Definition Of Hardware
The computer can be said to be consisting of two broad components -- hardware and software. Hardware consists of all the physical components of the computer. Such components include the monitor, the hard drives, the keyboard, memory chips as well as the CPU. |
In simple words, hardware consists of those parts that you can touch, see and feel. It is tangible as opposed to software which is intangible.
Among the hardware components, the keyboard is the input device. Through this, instructions are fed into the computer. These are then processed by the various components of the computer and the results are displayed on the monitor which is the output device.
It is the hardware on which the operating system and other software components of a computer are installed to ensure that the computer functions properly.
One of the main components of the hardware is the mother board. A few of the parts of a computer which are directly attached to the motherboard are the CPU, the chipset, RAM, the BIOS, and External Bus Controllers. The chipset is that component which acts as an intermediate component; allowing communication between the CPU and other parts such as the main memory. The BIOS is that part of the computer which consists of boot firmware and power management. BIOS stands for Basic Input Output System. Through the internal buses, one can connect the CPU to various components and also the expansion cards for graphics and sound.
A few examples of removable hardware devices include the Compact Disc or CD, the CD ROM Drive, the CD Writer, and the Digital Versatile Disc or DVD.
More Articles :
|
