1. The System Unit
1.1. The inside of the system unit on a desktop personal computer includes.
1.1.1. Drive bay(s)
1.1.2. Power supply
1.1.3. Sound card
1.1.4. Video card
1.1.5. Processor
1.1.6. Memory
2. Memory
2.1. The system unit contains two type of memory
2.1.1. Volatile memory
2.1.1.1. Loses its contents when power is turned off
2.1.1.2. Example includes
2.1.2. Nonvolatile memory
2.1.2.1. Doesn't lose contents when power is removed
2.1.2.2. Examples includes ROM, flash memory, and CMOS
2.2. Three basic types of RAM chips exist
2.2.1. Dynamic RAM (DRAM)
2.2.2. Static RAM (SRAM)
2.2.3. Magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM)
3. Port and Connectors
3.1. A port is the point at which a peripheral attaches to or communicates with a system unit
3.1.1. Firewire port
3.1.2. Bluetooth port
3.1.3. SCSI port
3.1.4. eSATA port
3.1.5. IrDA port
3.1.6. Serial port
3.1.7. MIDI port
3.2. A connector joins a cable to a port
3.2.1. A USB port
4. Buses
4.1. A bus allows the various devices both inside and attached to the system unit to communicate with each other
4.1.1. PCI bus
4.1.2. PCI Express bus
4.1.3. Accelerated Graphics Port
4.1.4. USB and FireWire bus
4.1.5. PC Card bus
5. Keeping Your Computer or Mobile Device Clean
5.1. Clean your computer or mobile device once or twice a year
5.2. Turn off and unplug your computer or mobile device before cleaning it
5.3. Use compressed air to blow away dust
5.4. Use an antistatic wipe to clean the exterior of the case and a cleaning solution and soft cloth to clean the screen
6. Processor
6.1. Also called the central processing unit (CPU), interprets and carries out the basic instructions that operate a computer.
6.1.1. A processor chip generates heat that could cause the chip to burn up
6.1.2. Require additional cooling
6.1.2.1. Heat sinks
6.1.2.2. Liquid cooling technology
7. Data Representation
7.1. ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) is the most widely used coding scheme to represent data.
7.1.1. The binary system uses two unique digits (0 and 1) Bits or Bytes
7.1.1.1. Analog
7.1.1.2. Digital
8. Expansion Slot and Adapter Cards
8.1. An expansion slot is a socket on the motherboard that can hold an adapter card
8.2. An adapter card enhances functions of component of the system unit and/or provides connections to peripherals
8.2.1. Sound Card
8.2.2. Video Card
8.3. Removable flash memory includes
8.3.1. Memory cards
8.3.2. USB Flash drives
8.3.3. PC Cards / ExpressCard modules
9. Bays
9.1. A bay is an poening inside the system unit in which you can install
9.1.1. A drive bay typically holds disk drives
10. Putting it All Together
10.1. Home
10.1.1. Intel Core 2 Duo or Intel Celeron Dual Core or AMD Semepron
10.1.2. Minimum Ram : 2 GB
10.2. Small Office / Home Office
10.2.1. Intel Core 2 Quad or Intel Core 2 Extreme or AMD Athlon FX or AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Code
10.2.2. Minimum Ram : 4 GB
10.3. Mobile
10.3.1. Intel Core 2 Extreme or AMD Turion X2
10.3.2. Minimum Ram : 2 GB
10.4. Power
10.4.1. Intel Itanium 2 or AMD Quad Core Opteron or Intel Quad Core Xeon or Sun UltraSPARC T2
10.4.2. Minimum Ram : 8 GB
10.5. Enterprise
10.5.1. Intel Core 2 Quad or Intel Core 2 Extreme or AMD Athlon FX or AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core
10.5.2. Minimum Ram : 4 GB