CompTIA A_ Certification All-In-One Exam Guide, Seventh Edition - Michael Meyers [29]
Figure 3-3 Processing takes place somewhere in here!
Figure 3-4 Output devices
Storage
Once you’ve sent in your tax return, you most likely do not want all that work simply to disappear. What happens if the IRS comes back a couple of months later with a question about your return? Yikes! You need to keep permanent records and you need to keep a copy of the tax program. The fourth stage in the computing process is storage. A lot of devices are used in the storage process, the most visible of which are the external storage parts, such as a thumb drive or recordable CD discs (Figure 3-5).
Figure 3-5 Typical storage (CD-R discs)
The Art of the PC Technician
Using the four stages of the computing process—input, processing, output, and storage—to master how the PC works and, in turn, become a great technician requires that you understand all of the pieces of hardware and software involved and the interactions between them that make up the various stages. You have to know what the parts do, in other words, and how they work together. The best place to start is with a real computer. Let’s go through the process of inspecting a typical, complete PC, including opening up a few important pieces to see the components inside. Hopefully, you have a real computer in front of you right now that you may dismantle a bit. No two computers are exactly the same, so you’ll see differences between your PC and the one in this chapter—and that’s okay. You’ll come to appreciate that all computers have the same main parts that do the same jobs even though they differ in size, shape, and color.
By the time you reach the end of this book, you’ll have a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the interaction of hardware and software in the four-stage computing process. Just as great artists have mastered fundamental skills of their trade before creating a masterpiece, you’ll have the fundamentals of the art of the computer technician and be on your road to mastery.
Essentials
The Complete PC
Sometimes I hate the term “personal computer.” That term implies a single device, like a toaster. A typical PC is more than one device, and you need all of the parts (or at least most) to make the PC work. The most important part of the PC is the box that usually sits under your desk: the one that all of the other parts connect to, called the system unit. All of the processing and storage takes place in the system unit. All of the other parts of the PC—the printer, the keyboard, the monitor—connect to the system unit and are known collectively as peripherals. Figure 3-6 shows a typical desktop PC, with the system unit and peripherals as separate pieces.
Most computers have a standard set of peripherals to provide input and output. You’ll see some variation in color, bells, and whistles, but here’s the standard set.
Monitor The big television thing that provides a visual output for the computer
Keyboard Keypad for providing keyed input. Based on a typewriter
Mouse Pointing device used to control a graphical pointer on the monitor for input
Speakers/headphones Speakers provide sound output
Printer Provides printed paper output
A typical PC has all of these peripherals, but no law requires a PC to have them. Plenty of PCs may not have a printer. Some PCs don’t have speakers. Some computers don’t even have a keyboard, mouse, or monitor—but they tend to hide in unlikely places, such as the inside of a jet fighter or next to the engine in an automobile. Other PCs may have many more peripherals. Installing four or five printers on a single PC is easy, if you so desire. You’ll also find hundreds of other types of peripherals, such as Web cameras and microphones, on many PCs. You add or remove peripherals depending on what you need from the system. The only limit is the number of connections