Inside the box
By Safa Ahmed
What is a CPU?
The CPU is the part of a computer system that is commonly referred to as the "brains" of a computer. The CPU is also known as the processor or microprocessor. The CPU is responsible for executing a sequence of stored instructions called a program.
Mother board
The motherboard is a printed circuit board that is the foundation of a computer, located at the bottom of the computer case. It allocates power to the CPU, ram, and all other computer hardware components. Most importantly, the motherboard allows hardware components to communicate with one another.
Hardrive
A hard drive is nothing more than a magnetised storage area. Your Operating System is stored on your hard drive, as well as all your software programmes, like Microsoft Word. The hard drive is actually a few circular disks stacked one on top of the other. A little arm moves over the disks and writes things to these circular platters, and reads them. When you save a file or create a new folder, think of these circular platters being written to and you'll have a basic idea of just what your hard drive is.
Processor
A processor is the logic circuitry that responds to and processes the basic instructions that drive a computer. The processor in a personal computer or embedded in small devices is often called a microprocessor.