Chapter 2 - CS3 - Hardware

Question 1

What are the 5 basic components of PC hardware?

Answer 1

CPU, memory, circuit board, storage, and input/output

Question 2

Moore’s law

Answer 2

Number of transistors on a chip will double every two years > computing power will double for same price point

Question 3

What is the CPU?

Answer 3

Central Processing Unit, the “brain”

Interprets & carries out commands

Question 4

What are the two units of the CPU?

Answer 4

Arithmetic Logic Unit = actual processing by performing math & logic operations
Control Unit = coordinates & controls all other parts of the computer system

Question 5

How do you measure the speed of a CPU?

Answer 5

“Clock time” of CPU is measured in hertz = one cycle per second

Question 6

Bus

Answer 6

The electrical connection b/w different computer components; highway of parallel wires

Question 7

Motherboard

Answer 7

Main circuit board - houses all essential chips and CPU, memory, storage all connect into the motherboard

Question 8

RAM

Answer 8

Random Access Memory = “working memory”

Temporarily holds data & instructions

Question 9

Bit

Answer 9

Binary digit, 0 or 1

Question 10

Byte

Answer 10

8 bits; a byte is a single character (like the letter “T”)

1 megabyte = 1m bytes = 200 pgs of text or one screen-size image

Question 11

Binary numbering system

Answer 11

Base 2, digits 0 and 1

Question 12

Hexadecimal numbering system

Answer 12

Base 16: 0-9, A-F

Question 13

Octal numbering system

Answer 13

Base 8: 0-6

Question 14

Decimal numbering system

Answer 14

Base 10: 0-9

Question 15

Hertz

Answer 15

One cycle per second

e.g., kilohertz = 1000 cycles per second

Question 16

Hard disk

Answer 16

Long-term data storage

Question 17

SSD

Answer 17

Solid-state drive - long-term data storage

Oversized/ sophisticated flash memory stick

Question 18

SSD vs. Hard disk

Answer 18

SSD is more expensive, lighter & faster b/c it uses flash memory (instead of disks), quieter, more durable, less power consumption, longer life

Question 19

Machine cycle

Answer 19

1. Control unit fetches instructions & data from memory
2. Control unit decodes instructions & sends to ALU
3. ALU performs calculations
4. Results of calculation is stored in memory

Question 20

Volatile memory

Answer 20

Loses its contents when computer is turned off

Ex: RAM

Question 21

Nonvolatile memory

Answer 21

Does not lose contents when computer is off

Ex: ROM, flash memory

Question 22

ROM

Answer 22

Contents permanently burned in the chip

Question 23

Input devices

Answer 23

Devices that feed data INTO the computer - keyboard, mouse, scanner

Question 24

Output devices

Answer 24

Devices that show output - projector, monitor, printer

Question 25

Surge protector (suppressor)

Answer 25

Uses electrical components to provide a stable current flow and minimize the chances of an over-voltage

Question 26

Storage medium

Answer 26

Physical material on which computer keeps data, programs, applications

Question 27

Storage device

Answer 27

Records & retrieves data from the storage media

Question 28

Reading

Answer 28

Transferring data from storage media to memory

Question 29

Writing

Answer 29

Transferring data from memory to storage media

Question 30

Hard disk vs. hard drive

Answer 30

Hard disk is storage medium - the disk you store data on

Hard drive is storage DEVICE - reads & writes data

Question 31

The CPU can be thought of as the ___ of the computer.

Answer 31

Brain

Question 32

List the following in increasing order (slowest to fastest): megahertz, kilohertz, gigahertz

Answer 32

kilohertz, megahertz, gigahertz

Question 33

What was the first commercially successful portable PC? How heavy was it?

Answer 33

1983 - Compaq computer corp - 28 pounds

Question 34

Why are PCs a commodity?

Answer 34

Very little differentiation between computers

Primary factor that controls their sale = PRICE!