Section 2 - What is a Computer
What is a computer?
An electronic device that manipulates data.
What are three of the basic parts of a desktop computer?
Options: Computer case, monitor, keyboard, mouse, and power cord.
What are printers used for?
To print documents, photos, and anything else that appears on your screen.
What is a motherboard?
The computer’s main circuit board.
What is a touchpad?
A touch-sensitive pad that lets you control the pointer.
What is hardware?
Hardware is any part of a computer that has a physical structure.
What is a computer case?
The metal and plastic box that contains the main components of the computer.
What are scanners used for?
To copy a physical image or document and save it to your computer as a digital image.
What is a CPU/processor?
It carries out commands sent by the user.
What is a laptop battery?
It allows you to use the laptop when it isn’t plugged in and recharges when it is plugged in.
What is software?
Software is any set of instructions that tells the hardware what to do and how to do it.
What is a monitor?
Works with the video card in the computer case to display images and text on the screen.
What are speakers and headphones?
Output devices that send information from the computer to the user and allow you to hear sound and music.
What is a RAM/ Random Access Memory?
It is the system’s short-term memory.
What is an AC adapter?
A specialized power cable that is made differently for each type of laptop.
What are the four main types of computers?
Desktops, laptops, tablets, and servers.
What is a keyboard?
One of the main ways to communicate with the computer.
What are microphones?
A type of input device that you can use to record sound or talk to someone else.
What is a hard drive?
Where your software, documents, and other files are stored.
What might you sometimes need to use to use a laptop port because they are different?
An adapter.
What are the two main types of personal computers?
PCs and Macs.
What is a mouse?
Allows you to point to objects on the screen, click on them, and move them.
What are web cameras?
A type of input device that can record videos and take pictures.
What are the four main types of expansion cards?
Video card, sound card, network card, and Bluetooth card.
According to the text, are laptops usually more or less expensive than desktop computers?
They tend to be more expensive.