1. HARDWARE Lesson 1

2. A computer is an information processing machine It can only follow the instructions it is given What is a Computer? I’m ONLY a machine!

3. What is Hardware? Hardware refers to all the parts of the Computer we can touch. A device is a piece of equipment. A Basic Computer has 5 Hardware devices:  Monitor  Mouse  Keyboard  Printer  System Unit

4. What is Software? Software refers to all the programs and data that we use with the computer. Examples  Internet Explorer  Microsoft Word A program is a set of instructions which tell the computer what to do.

5. Size of Computers Smartphone  A miniature computer with a built in phone Palmtop / Tablet Computer  A small computer that can be held in the palm of your hand Laptop Computer (Notebook)  A small portable computer that you can rest on your lap Desktop Computer  A computer which normally sit on a desk and runs off the mains Supercomputer  The fastest type of computer. Supercomputers are very expensive and are used for programs that require huge amounts of calculations. Smallest Biggest

6. Desktop Computer A desktop is made up of:  a monitor  keyboard  mouse  processor  memory  hard disk drive  CD and DVD drive

7. Laptop Computer (Notebook) A laptop or notebook computer:  Is small  Is light and can be carried easily  Is powered by batteries  Is portable  Has an LCD or TFT screen  Has a keyboard, a hard drive and a CD/DVD drive

8. Palmtop / Tablet Computer A palmtop:  Is small enough to fit in your hand  Is very light  Is powered by a small battery  Can run a wide range of programs (though they are usually cut down versions)  Uses a touch screen to input data

9. Smartphone A smartphone is a miniature computer with a built in phone. It has:  A powerful processor  Lots of memory  Either a built in keyboard, or a touch screen

10. Supercomputer A supercomputer has a very fast processor and a huge amount of memory Used for:  Weather forecasting  Animated graphics  etc

11. Comparing Computers When comparing two computer systems you should consider the processor and main memory  Processors have different speeds measured in GigaHertz, for example 1.7GHz, 2.6 GHz  The main memory is measured in Gigabytes, for example 4 Gigabytes of RAM