![]() Or to put it another way, no longer would the speed of a computer's processor be the primary measure of its capability in terms of either consumer expectation, or the market dominance of its microprocessor manufacturer. Indeed, on the 23rd of August 2005, Intel declared the "clock frequency war" to be over, with the new computing mantra to be performance per watt. Almost all new computers are now also capable of performing most of the tasks that can be demanded of them, with the exact hardware specification being largely irrelevant for all but the most demanding or specialist users. Since the turn of the century the cost of a typical desktop PC has fallen in both real and monetary terms. Today, however, neither of these points remains the case. The exact hardware specification was usually also critical. This was because most of the money spent on a computer system went on hardware, with a direct trade-off existing between processing power and overall system cost. When the first microcomputers were introduced in the late 1970s, and in particular when the IBM PC was launched (in 1981 in the USA and 1983 in the UK), the computer industry was dominated by hardware. And if you are interested in the evolution of computing, you may like to read The History of the Microcomputer Revolution by Frank Delaney or this brief history of computing. For a more technical hardware guide, see the excellent Introduction to Computer Hardware written by Howard Gilbert of Yale University. Inevitably, other sections of this website - most notably those covering storage, mobile computing and networking - also discuss particular areas of computer hardware and its application and specification. ![]() The following gives a basic overview of personal computer (PC) hardware, with the focus being on desktop computers. Speakers, a webcam and an external hard drive for back-up storage are often also included. ![]() ![]() For a traditional desktop computer this comprises the main system unit, a display screen, a keyboard, a mouse, and sometimes a printer. Hardware refers to all of the physical parts of a computer system. Key Topics: Processors Memory Graphics Hard Drives Input Output Connectors Online Hardware INTRODUCTION ![]()
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