QE2-2 What Are the Types of Computer Hardware and Their Capacities?

Question 1

What are the basic types of hardware?

Answer 1

The basic types of hardware include:

Wearables: e.g., Apple Watch, Fitbit
Personal Computers (PCs): e.g., Apple Mac Pro
Tablets: e.g., iPad, Microsoft Surface, Kindle
Smartphones: e.g., iPhone, Samsung Galaxy
Servers: e.g., Dell PowerEdge
Server Farms: Racks of servers

Question 2

What is a wearable, and give examples?

Answer 2

Wearables are small electronic devices worn on the body. Examples include the Apple Watch and Fitbit.

Question 3

What is a server, and how does it differ from a PC?

Answer 3

A server is a computer designed to support processing from many remote computers and users.

It is like a PC but more powerful, an example being the Dell PowerEdge server.

Question 4

What is a server farm?

Answer 4

A server farm is a collection of thousands of servers, often placed in large truck trailers that hold 5,000 servers or more.

These support large-scale computing for multiple users and clients.

Question 5

What is an example of a tablet, and what is its primary use?

Answer 5

Examples of tablets include the iPad, Microsoft Surface, and Kindle. Tablets are mobile computers with touchscreen displays, often used for both personal and business computing needs.

Question 6

What is a bit?

Answer 6

A bit is the smallest unit of data in computing, represented as a binary value of 0 or 1.

Bits can be represented in various ways, such as switches (on/off), magnetic fields (one direction or another), or reflections (reflect/no reflect on optical media).

Question 7

How are bits grouped for storage?

Answer 7

Bits are grouped into 8-bit chunks called bytes. For example, one character of data typically fits into one byte.

Storage capacity is often expressed in bytes and its multiples.

Question 8

What are the common terms for data storage sizes?

Answer 8

Kilobyte (K): 1,024 bytes
Megabyte (MB): 1,024 kilobytes
Gigabyte (GB): 1,024 megabytes
Terabyte (TB): 1,024 gigabytes
Petabyte (PB): 1,024 terabytes
Exabyte (EB): 1,024 petabytes

Question 9

What is computer speed, and how is it measured?

Answer 9

Computer speed is measured in cycles per second, called hertz.

A slow personal computer might operate at around 2.9 gigahertz (GHz), while faster computers can reach 4+ GHz.

Question 10

What is the difference between 32-bit and 64-bit CPUs?

Answer 10

32-bit CPUs: Less capable and cheaper, handling less memory.

64-bit CPUs: More advanced, handling larger amounts of memory and more processing power. Most CPUs built after 2016 are 64-bit.