From the course: Computer Literacy for Mac (2018)

What's inside a computer? - Mac OS Tutorial

From the course: Computer Literacy for Mac (2018)

What's inside a computer?

“

- [Instructor] When it comes to figuring out how capable your computer is, whether you're shopping around for a new computer or if you've received a hand-me-down computer for work or at home, you'll want to know three things first. How large is the hard drive? How much RAM is installed? And how fast is the processor? Now, a lot of people who aren't familiar with computers have trouble understanding what these three terms are and what they mean in terms of what the computer is capable of. Let's take a look at an analogy. This is a hard drive. Your computer's hard drive, sometimes also referred to as a hard disk, is the computer's storage device. You'll rarely see it out in the open like this since it's an internal device, but this is what one looks like. Think of the hard drive as the filing cabinet where everything on your computer is stored, from programs to documents to videos. Basically anything that's stored on your computer is stored on the hard drive. Now, this is a RAM or random access memory module. Most people just call it RAM or memory. Think of your computer's RAM as the desk in your office. In order to work with files from my filing cabinet, I need to have space on my desk to pile and organize my files. The smaller the desk, the fewer the files and other items I can work with at a time. Similarly, the less RAM you have, the fewer documents and applications you can have running at once on your computer. That's why RAM is one of the most common upgrades people have done to their computers. More RAM means more memory to work with more files more quickly. Adding more RAM is kind of like upgrading to a larger desk. It gives you more room to shuffle around and work with the items you're using. The third I mentioned is the CPU or central processing unit. Most people just call it the processor. The CPU is the computer's brain and it's the item that carries out all the functions of the computer, from processing instructions from the programs you're running to keeping the operating system working. In our desk and filing cabinet analogy, the CPU is you. You can have a filing cabinet full of files and a huge desk to work on those files, but without you nothing can happen to those files. Now, generally you can upgrade your hard drive space, which would be like getting a larger filing cabinet or even an additional filing cabinet so you can store more files. And you can upgrade your RAM, which would be like getting a larger desk or work area so you can work with more files at once. But the CPU is rarely upgraded because it's usually soldered into your computer and requires a lot more skill to replace. So just as you can't really upgrade yourself in this scenario, you can't usually upgrade the CPU either. Now, I should also note that these days, most Macs aren't designed to let you upgrade the hard drive or sometimes even the RAM either. So if you think you'll want more storage space or memory, you'll need to make that decision when you're purchasing the Mac to make sure you get a configuration with a large enough hard drive and enough RAM for your needs. Now, of course there's a lot more inside a computer than just a hard drive, RAM, and the CPU. You have video cards, audio input and output ports, USB ports, and the list goes on. But storage space, memory, and the processor speed are probably the most important things to consider when evaluating a computer. We'll take a look at some of those other components of computers in upcoming movies.

Contents