-: In this lesson,
we're going to talk about PCs,
or personal computers.
And that brings up a really good question
that we need to address,
what exactly is a personal computer?
And what makes a computer a computer?
Well, in the old days,
it was pretty easy to determine what was a computer.
For example, back in the 1980s when I grew up,
every elementary school kid could recognize a computer
as something that looked like an Apple II
with its black and green screen,
its huge case with an integrated keyboard,
and the external floppy disk drive.
Over time though,
computers began to look more like a traditional PC,
or a personal computer,
with a color monitor or display
that was separate from the computer itself.
Another separate device was called a tower,
and that contained all the hardware
including your motherboard,
processor, memory, storage,
and other devices inside of a tower-like case.
And then you'd have a keyboard and mouse
that would connect to the tower
using either a PS/2 connection,
or in modern times, a USB cable.
Now, again, I'm dating myself a little bit here,
but these were the typical home and office PCs
that most of us utilized on a daily basis
back in the '80s and '90s and early 2000s.
And many of you probably used something similar still today
if you have a gaming PC at home.
Over time though,
we started seeing some form factor changes
from the traditional tower
into what we refer to as an all-in-one unit.
Now, the biggest player in this game
has almost always been Apple,
starting all the way back in the 1980s
with the Macintosh systems
that contain the display,
the processing power, storage devices,
and everything needed in a single plastic case.
For example, the Macintosh SE
is what I personally owned back in middle school.
But these days,
personal computers take on lots
of different shapes and sizes.
For example, the current all-in-one computers,
like the iMacs,
include a 20 or 27-inch, high-quality display,
and all the components that are needed to run the computer
are embedded into that display
into something that looks like a regular monitor,
but it's actually a full computer.
Or consider your smartphone.
Now, your smartphone,
which we're going to call a mobile device in this course,
is really just a personal computer
because it contains all the things
that make something a computer.
If you have a tablet or a smartwatch,
those are also considered computers
by the definition that we're going to use.
For something to be considered a computer,
it has to do four basic functions.
These are input, processing,
storage, and output.
Now, as you can see,
everything we just described
meets the definition of a computer
because it takes some kind of input,
does some processing and storage,
and then provides an output.
Now, my car actually, by this definition,
is also a computer
because I drive an electric car
that's completely run by a computer
that takes input from me
through the steering wheel,
accelerator, and brake pedals,
and the touchscreen display.
And then it performs all the actions it needs
to create the desired output,
such as increasing my speed,
slowing down my car,
keeping me within two white lines
so I don't move into somebody else's lane,
and things like that.
So, to help clarify and classify these different computers
into more distinguishable and clear items,
we're going to break them down into a few key terms
that we'll use throughout this course.
This includes workstation,
server, laptop, tablet, smartphone,
smartwatch, smart device,
and internet of things, or IoT devices.
Now, first, when I talk about a workstation,
this is a computer that usually sits on your desk
and has either a tower-based case
or is an all-in-one style display case.
If you're using a desktop PC,
this is a workstation,
and that is usually how I'm going to refer to it in this course
as either a computer or a workstation.
Now, second, when I talk about a server,
in the physical sense,
this is generally going to be a rack-mounted computer
that's used to host some kind of service,
like a file and print sharing server,
or something like a web server,
which hosts my website, diontraining.com.
Third, we have a laptop.
Now, a laptop is a smaller and more mobile version
of a workstation.
In general, these laptops
are going to run a standard desktop operating system
like Windows, OS X,
Linux, or maybe even Chrome OS.
They're going to be very similar to a regular desktop,
but they can operate using an embedded battery
instead of being plugged in all the time to a wall outlet.
And this makes them great for people who travel a lot.
In the old days, laptops were usually under power
compared to a regular workstation,
but these days, that really isn't the case,
and both workstations and laptops
can have fast processors and use lots of memory
to provide excellent performance to you.
Fourth, we have tablets.
Now, a tablet is a portable computer
that generally consists only of a touchscreen display
and the computing hardware needed to run it.
This removes the need for a keyboard and a mouse
since you can really type on a virtual keyboard
that's on the screen
instead of having to use an external keyboard,
and you don't need to use a mouse
'cause you simply touch on the screen
what you want to interact with.
If you're using an Android tablet,
an iPad, or even a Kindle Fire,
these are considered tablets.
Now, some laptops actually have the ability
of doing what's called a two-in-one,
where they can flip the laptop over
and you move the screen to the back
and it acts more like a tablet.
In general, these two-in-one devices
could be considered both a laptop and a tablet.
And if you had to classify it as one for the exam,
I would recommend you do it
based on the operating system it uses.
If it uses Windows or Linux,
then it's going to be considered a laptop.
If it uses Android or iOS,
then you should classify it as a tablet.
Fifth, we have smartphones.
Now, smartphones are essentially smaller versions of tablets
but they also can be used to make phone calls.
