Basic computer hardware refers to the physical parts of the computer that you can touch and feel. There are several components that make up computer hardware. Here, we will just see a brief overview on all the basic components of computer that you should know generally. This will definitely not make you a hardware technician. It just concentrates on giving you some insight about computers.

Every computer has four basic functions to do. They are input, processing, storage, and output. To perform each of these functions, it is necessary that a device is used. For example, to input data or feed data to the computer, you definitely need a keyboard or a mouse. When it is necessary to process some data, a processor comes into picture. All these devices can be touched and felt. These constitute the basic computer hardware.
Apart from the input and processing devices, you must also understand that there are output devices such as monitor, printer, speaker, etc each of which gives some kind of output. Monitor is meant to give the visual output, while speakers are known to produce audio output. The printer is used to get a hardcopy of the text or images that you see on your monitor. Read the rest of this entry »