Hardware refers to the physical components of a computer. Hardware includes storage devices, input devices, output devices and other physical parts of computer. The hardware is not changed frequently, in contrast with software and data.
Storage Devices
Floppy Disk
It is a disk made of Mylar plastic and enclosed in square plastic jacket. It is 3.5 inch in diameter. The capacity of a 3.5 inch floppy is 1.44 megabytes. It is cheaper than other storage devices and is portable
Hard Disk
Hard Disk has a much larger storage capacity than a floppy disk. It is fitted inside the computer. It is mounted on a central spindle, like a stack. It can be read by a read/write head that pivots across the rotating disks. The data is stored on the platters covered with magnetic coating. Nowadays, hard disks are available that can store upto 1 Terabyte of data.
Compact Disks
The compact disks or CDs are optical media. The CDs are cheap and have a storage capacity of upto 700 MB. There are three types of CDs:
(i) CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory) this is used to store information and cannot be used to store data.
(ii) CD-R (Compact Disk-Recordable) Data can be recorded on these disks only once.
(iii) CD-RW (Compact Disk-Rewritable) CD-RW is an erasable disk you can write on multiple times.
DVDs– DVD is an optical storage device which looks like compact disc
(i) DVD-ROM (Digital Video Disk-Read Only Memory) DVD-ROM is high capacity optical disk capable of storing 4.7GB to 17GB.
(ii) DVD-R (DVD-Recordable) It allows users to write on the disc once but read it many times.
(iii) DVD-RW (DVD-Rewritable) - Data can be erased and read many times on them.
Pen Drives
They are tiny devices which are about the size of small pen and which plug into an USB port. They vary in capacity and can store 1 GB and upto 1 TB. Due to their size; they are more convenient and compact for backup and transferring data. Input Devices
An input device is used to enter the data and instructions into the computer. Keyboard is the most common input device. The other input devices available are Mouse, Joystick, Scanner, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR), Microphone etc.
Keyboard
Keyboard is a typewriter like device which is used to type the letters, digits and commands.
The basic QWERTY layout of characters is maintained to make it easy to use.
Mouse
The mouse is pointing device that allows the user to point to a specific position on the screen.
Joystick
Joystick is a remote control device for a computer which is merely used for playing video
games to indicate position.
Scanner
Scanner is an input device used to scan documents such as photographs and text. Scanned
page is converted into a digital format.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
An OCR system is used to take a book or a magazine article and feed it directly into an electronic computer file.
Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)
MICR is used to check originality of paper documents. They can identify characters printed with a special ink that contain particles of magnetic material. This device is particularly used in banking industry.
Optical Mark Recognition (OMR)
Optical Mark Recognition (also called mark sense reader) is a device which can read pencil or pen marks made in paper. It is widely used in tests such as aptitude tests.
Bar Code Reader
It read the bar codes or vertical zebra striped marks, printed on products. Supermarkets use a bar code system called the Universal Product Code (UPC). The bar code identifies the product which has a description and the latest price of the product. Microphone (Mic)
A sound input can be sent to computer through a special input device called microphone or mic. A mic converts the sound received into computer‟s format, which is called digitized sound or digital audio.
Output Devices Output devices receive information from the CPU and present it to the user in the desired form. Output devices include Monitor, printers, plotters, speakers etc.
Monitor
It displays the information as it is typed and also displays the processed result or the output. The monitor is made up of thousands of tiny coloured dots called pixels.
The different types of monitor are Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT), Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Plasma, Touch Screen and Organic Light Emitting Display (OLED).
Printer
Printers can be divided into two categories.
(i) Impact Printer – In these printers, there is mechanical contact between the print head and paper.
e.g. Line printers, drum printers, daisy wheel printers and dot-matrix printers.
(ii) Non-Impact Printer – In these printers, there is no mechanical contact between the print head and paper.
e.g. Electromagnetic printers, Thermal printers, Electrostatic printer, Inkjet Printers, Laser
printers
Dot-Matrix Printer
It is the most popular serial printers, i.e., it prints one character at a time. In DMPs, the printing head contains a vertical array of pins. There are 80 column and 132 column printer available in the market.
Ink-Jet Printer
Inkjet printers are character printers that form characters and all kinds of images by spraying small drops of ink onto the paper. Their resolution is more than 500dpi. They produce high quality output.
Laser Printer
The desired output image is written on a copier drum with the help of a light beam controlled by a computer. With this certain parts of the drum surface get electrically charged, then this drum surface is exposed to the laser beam. These laser exposed areas attract a toner that forms the image by attaching itself to the laser generated charges on the drum. The speed of laser printers can be upto 10-15 pages per minute. Plotter
Plotter is a device that draws pictures on paper based on commands from a computer. In general, plotters are considerably more expensive than printers. They are used in engineering applications, banners, posters.
Speakers
Speakers receive the sound in form of electric current from the sound card and then convert it
to sound format.
Ports Ports are used to connect external devices to the computer. These are the connecting points of various devices to the computer. There exist several types of ports like serial port, parallel port, USB port, AGP port etc.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is used to interconnect mobile phones, computers, and personal digital assistants using a short-range wireless connection.
Review Questions 1.What are input devices?
2.Explain three input devices used as a storage medium.
3.What is a printer? Explain different types of printers.
4.What is a port? What are the different types of ports available on a computer?
5.What is a monitor? What are the different types of monitors available in market?
6.Explain the below input devices: a. Mouse b. Keyboard c. Joystick
7.What are the different types of Compact disks available in market?
State TRUE or FALSE:
1.A CD can have a storage capacity upto 700MB.
2.Printer is an input device.
3.Joystick is used for typing.
4.Every barcode has a Universal Product Code.
5.An inkjet printer is better than a dot printer
6.Bluetooth is a short-range wireless device.
Answer:
1.TRUE
2.FALSE
3.FALSE
4.TRUE
5.TRUE
6.TRUE
Fill in the blanks:
1.OCR stands for __________________________.
2.Keyboards use _______________ layout.
3._______button of mouse is used to execute the operation associated with it.
4.A sound input can be sent to computer through a special input device called _________
5.There is no mechanical contact between the print head and paper in ________________
printer.
6._______________ are used to connect external devices to the computer.
