Computer Basic Parts Simplified - Honestly!
 

Your computer is made up of hardware (the ‘hard’ pieces) which work together as a whole.

 There are a few components that every computer must have. It's useful  to understand their basic purpose and how they'll affect your computer's performance. 

The Processor or CPU
This is the computer's 'brain'.  Its speed is measured in terms of MHz or megahertz.  The most common processors are Intel's Pentium and Celeron family and AMD's Athlon and Duron.

The crudest measure of a processor's power is its "clock speed", given in Megahertz (MHz) or Gigahertz (GHz, 1GHz = 1000MHz).  Generally speaking, the faster the clock speed, the faster the computer will be.

Memory or RAM
RAM is the ‘kitchen table’ where the computer does all its work. It's a temporary storage area for the programmes it uses,  so more is better. Measured in MB or megabytes, 16MB is the minimum memory worth considering.

Hard Drive
Hard Disk Drive (HDD or storage): This is the filing cabinet where the computer stores stuff after it’s finished with it (so that you can use it later). It is also where the programmes are stored when you install them. Measured again in MB (megabytes) or GB (gigabytes). One giga is about one thousand mega (so 4.3GB is 4300 mega). Again bigger is better.

Monitor

There are currently two principal types of monitor :
CRT monitors (ones that look like TV's) and LCD monitors (thin). Monitors for home computers are available in 14", 15" or 17" sizes with price generally increasing with size.

The technical specifications relating to screens cover things like refresh rates (e.g. 75MHz, the bigger the better) and dot pitch (i.e. the size of dots, the smaller the better). Rather than get involved in working out different specifications, just take a  look at a demonstration screen.  Is it flickering, or are the letters on screen fuzzy compared to a more expensive model? If so, it is likely to cause you problems later on if you have to spend a  long time in front of it.

Graphics Card
The purpose of a graphics card is to present information in a visual form on the monitor of the computer. The card's specification will affect the resolution that can be displayed on the monitor and the "refresh rate" of the display. The refresh rate is the number of times-per-second that the screen is re-drawn - a high refresh rate produces a flicker free display.

CD-ROM & DVD Drives
All computers come with either a CD-ROM Drive (with entry level – mid range computers) or a DVD Drive (with newer, higher specified computers).

A CD-ROM drive reads CD-ROM discs that look the same as home audio CDs but store computer programs and data. The capacity of one disk is about 650MB.

 

A DVD-ROM disk can hold around 7 times more data than a standard CD You can play normal CDs and CD-ROMs in a DVD-ROM drive (though not the other way round).

The drives are  measured in terms of their speed of rotation (e.g. 32x = 32 times the speed of normal audio CD rotation). The faster the better, because they then find and action the data on the CD disc much quicker.

Sound card
These allow the computer to play music and sound effects for multimedia and games.

Measured in bits, standard cards are 16-bit, with more advanced cards 32-bit and the latest 64-bit ones even providing Dolby Surround sound! Look for 'wavetable' capability which provides more realistic sound by reproducing the sound waves of actual sources.

Speakers
Speakers play the sound generated by the sound card. Output power is measured in Watts per channel (W), just like for hi-fi. The quality of speakers can vary dramatically between low and high-end computers, so test them and make the choice you require for your sound quality.