Folder: Hardware

Definitions for terms related to computer hardware.

Mouse Parts of a Computer Types of Computers

Typical Computer

Definition
The typical computer of 2024 is a computer that is powered by electricity and stores data as bits (binary digits, which can be either 0 or 1).
Touchpad

Surface integrated on laptops that functions as a mouse, controlling the position of the mouse cursor by touch.
Terminal

An application with a window with black background and white text where you can type text commands, called terminal commands, which are interpreted by a type of program called shell.
Button

A physical button part of the hardware or a digital, graphical button on the screen that's part of a graphical user interface (GUI), which when pressed performs some operation.
HiDPI

HiDPI refers to screens with high pixel densities, i.e. high PPI (pixels per pinch), which is also called high DPI (dots per inch).
Pixel Density

The amount of pixels per inch (PPI) that a screen can display.
Modifier Keys

The keys Ctrl, Shift, Alt, and, sometimes, the Windows key.
Secondary Mouse Button

The mouse button under the middle finger.
Primary Mouse Button

The mouse button under the index finger.
Hertz

An unit of frequency that measures how many times per second a process occurs, for processes that occur in repeating cycles.
Memory

What is "Memory" in a Computer? The term "memory" has multiple meanings when we talk about computers, some of them refer to hardware while other refer to software, for example: Notable Features In general, memory has a fixed size and is addressable by byte offsets. If you have a piece of memory that is 8 […]
Names of Computer Parts

A desktop PC generally has the following computer parts: a keyboard, a mouse, a monitor, a pair of audio speakers, and a "CPU." What people typically call the "CPU" of a computer isn't the actual CPU (in the sense of a microchip), but a black or white case that contains all internal components; inside this […]
Desktop

The term desktop has two meanings when we're talking about computers. The desktop computer is called desktop because it's on top of a desk. The desktop screen is called desktop because it's based on the concept of an office desk, with various with various things that you can reach with your hands and grab, which, […]
Hardware

Hardware are the physical components of a computer. All the components that you can touch are hardware. The term is used in contrast with software, which are the virtual components necessary for a computer to perform de computation of something. That is, programs made out of bytes are software, and everything that isn't made of […]