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Computer Hardware in Plain English
Duration:
3 minutes and 12 seconds
Country:
United States
Language:
English
Genre:
Instructional
Producer:
Common Craft, LLC
Director:
Lee LeFever
Views:
14,444
(4,470
embedded)
Posted by:
leelefever on Feb 24, 2009
The basics of computer hardware and what the hardware does inside the computer. Discusses RAM, hard drive and processor using a house metaphor.
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Video Transcription
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- If you’re like most people, computers are becoming a part of your life,
- and it helps to know how they work.
- They seem complicated inside,
- but by understanding just a few parts,
- you can see a simpler side of computers.
- This is Computer Hardware in Plain English.
- You’ve seen them. They come in all shapes and sizes,
- but work pretty much in the same ways.
- In fact, if you could look inside these computers,
- they’d have the same basic parts.
- It’s these parts, the hardware,
- that do a lot of the work in computers.
- To explain, let’s look at something you already know, a house.
- One of the great things about living in a house
- is that you have room for all of your stuff.
- In fact, many houses have basements that become the perfect place
- for storing things you want to use later.
- And the bigger the basement, the more you can store.
- The same thing is true for computers.
- Instead of boxes and bicycles,
- we need a place to store things like photos,
- music, documents, and software.
- In a computer, it’s not the basement, but a hard drive.
- A computer’s hard drive
- is where you keep all the things you want to use later.
- And like basements,
- the bigger the hard drive, the more you can store.
- But basements aren’t perfect.
- Going to the basement takes too much time whenever you need something.
- Closets on the main floor can help.
- They’re small, and make things easier to access when you need them.
- You don’t need to go all the way downstairs.
- It’s the same with computers.
- Some of the information stored on computers
- is hard for the computer to open quickly
- because it needs to take the long way.
- To solve this problem computers use RAM
- or Random Access Memory.
- It makes information easier for the computer to access.
- This means RAM makes computers faster.
- Plus, this kind of closet gets cleaned out
- every time you restart your computer.
- Of course, houses have all kinds of parts
- that need to work together.
- It would help to have someone like a butler in the house
- making sure the house is always in working order.
- If it’s too hot,
- maybe the air conditioning needs adjustment.
- When it’s dark, lights are needed.
- Computers need this too.
- Something has to make sure all the parts run smoothly.
- In computers, this is called the processor.
- It’s a tiny part
- that’s like the butler of the computer.
- It sends and receives information,
- completes tasks and puts the software to work.
- And the faster it can complete tasks,
- the faster your computer will be.
- So, let’s review.
- The hard drive is like a basement.
- It stores all the things you need for later.
- RAM is like a closet on the main floor.
- It makes some information quick and easy to access.
- And the processor is like having a butler around
- always completing tasks
- and making things work together.
- The next time you use a computer,
- think about what’s happening under the hood.
- Computer hardware is working together
- to help you get things done.
- I’m Lee LeFever of Common Craft
- and this has been Computer Hardware in Plain English.
- Do you need this for work?
- Find presentation-quality unbranded versions
- of all Common Craft videos at CommonCraft.com.


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