Hardware

Question 1

What are the different types of hardware devices?

Answer 1

Input devices,
Output devices,
Storage devices

Question 2

What is an Input device?

Answer 2

A device that allows a user to input information from the outside world into a computer system

Question 3

What is an Output device?

Answer 3

A device that allows a computer to output and interact with the outside world

Question 4

What is a Storage device?

Answer 4

A device that stores data either permanently or temporarily in a computer

Question 5

Give 3 examples of Input Device?

Answer 5

Mouse,
Keyboard,
Microphone

Question 6

Give 3 examples of Output Device?

Answer 6

Monitor,
Actuator,
Speaker

Question 7

Give 3 examples of Storage Device?

Answer 7

Hard Disk Drive,
Solid State Drive,
RAM

Question 8

What is a sensor?

Answer 8

An Input device that detects a specific change in something e.g. A digital thermometer uses a temperature sensor

Question 9

What is the difference between a monitoring sensor and control sensor?

Answer 9

A montioring sensor will just record the sensor’s input and not modify the environment
A control sensor will adjust the environement based on the sensor’s input

Question 10

What is the difference between Primary and Secondary Storage?

Answer 10

Primary storage temporarily holds data and instructions for the CPU to use for currently open programs
Secondary storage is a permanent storage of data allowing the computer to store data for when it is turned off

Question 11

What are the different types of secondary storage?

Answer 11

HDD - typically 2TB, medium speed, £0.03 per GB, not very durable
SSD - typically 1TB, super fast, £0.1 per GB, durable
DVD - 4.7GB, slow, £0.04 per GB, portable
Cloud Storage - 5GB, slow, $0.026 per GB, Accessible from anywhere
SD Card - 4GB, fast, £1 per GB, Small and portable
Blu-Ray Disk - 25GB, slow, £0.04 per GB, portable and larger than DVD
Magnetic Tape - 1-15TB, Slow, £0.001 per GB, usage for safe achives of data

Question 12

What is virtual memory?

Answer 12

A sector on the hard disk drive where programs can be offloaded to from RAM when RAM is full, allowing for space in RAM for a different program to actively run

Question 13

What is virtual storage?

Answer 13

Storage that is on the cloud, not owned physically by you, but accessible anywhere with an internet connection

Question 14

What is RAM used for?

Answer 14

Storage of currently used instructions and data for the CPU to quickly access

Question 15

What is ROM used for?

Answer 15

Storage of the boot instructions for the computer known as the bootstrapper, which loads the BIOS.

Question 16

Differences between RAM and ROM?

Answer 16

RAM - volatile, larger data storage, can be written to and read from
ROM - non-volatile, smaller data storage, can only be read from