advantage to a Motherboard is that the computer can run. A disadvantage is that they are usually very large.

CPU The CPU or central processing unit is like the brain of a computer. The CPU performs most logical and input/output operations . It sends signals to inform every other component if it needs to provide a task or not. The advantages to CPU is that it can hold a lot of data and there are many varieties. The disadvantage is that it is difficult to change as they are very fragile and expensive for an upgrade of CPU.

BIOS BIOS stands for Basic Input/output System. The BIOS is the program that the CPU uses to start up the computer. This helps control the flow of data in and out of the systems operating systems and attached devices. The advantages of a BIOS is that it enables fast booting and root access to the entire computer. The disadvantages to a BIOS is that it is difficult to understand.

Hard Disk Drive(s) Your hard drive stores all important and useless files. It is the storage system for your computer. You can save personal files to your hard drive but your operating system is usually installed here too. An advantage to hard drives is that they are cheap and can stop a lot of memory. A disadvantage to hard drives are that they are fragile as if you install one file that is bad or has a virus it can corrupt the whole file system and force you to hard reset (format) it causing you to lose all your data.

RAM The RAM stores all the data needed to run programs. The RAM stores data for everything in use. When the system shuts down this data is forgotten. The more RAM you have the more processes you can run. An advantage to RAM is that it is cheap and easy to upgrade. A disadvantage to RAM is that it is Volatile. This means if power is cut off it will cause you to lose data you can not recover unless you have a backup power supply like a laptop.

Cache RAM Cached RAM, otherwise known as a Memory Cache, is memory that stores temporary files. Memory Cache is made up of High-Speed RAM. Files like internet history or predictive text history is saved as Cached Data. The advantages to Cached data is that most programs access the same data over and over and Cached RAM makes this process faster. The disadvantages to Cached RAM is that it is more expensive then Dynamic RAM. Which means it is more expensive to extend.

Memory Cards A memory card is a card that stores files. This card is portable and is usually used in cameras. A type of memory card is an SD card. Memory cards are sometimes used in USB’s. An advantage to memory cards is that you can use it in multiple devices and it is as easy to install onto a new deice as a USB. A disadvantage to memory cards is that they are slowly becoming obsolete. This means that because they are less popular less devices have slots for memory cards.

Portable Drives A Portable device is something that can store files and is portable. The most popular portable drive is a USB but external hard drive is also portable. Today USB’s on average store between 16-32MB. However, the largest file size for a USB is 1TB currently. An advantage to Portable drives is that they can store all the most important files in your pocket or bag. A disadvantage to a portable device is that they are easily stolen and not very secure unless you put a code on it, which most people don’t think to do.

CD-ROM drive(s) This is normally a read only drive where files are permanently stored. There are now read/write CD-ROM drives that use special software to allow users to read from and write to these drives. An advantage to a CD-ROM drive is that they can play many CD’s of your choice. A disadvantage to CD-ROM drives is that they are very fragile as if you get a scratch on the CD that could cause a problem with the CD.