Types Of Computer Hardware & Functions

What is Hardware? Computer hardware, as the name states, is the physical component of a computer. There are many types of computer hardware that are housed within the computer, and some are positioned outside the computer, also called peripherals.

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If you do not have enough knowledge about computers and hardware, I suggest you take a look within your (case) system unit and get familiar with the appearance of the hardware in it.

Computer Hardware

Computer hardware is the physical component that every computer depends on to perform its tasks. The term “computer hardware” includes anything that has an electronic circuit board and can be used inside a personal computer or laptop, including motherboards, graphics cards, processors, cooling fans, and cameras. Webcam, power supply, etc.

Computer hardware may often be referred to as HW for short. A computer system is not complete without software and hardware. Software is data that is stored electronically on hardware.

Software may be an operating system, video editing tool, game, etc. running on hardware. The following is an almost complete list of hardware found in modern PCs.

Types Of Computer Hardware Components

Following are the most common types of hardware:

• Hardware Inside The System Unit or Case
• Hardware  Outside The System Unit or Case
• Obsolete or Integrated Hardware
• Network Hardware
• Supporting Hardware or Auxiliary Hardware

Hardware Inside The System Unit or Case

The following hardware components are housed inside the computer (case):

• Motherboard
• Central Processing Unit or CPU
• Random Access Memory or RAM
• Power Supply
• Video Card
• Hard Drive
• Solid-State Drive
• Optical Drive (like DVD CD BD Drive)
• Card Reader (such as SD, CF, etc.)

Hardware  Outside The System Unit or Case

The following is a list of names of hardware components that are outside the computer (case):

• Monitor
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• Battery Backup or UPS
• Flash Drive
• Printer
• Speakers
• External Hard Drive
• Pen Tablet

Obsolete or Integrated Hardware

The following list also includes hardware parts of the PC that are sometimes obsolete or integrated with other hardware based on their functions. integrated hardware examples are as follows:

• Sound Card
• Network Interface Card or NIC
• Expansion Card or expansion card (FireWire, USB, etc.)
• Hard Drive Controller Card
• Analog Modem
• Scanner
• Projector
• Floppy Disk Drive
• Joystick
• Webcam
• Microphone
• Tape Drive
• Zip Drive
• Network Hardware

The following hardware is also part of the network hardware and is usually not part of the hardware of a home PC. Network hardware examples are as follows:

• Digital Modem (such as Cable Modem, DSL Modem, etc.)
• Router
• Network Switch
• Access Point
• Repeater
• Bridge
• Print Server
• Firewall

The network hardware mentioned above is not used separately at home, but for example, your DSL modem also works as a combination of a router, switch and firewall, and access point.

Supporting Hardware or Auxiliary Hardware

In addition to all of the above, there is other hardware that is generally supporting hardware or in technical terms auxiliary hardware. This hardware is:

• Cooling FANs (such as CPU, GPU, Case, etc. cooling)
• Heat Sink
• Data Cable
• Power Cable

And… In this article, we tried to provide an almost complete list of types of computer hardware. I hope you pay attention.