What does hardware mean in computer terms

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Wendy British. Fred US English. Tessa South African. May 19, Not sure what computer memory or RAM is or how it works? March 19, Discover more about computer form factors and how they apply to your hardware. Find a product Part no. Your search did not match any active Crucial part numbers or configuration IDs. Find articles and site content Enter keywords. Back to results. What is computer hardware? What is a Motherboard?

What is a Hard Drive? Related Articles. Crucial System Scanner July 15, Upgrade your system storage with our range of solid state drives. Read more. What is Computer Memory? CPU 4. RAM 5. Expansion cards6. Power supply 7. Optical disc drive8. Hard disk drive9. Keyboard Inside a custom-built computer: power supply at the bottom has its own cooling fan. The computer case is a plastic or metal enclosure that houses most of the components.

Those found on desktop computers are usually small enough to fit under a desk, however in recent years more compact designs have become more common place, such as the all-in-one style designs from Apple, namely the iMac. Laptops are computers that usually come in a clamshell form factor, again however in more recent years deviations from this form factor have started to emerge such as laptops that have a detachable screen that become tablet computers in their own right.

A power supply unit PSU converts alternating current AC electric power to low-voltage DC power for the internal components of the computer. Laptops are capable of running from a built-in battery, normally for a period of hours. The motherboard is the main component of a computer. It is a large rectangular board with integrated circuitry that connects the other parts of the computer including the CPU, the RAM, the disk drives CD, DVD, hard disk, or any others as well as any peripherals connected via the ports or the expansion slots.