What Makes Up a Computer?
A computer guide that a 5-year-old can understand
If you ever tried to learn about your computer and quickly got discouraged by all the explanations which need explanations which need explanations, here’s a short guide on the most important pieces in a computer, and what they do. No background knowledge needed.
While you don’t need to know everything about a computer’s inner workings to make use of it, a fundamental understanding can help you feel way more comfortable working with one.
1. Processor — the computer’s brain
When a computer “runs”, it carries out mathematical operations very quickly. These calculations happen in the processor, a tiny square of silicon with billions of little switches (called transistors) on it.
The processor is responsible for responding to inputs, running programs, and producing outputs.
A deeper dive into transistors
P.S. You don’t have to know this, I just want to talk about it because I find it cool.
Unlike a light switch, which we control physically, these switches are controlled electronically. This means that an electrical signal tells it when to switch on or off. This means that the switches can control each other! One switch can turn on, telling another switch to turn on, and so on. When these transistors are connected in a smart way, they can perform operations which are meaningful to us, such as addition, and then output the results.
Since the transistors only have two modes — on and off — the signal they give can only be a chain of 0’s and 1’s. This is called binary code, and the computer can then translate this into something understandable on our screen.
2. Storage — where the computer keeps your stuff
A computer’s storage is like a filing cabinet. It is where you store all the data which represents your files and programs. When you download something from the internet, your computer makes a copy of that thing on its own memory so that you can access it.
The computer can access your files whenever you request them, and run your programs whenever you open one up. However, reading from storage is slow (in computer speeds), so when it wants to run a program you have stored on memory, it needs the help of RAM.
3. RAM — the computer’s attention span
Random-Access Memory is a type of storage, but it’s not made to store your files; it’s made to run programs faster.
While the processor is doing a task such as running your video-game, it will need to access certain data from storage. Reading data from memory is slow. Reading from RAM is much faster, so it lets the processor run faster if it contains the data it needs for the programs running at the time.
“Why not use RAM for everything instead of typical storage?”
Everything stored on RAM vanishes when it is powered off. Imagine you lose all your files every time you turn off your computer!
This makes RAM only suitable for holding data which may be immediately needed by the processor. When you launch different programs, the data they need will be stored on RAM, while data from programs you close will be removed.
For example, the web browser on which you are reading this is taking up space in RAM. When you close the browser, that space will be freed up.
“What if you open 100 applications?”
Your computer slows down. A lot. When its RAM fills up, the processor has to read from your main memory, which slows it down.
This means that the size of RAM dictates the size/quantity of tasks your computer can do. A computer with more RAM can handle bigger tasks (such as photo editing) and more concurrent tasks.
4. Graphics card — the computer’s ability to visualise
A graphics card is a specialised mini-computer, with its own RAM and processor. It is made to handle the difficult tasks involving images and videos. While the computer’s main processor can handle such tasks, having this additional card lets a computer run faster and work with better quality media, which helps with programs like photoshop and video-games. Teamwork!
5. Motherboard — the computer’s coordinator
The motherboard coordinates between all the pieces to make sure they are working together. It’s crucial to the computer, but understanding its inner workings aren’t important if you simply want to use a computer.
6. Inputs — how we talk to computers
Ports
If you ever want to attach something to your computer, you’ll plug it into a port. Essentially, all ports are a door for electricity to go into/out of the computer.
There are different kinds of ports for different tasks; some may allow you to transfer large amounts of power (best for charging your laptop) while others are only made to transfer data (which takes less power), but at high speeds.
USB is the most common type of port, which allows you to input data (such as the use of a keyboard plugged into USB) and output data (such as sending music to a speaker). It also allows power transfer, so its versatility has made it highly popular. It’s in the name anyway, Universal Serial Bus.
Input Peripherals
The input components (sometimes called input peripherals) are the keyboard, mouse, microphone and webcam. They aren’t needed for the core of the computer to run, but we need these to be able to talk to our computer and to control it.
On a desktop computer, these are connected to the computer through ports. On a laptop (or a phone), these are connected internally. It’s the same concept, we just can’t see the connection.
7. Outputs — how computers talk to us
In a similar fashion, the output peripherals are things like the screen and speakers, which let the computer talk to us. Considering you’re reading this, I trust you understand what the screen is.
If you’ve reached this far, I hope you learnt something new! Tech can be difficult to get into without a foundational understanding, so I hope my articles help you take one step closer to tech-proficiency.
Drop a comment with any tech-related questions you have. No questions are too basic.
