***COMPUTER HARDWARE***
All You Need To Know . . .
Optical Drive
Optical drives retrieve and/or store data on optical disks like CDs, DVDs and BDs(Blue-ray disks) which hold much information than classic portable media options like the floppy disks. Some common types of optical drives include CD-ROM, CD-RW,DVD-ROM, DVD-RW and blue-ray drives. CD and DVD writers, such as CD-R and DVD-R drives use a laser to both read and write data on the discs.
Hard Drive
Alternatively referred to as a hard disk drive and abbreviated as HD or HDD, the hard drive is the computer's main storage media device that permanently stores all data on the computer. The hard drive was first introduced on September 13, 1956 and consists of one or more hard drive platters inside of air sealed casing. Most computer hard drives are in an internal drive bay at the front of the computer and connect to the motherboard using either ATA, SCSI, or a SATA cable and power cable. Below, is an illustration of what the inside of a hard drive looks like for a desktop and laptop hard drive.Useful links
Monitor
A monitor or a display (also called screen or visual display unit) is an electronic visual display for computers. The monitor comprises the display device, circuirity and an enclosure. The display device in modern monitors is typically a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) thin panel, while older monitors use a cathode ray tube (CRT) about as deep as the screen size.
CPU
Alternatively referred to as a processer or microprocesser, the CPU was first developed by Intel in 1974 and is short for central processing unit. The computer CPU is responsible for handling all instructions it recieves from hardware components and software programs running on the computer.
RAM
Short for random access memory, RA,M, also known as main memory or system memory, is a term commonly used to describe the memory within a computer. Unlike ROM, RAM is a volatime memory and requires power; if power is lost, all data is also lost. Below is an example image of a 512MB DIMM memory stick.