What are the main unit of the personal computer and their functions
A typical desktop computer consists of a computer system unit, a keyboard, a mouse, and a monitor. The computer system unit is the enclosure for all the other main interior components of a computer. It is also called the computer case, computer chassis, or computer tower. Cases are typically made of steel or aluminum, but plastic can also be used. While most computer cases are rather dull, black, metal boxes, some manufacturers try to give the unit some flair with color and special design elements.
The primary function of the computer system unit is to hold all the other components together and protect the sensitive electronic parts from the outside elements. A typical computer case is also large enough to allow for upgrades, such as adding a second hard drive or a higher-quality video card. It is relatively easy to open up a computer system unit to replace parts and install upgrades. In contrast, it is quite difficult to open up a laptop computer, which is not designed with replacements and upgrades in mind.
In most computer system units, the front side contains the elements a user needs frequently, such as the power button, an optical disk drive, an audio outlet for a pair of headphones, and a number of USB connections. The back side contains all other connections - for power, monitor, keyboard, mouse, Internet connection, and any other peripheral devices. There are typically more connections than the minimum necessary to allow for expansion.
Once you open up a computer case, it can initially be difficult to recognize the various components, especially all the different wires. However, if you look closely, you will probably start to recognize a number of components.
In this particular example, the motherboard is placed vertically, which is quite common. One side of the motherboard is accessible from the back of the computer case - this includes the various connectors for input and output devices as well as expansion slots for additional peripherals. The motherboard also contains the central processing unit (CPU), although it can be difficult to see. A large fan is often placed on top of the CPU to avoid overheating. The motherboard also contains the main memory of the computer.
Are computers categorized in any way?
When people think “computers,” usually it’s something like a laptop or your office computer that comes to mind. Computers are actually all around us, and can be broken down into separate categories depending on their size and processing power. Certain definitions have changed over time with the speedy advances in technology – we have computers that can fit in the palm of our hands now that have as much processing power as a computer that was the size of a whole room half a century ago! Still, most of the general qualifications for each category are the same, along with the many subcategories that might fit into each one.
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There are five main ones: supercomputers, mainframe computers, minicomputers, microcomputers, and finally mobile computers.
1. Supercomputers
A supercomputer is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It’s a term used to describe computers that have the most capable processing power of its time. Early supercomputers in the 60s and 70s used just a couple processors, while the 90s saw supercomputers with thousands of processors at a time. Today, modern supercomputers run hundreds of thousands of processors, capable of computing quadrillions of calculations in just a few nanoseconds. You probably won’t be needing that kind of power to access Facebook… Actually, supercomputers are used in computational science to calculate and carry out a plethora of complex tasks. Modeling molecular structures, weather forecasting, and the field of quantum mechanics, among others, rely on supercomputers and their intense processing power to solve their equations.
2.Mainframe Computers
Like supercomputers, mainframe computers are huge, towering machines with lots of processing power. Mainframe computers are mostly used by corporations, government agencies, and banks – organizations that need a way to store large quantities of information. They are not the same as supercomputers. The processing capabilities of mainframe computers are measured in MIPS, or millions of instructions per second. Supercomputers, on the other hand, are measured in FLOPS, or floating point operations per seconds.
3. Minicomputers
A minicomputer is a multiprocessing machine that can support up to about 200 users at the same time. It’s like a less powerful mainframe computer, and is about the size of a refrigerator. A server can be an example of a minicomputer, but not all servers are minicomputers. Despite their name, a minicomputer is not a personal computer like the desktop machine you might have at home or work. They are much larger than that. Because of the ways microcomputers – which we’ll cover next – have excelled in processing power even beyond minicomputers, and at a much smaller size, minicomputers have become pretty much obsolete.
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4. Microcomputers
Microcomputers are the ones people are most familiar with on a daily, non-professional basis, but of course that doesn’t mean they’re exclusive to the home. Microcomputers are smaller computers that run on microprocessors in their central processing units. They are much, much cheaper than supercomputers, mainframe computers and even minicomputers, because they’re meant for everyday uses that are more practical than professional. The range of capabilities for microcomputers are still vast, though. A film editor might use a microcomputer to run many intensive editing programs at once, while a student might use a microcomputer for Facebook and word processing.
5. Mobile Computers
These are exactly what they sound like – computers that are super small and mobile. You could argue that a desktop computer is mobile if you need it to be, but mobile computers usually describe computers that are meant to be carried around and taken from place to place. If a desktop computer is a microcomputer, then a laptop is a mobile computer. There are so many different types of mobile computers though, even beyond laptop-like devices.
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