Digital Planet:

Tomorrow’s Technology and You

Chapter 2
Hardware Basics
Inside the Box

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

 What Computers Do
Four basic operations:
Receive input: Accept information from outside world
Process information: Perform arithmetic or logical
operations on information
Produce output: Communicate information to outside
world
Store information: Store and retrieve information from
memory and storage devices

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 What Computers Do (cont.)
Hardware components
• Input devices
• Output devices
• Microprocessor (CPU)
• Memory and storage devices
• Primary storage - RAM
• Secondary storage – Disk Drives
• Peripherals

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 How do computer circuits manipulate
data?
• ALL computers are electronic, digital devices
• Digital devices work with discrete data, such as
digits 1 and 0, or like a light switch – on or of
• These 1s and 0s are referred to as binary digits or
shortened to bits
• Computers use sequences of bits to digitally
represent numbers, letters, punctuation marks,
music, pictures, and videos

Practical
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nd
edition 4
Chapter 1
 Bit Basics
 Bit: From Binary digit
• Smallest unit of information computer can process
• Can have one of two values: 0 or 1
 Byte
• Collection of 8 bits
• Can represent 256
diferent messages
(256 = 28)

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 Bits as Numbers
 Denotes all numbers with combinations of 0s and 1s
 Decimal numbers automatically converted to binary
 Binary number processing hidden from user
Decimal Binary Decimal Binary
0 0000 5 0101
1 0001 6 0110
2 0010 7 0111
3 0011 8 1000
4 0100 9 1001

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 Bits as Codes
• Codes represent each letter,
digit, and special character
• ASCII: Most widely used
• Each character is a unique 8-bit
code
• 256 unique codes for 26 letters,
10 digits, special characters
• Unicode: Supports more than
100,000 unique characters

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 The CPU: The Real Computer
 CPU often called “processor”
 Performs transformations of input into output
 Interprets and executes instructions in programs
 Performs arithmetic and logical data manipulations
 Communicates with other parts of the computer system indirectly through
memory
Modern Microprocessor
• Complex collection of electronic circuits
• CPU housed with other chips on circuit board
• Circuit board containing computer’s CPU is called motherboard

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 Performance
 Some processors faster than others
 Performance is determined by:
• Speed of internal clock—measured in gigahertz (GHz)
• Architecture of processor
• Number of bits processor can process at one time
• Typically 32 or 64 bits—called word size

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 Performance (cont.)
 Multicore Processors
• Single chip contains
multiple CPUs (cores)
• Run simultaneously
• Divide work
• Most new PCs have at
least two cores.
• Quad core becoming
common

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 The CPU – How it works (p.52-53)
 Typical CPU is divided into several functional units:
• Control unit
• Arithmetic logic unit (ALU) includes registers
• Decode unit
• Bus unit
• Prefetch unit
 These units work together to complete the execution
of program instructions.

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 The Computer’s Memory
 Random access memory (RAM)
• Most common type of primary storage
• Stores program instructions and data temporarily
• Memory locations have unique addresses
• Volatile—disappears when power is turned of
• Called DIMMS. Rated by both size and speed.

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 The Computer’s Memory (cont.)
 Read-only memory (ROM)
• Information is etched on chip when manufactured
• Stores start-up instructions and other critical information
 Flash memory
• Can be written and erased repeatedly
• Used for digital cameras, cell phones, handheld computers

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 MEMORY CACHE

Cache used by the central processing unit of a

computer to reduce the average time to access
memory. The cache is a smaller, faster memory
which stores copies of the data from the most
frequently used main memory locations. When
the processor needs to read from or write to a
location in main memory, it first checks whether
a copy of that data is in the cache. If so, the
processor immediately reads from or writes to
the cache, which is much faster than reading
from or writing to main memory.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Slide 14
 Buses
 Information travels between components on the
motherboard through wires called internal buses or
just buses. Typically have 32 or 64 wires (data paths)
 Buses: Bridges between processor and RAM. Bus
speed is one of the most important factors in
determining a computer’s performance!!
 Buses connect to:
• Storage devices in bays
• Expansion slots
• External buses and ports
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 Ports
 Computer has variety of ports to meet diverse needs
• Video port(s) to connect monitors
• Audio ports to connect speakers and/or headphones
• USB ports to connect keyboards, pointing devices,
printers, cameras, disk drives, portable storage
devices, and more

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 Which Computer to BUY??
Dell A1 3.3GHz Intel 6GB Ram Dell A2 2.8GHz Intel 4GB Ram
$599.99 $799.99

• Windows 7 • Windows 7
• 15 inch LCD Display • 15 inch LCD Display
• 3 Year Warranty • 3 Year Warranty
• 750 GB Hard Drive • 500 GB Hard Drive

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 Which Computer to BUY??

Dell A1 3.3GHz Intel 6GB Ram Dell A2 2.8GHz Intel 4GB Ram
• Windows 7 • Windows 7
• 15 inch LCD Display • 15 inch LCD Display
• 3 Year Warranty • 3 Year Warranty
• 750 GB Hard Drive (5400 rpm) • 500 GB Hard Drive (7200 rpm)
• 32 Bit Processor • 64 Bit Processer
• 32 Bit 400 MHz Bus • 64 Bit 800 MHz Bus
• 2 GB 2.5 GHz L2 Cache • 3 GB 3.3 GHz L2 Cache

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 Green Computing
 When compared to other industries the computer
industry is relatively easy on the environment.
 The manufacture and use of computer hardware and
software does have a significant environmental
impact.
 You have some control over the environmental
impact of your computing activities.

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 Green Computing (cont.)
• Buy green equipment
• Take advantage of energy
saving features
• Turn of your computer
when you are away
• Save energy, not screens
• Avoid moving parts

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