gekkotek

[gekkotek]

Pictured here are 3 computer memory modules or RAM. 

In an earlier post I explained that hard drives are the part of the computer that stores data until it is erased by the user. RAM also stores data, but it stores it a little differently than a hard drive. The name RAM is an acronym which stands for Random Access Memory, and just as the name implies, the data RAM "remembers" is randomly accessed by the computer. For example, a user may use the computer to type a paper, save the file to the desktop, print the paper, and then delete the file. Had the user decided to not delete that file, it would have remained on the hard drive indefinitely. RAM works differently in that the user does not save data to nor delete data from the RAM. Programs do. While you type your paper on Microsoft Word, that program is using data which it has stored in the RAM to display what you see on your screen. When you close the program, it removes its data from the memory, which then frees up space for other programs to use the RAM.

This is why RAM is fundamental to the speed of a computer. The more RAM that is available, the more space there is for computer programs to store data. When there is a shortage of space, programs run slowly because they have to wait for available memory.

Modern computers have anywhere from 1GB to 16GB of RAM. Higher end computers such as servers may have much, much more. 

[gekkotek]

These are pictures of two hard drives, hard disk drives, or HDDs. 

This is the portion of the computer that stores the data that is saved to the machine until it is manually erased by the user. For example, your computer probably has Microsoft Windows on it, a few music files, and an internet browser. To the computer, all of these are just pieces of data, and in order to present this data to you when you power on the machine it has to store it somewhere. The hard drive is where the data is stored. The larger the drive, the more data it can store. Keep in mind however, when we say larger, we are not referring to the physical size of the HDD, but rather the capacity of the drive.

Remember the last computer ad you saw online or in the paper? Probably not, but they usually say, and I'm paraphrasing here, "blah, blah, 500GB, blah, blah". The 500GB describes the hard drive capacity which in this instance is 500 Gigabytes. This means that the computer will be able to store 500 gigabytes worth of data no matter what that data is. Modern hard drives come in sizes ranging from 32GB to 4TB. (4TB = 4 Terabytes = 4,000 Gigabytes)

[gekkotek]

Now is Not The Time for Fear

To most people, a computer is a strange and enigmatic machine. It is just supposed to work and work quickly. All of those chips, boards, and drives just seem puzzling and their functions are a mystery...

But guess what??? Computers aren't very complicated at all! You would think that many people have attempted to understand them and failed, leading to the common perception that computers are "too complex" for the average user, but the reality is that most people choose not to learn about these machines because they fear that they will not understand them. 

"Now is not the time for fear...that comes later"

                                                             --Bane

[gekkotek]

I want to begin by addressing what I've found to be a common misconception. Misunderstanding this will make the everything I post look like Greek (unless you're from Greece...).

The item in the top picture is NOT a computer. It is a monitor. A monitor used to have the large casing that resembled a tube television set, but pictured here is a more modern version with the same functionality. Also, it is worth mentioning that most modern televisions can be considered monitors as well since by definition, a monitor merely provides a visual for the device it is connected to. Computers, cable boxes, DVD players, etc. all need monitors to display the signal they produce.

The second picture is a computer. This particular unit is a desktop tower computer as opposed to a laptop computer, handheld computer, or all-in-one (AIO) computer. However, it should be noted that the name "computer" in reference to any of these is a bit of a misnomer in itself.

     What we commonly refer to as a "computer" is actually a system of components housed inside of the case in the second picture. Among these components are the hard drive, memory (RAM), motherboard, and the central processing unit (CPU). The CPU or processor as it is also called, is the only component among these that actually does any "computing" at all. Therefore, the tower that we refer to as a "computer" is not really the computer, but a case that houses the components of a computing system including the computer or CPU. Confused yet? Don't worry. We'll get into more detail about all of this later.