Chapter 6

INSIDE COMPUTERS AND MOBILE DEVICES

Inside the case

·         The case contains and protects the electronics of the computer or mobile device from damage

·         Electronics components such as video card, power supply and fan, battery, sound card, processor and others.

Motherboard

·         The motherboard is the main circuit board of the computer; a computer chip contains integrated circuits.

Processors

·         The processor, also called the central processing unit (CPU), interprets and carries out the basic instructions that operate a computer. Contain a control unit and an arithmetic logic unit (ALU)

·         A multi-core processor is a single chip with two or more separate processor cores

·         For every instruction, a processor repeats a set of four basic operations, which consist of a machine cycle. All the basic operation are, fetch, decode, execute, store.

·         The leading manufacturers of personal computer processor chips are Intel and AMD.

·         A processor chip generates heat that could cause the chip to malfunction or broke it. So require additional such as cooling Heat sinks , Liquid cooling technology, Cooling mats.

Cloud Computing

·         Home and business users choose cloud computing for a variety of reasons like, accessibility, cost saving, space saving and scalability.

Data Representation

·         Analogue signals are continuous and vary in strength and quality and digital signals are in one of two states: on or off.

·         Digital signals are in one of two states: on or off

·         Memory consists of electronic components that store instructions waiting to be executed by the processor, data needed by those instructions, and the results of processing the data.

Memory

·         Stores three basic categories of items; The operating system and other programs, Applications, Data being processed and the resulting information.

·         The system unit contains two types of memory: Volatiled memory and nonvolatiled memory.

·         Volatile memory will loses its contents when power is turned off such as RAM.

·         Nonvolatile memory does not lose contents when power is removed such as  ROM, flash memory, and CMOS devices.

Adapters

·         An adapter card enhances functions of a component of a desktop or server system unit and/or provides connections to peripherals. An expansion slot is a socket on a desktop or server motherboard that can hold an adapter card.

Power Supply and Battery

·         The power supply or laptop AC adapter converts the wall outlet AC power into DC power.

·         Mobile computers and devices can run using either a power supply or batteries.

·         Batteries typically are rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.