Intro to Hardware

Learning Objectives


  • Describe the main components that make up a computer and how they work together.
  • Understand how the CPU takes instructions and executes them.
  • Describe how binary data physically travels throughout a computer.

Ports - connection points that we can connect devices to that extend the functionality of our computer

CPU (Central Processing Unit) - brain of our computer; does all calculations and data processing

  • communicates heavily with RAM

RAM (Random Access Memory) - computer’s short-term memory

Hard Drive - holds all of our data, including music, pictures, applications

Motherboard - body or circulatory system of the computer that connects all pieces together