COMPUTER SPECIFICATIONS

A list of the key components that make up the computer.

• specification or ‘spec’
• Performace
• Maintenance
• Manual

Generally defined by their speed, in megahertz (MHz) or in gigahertz (GHz), and this relates to the number of operations they can perform per second.

• Monitor
• HardDisk Drive
• Processor
• RAM

Computer’s primary storage area. It stores the applications and programs that run on the PC, as well as any work created by users.

• The Hard Drive
• Monitors
• Optical Drives
• Graphics and Sound Cards

A hard drive capacity of at least ________ is recommended for general purpose PCs.

• 60GB
• 70GB
• 80GB
• 90GB

Standard on PCs and allow the information on a compact disc (either data or audio) to be read and written to by the PC.

• DVD drives
• CD R/W drives
• 48x DVD-ROM/CD_RW drives
• 52x DVD-RWs

Drives that can read both CDs and DVDs.

• DVD drives
• CD R/W drives
• 48x DVD-ROM/CD_RW drives
• 52x DVD-RWs

These cards are installed inside a PC and are responsible for determining the quality of the audio and visuals (graphics and video) output by the computer.

• LAN Cards
• RAM
• TV Tuner
• Sound Cards

An integrated graphics card with ________ of memory is recommended for general purpose PCs.

• 512MB
• 128MB
• 256MB
• 64MB

Allows a computer to be connected to a network.

• Speakers and Headphones
• Network Interface Card (NIC)
• Operating Systems (OS)
• Graphics and Sound Car

An open source free operating system which is not widely used by schools at present, though it may be suitable for schools who are aware of its capabilities.

• OpenSolaris
• Windows
• Mac
• Linux