The CPU and Motherboard

• The Central Processing Unit, or CPU, is the brains of the computer and the motherboard is the heart. The circuits on the motherboard control the flow of information from other devices to the CPU and back to the devices. To aid in this task, random access memory, or RAM, is integrated with the motherboard to temporarily store information that is being used.
  
  

Output Devices

• Computers were invented to solve problems. Those answers would be useless if the operator had no way to see them or interpret them. Display terminals, or monitors, are the most common output devices. Printers are another output device that is common with current computer systems. While displays and printers let the operator see the data, speakers are used as an output device to let a user hear data from the computer as well.
  
  

Input Devices

• A computer operator needs some way to put data into the computer. The keyboard and the mouse are the most common input devices, but other specialty devices are available. Microphones and web cams are input devices that are being used by more and more people to interact with others through their computers. Microphones are also used to help the visually disabled use computers more effectively. Some computer games also require a specific type of controller.
  
  

Storage

• Every computer needs some kind of storage device to keep data and programs accessible. Hard drives are the most common storage device, but they have the disadvantage of being permanently mounted to the computer system. Portable storage devices are used to transfer stored data from one computer to another. Floppy disks were the early form of portable storage, but CD-ROMs and DVDs provide more data capacity than a floppy disk could. Flash drives are more portable and more difficult to damage than disks and are therefore one of the most preferred means of portable data storage.
  
  

Communications

• As computer-based collaboration became more and more of a necessity, computers needed the ability to "talk" to each other. Modems were used to communicate with computers over long distances through the telephone lines and are still used by some people today. Newer modems are available to use digital signals through DSL or cable to communicate with other computers through the Internet. Wireless modems are available to transmit and receive data without the necessity of a phone line or cable.