1. Hardware Components Stuff you can touch and feel Input devices Keyboard, mouse, digital camera, mic Output devices Monitor (screen), printer, projector, speakers Processor - CPU/Microprocessor Intel Pentium Storage devices Hard drive, CDROM, DVD, floppy Memory / RAM Bus Connects the internal components of a personal computer

2. Information Flow Users Input Output Processor Memory Storage

3. Software The Operating System –Microsoft Windows XP, NT, 2000, 95, 98 –Unix / Linux / Solaris –Macintosh Application Software –Word processor, spreadsheet, database –Games, browser, image software, music software

4. Processor - CPU/Microprocessor The “brains” of the computer Intel Pentium 4 is currently the most popular Current speeds 1.5 – 3.0 GHz (Giga Hertz) –A Giga Hertz is a billion cycles per second. Others include: Intel Pentium, Celeron, Itanium, Xeon; AMD Athlon, Duron Motorola PowerPC Older ones include: Intel 8080, 286, 386, 486, Pentium I, II, III

5. Memory / RAM Used for fast but temporary storage for what the computer is currently working on. The info goes away when the power goes away. Most computers today have 128 – 512 Megs (Mega Bytes) of RAM.

6. Storage Hard drive10-100 Gigs Fast CDROM640 Megs (Read Only) –CD-R (Write Once) –CD-RW (Read/Write) DVD4-16 Gigs Flash Cards4 Megs – 1 Gig Used for digital cameras and MP3 players Floppy 1.4 MegsSlow / Cheap