Most of us own and use a smartphone every single day,
so I'm pretty sure you understand what it is.
Now, most smartphones are either going to be Android or iOS
for their operating system,
and that's generally how we categorize
those two different types of smartphones
is based on their operating system.
Sixth, we have smart devices.
Now, smart devices are an entire category of devices
that have the ability to compute things,
but usually don't have a traditional keyboard and mouse
to operate them.
For example, if you have a Google Home
or Alexa device in your office,
you have a small screen
and a speaker for the output from that device,
and that input is actually going to be your voice.
These devices are usually going to be used to answer questions
that are posed by their users
or to conduct other actions,
such as providing you with reminders,
playing music or videos,
and other things like that.
Seventh, we have the internet of things, or IOT devices.
These are really any other device
that connects to a network,
but it doesn't clearly fit into any other categories
that I just mentioned.
For example, if you have a refrigerator
that connects to the internet
and can tell you when you're running low on milk,
that is an IoT device.
Other examples include automation-controlled things
like light bulbs, washing machines,
smart TVs, and much more.
Now, in addition to the four basic functions of a computer,
being input, processing, storage, and output,
there are a few common components
that most computers are going to rely on.
These are categorized as hardware,
software, and firmware.
Now, hardware is the parts of a computer
that you can pick up,
move around, open, and close.
It is the physical thing that you interact with
inside of that computer.
Hardware includes devices that we use for input,
processing, storage, and output, too.
Now, input devices include things like keyboards,
mice, microphones, and webcams.
Hardware is going to be used for processing as well,
things like the central processing unit,
known as the CPU,
or the graphics processing unit, or GPU.
These devices are really the brains of the computer
and they're going to be used to control everything
that a computer is doing.
When we deal with the processing in a computer,
our goal is to take some kind of input as data
and convert it into something useful and usable.
Now, on the other hand,
we also have hardware
that's designed to do temporary or permanent storage.
Storage is the act of saving data
for future use or retrieval.
In terms of temporary storage,
our computers have a very small
and very fast type of storage
known as a cache,
which is actually part of your CPU, or processor.
Another temporary storage area that computers have
is known as memory, or RAM.
In terms of permanent or long-term storage,
we can use things like hard disk drives,
solid state drives, USB drives,
CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs,
and other things like that.
Now, another way that we use hardware
is to create output for our end users.
Output devices include components like monitors or displays,
speakers, and even printers.
So, as you can see,
we use hardware to conduct input,
processing, storage, and output,
but we also use software to fully utilize the hardware
for its specific task.
Now, software is actually going to be used
to provide instructions to the hardware
and tell it exactly what you want it to do.
There are really three main types of software
that you're going to come across.
These are operating system software,
application software, and drivers.
Now, operating system software
is used to provide a standard method for saving,
retrieving, changing, printing,
and transmitting information and data
within the computer.
Typical operating systems include things like Windows,
OS X, Linux, Android, iOS, Chrome OS,
and many others that are out there.
Now, application software, on the other hand,
is going to be used to create,
store, modify, and view information or data
that you are going to create.
This includes things like Microsoft Word,
Adobe Premiere, Firefox,
and others that you're going to be using on a daily basis.
Now, a driver is a specific type of software
that's going to be used to translate commands
from the operating system
to a specific piece of hardware.
For example, if I go and install a new video card
in my workstation,
Windows is probably going to be able to detect it
and use a generic driver
to at least understand
how to display the images on the screen for me
using that graphics card.
But if I install the specific drivers for that video card
from its manufacturer,
it's going to tell Windows
how to better utilize the graphics card
for increased performance
or a higher quality output to that display.
Besides hardware and software,
we have something else which is called firmware.
This is really a combination of both hardware and software,
and it's put onto a single chip.
Often, we call it software on a chip.
Firmware is a specialized type of software
that's contained on the chip
that's going to be attached to the motherboard,
optical drive, video card,
mass storage host adapter,
network card, modem, or printer.
When you hear the word firmware,
I want you to remember the phrase "software on a chip"
because this is software that controls the device
that the chip is connected to.
Firmware used to be harder to upgrade than other software
because it only existed on that specialized chip.
In the old days, you actually had to pull out that chip
and replace it to upgrade the firmware.
But these days, most firmware is upgradeable
and this is done through a process called flashing.
Because of this, we call most modern firmware flashable
because you can actually update the software on that chip
to take advantage of new advances in technology
that might have arised
since they manufactured that device.
All right, I hope that sets the stage for us
as we begin to move ahead throughout this course.
I know I just brought up a lot
of different parts and pieces of a computer
without going into depth on any of them,
but don't worry,
we're going to go back and look at every single one
of those components,
such as the processors and CPUs,
memory, storage, mobile devices,
printers, and much more
as we go through this course together
to make sure you know everything
you need to know about them
for the exam.