Technician 1 Name: Class Period:

Computer and Information Science100 Points

Computer System Research Assignment

Required: Provide all answers in your own words (DO NOT COPY and PASTE

One of the major objectives of this course is to make sure that students can describe the function of the basic components of a computer and peripheral devices. To meet this objective, you are to complete the following assignment using the following resources:

  1. Other websites used: seagate.com, ,

The first resource will be your primary resource for this assignment. The next web sites contain very up-to-date, comprehensive and detailed descriptions of various types of computer hardware. Feel free to use any other sites you find useful (and I would appreciate if you tell me about them).

The notes that you make when completing this assignment will be marked for completeness and effort. They will also serve as a study guide for a written test on this unit.

Mrs Milly Parker wants to buy a computer system and recently visited a newly opened electronics superstore called Tech-Til-You-Drop Electronics Warehouse (their slogan is: If you don’t find a product in our store, it has not been made!!!). She wanted to find out about computers but came out of the store totally confused by the "computerese" she heard. She has made a list of questions she needs answered and has come to you for help. Answer the questions below:

  1. An acquaintance told herthat she needs four components for an effective computer system. These four components are used to accomplish the four basic functions of all computer systems. List and briefly describe what these components and their corresponding functions are.
  1. Parker knows that she needs a keyboard for her computer system. A salesperson told her that she should buy an ergonomic keyboard but she noticed they cost a lot more money. What are the advantages of ergonomic keyboards? Are they worth the extra money?
  1. She also realizes she needs a mouse but she is unsure what for. Explain why a mouse is required and describe a mouse with a trackball, an infra red mouse, a mouse with a scroll wheel and cordless mouse.
  1. Parker has looked at other input devices as well. Briefly describe the following input devices for Parker and what she could use them for: joystick: , digital camera: , microphone: and scanner: .
  1. Parker was told she needed a monitor but is confused about what kind she should buy.

a) An inexperienced salesperson at Tech-til-You-Drop told her that she should look at three things when looking for a monitor:

1) the resolution which is the number of “pixies” on the screen

2) the refresh rate which is the number of “Hertzies”

3) whether the monitor is “TV or nonTV”.

When Parker asked for a further explanation, the salesperson gave her a very blank look and then tried to sell her a VCR. What do you think the salesperson was talking about when he mentioned the "pixies", “Hertzies” and “TV or nonTV” to Parker?

b) A friend told Parker that she must also buy a proper video card with as much VRAM as possible for her computer.

1) What is a video card?

2) What is VRAM and how much should Parker make sure that she has?

3) What else should she look at in a video card?

  1. a) Parker has narrowed down her choice of printer to one of the following: laser or an ink-jet. Briefly describe how each of the above work and the advantages and disadvantages of each.

b) If Parker decided thatshe needed a color printer, what kind of printer should she buy? What are the disadvantages of buying a color printer as opposed to a black and white printer?

  1. a) Parker is thinking of saving money by buying only one of the following auxiliary (long term) storage devices: an external hard drive, a thumb (flash) drive, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM. Is this wise? Explain.

b) What is the unit of storage used when measuring the storage capacity of auxiliary storage devices?

c) How much data can each of the auxiliary storage devices listed in (a) store?

d) Briefly describe what each of the auxiliary storage devices listed in (a) are used for.

e) Parker has seen advertisements for the following: CD Recordable drives, CD-RW drives, DVD drives and DVD-RW drives. Briefly describe each of these and why someone would wish to purchase one.

  1. The salesperson at Tech-Til-You-Drop mentioned that the new STYD brand computer had a great motherboard. When Parker inquired about what a motherboard was, the salesperson replied very excitedly “It is the mother of all boards!”. What is a motherboard?
  1. The salesperson at Tech-Til-You-Drop stated that their store sold every peripheral Parker would ever need to buy. Having realized this salesperson knew nothing about computers, Parker did not bother to ask him what a peripheral was. Define the term peripheral device.
  1. Parker is looking at a microprocessor for her computer system:

a) What is another name for a microprocessor?

b) What does GHz measure?

c) Milly thinks that an Intel Pentium IV 2.9 GHz will be faster than an Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6 GHz processor because the clock speed is faster. Is she correct? Why or why not?

d) How many generations of processors have there been to this point?

e) What company makes the most of the processors sold? What other companies produce microprocessors for microcomputers?

  1. After ½ an hour, the salesperson at Tech-Til-You-Drop finally admitted that his knowledge of computers was not as good as it should be and introduced Milly to the stores computer expert.

This expert proceeded to tell Milly that the new STYD brand computer had “64 K of Level 1 cache and 256 K of Level 2 cache with 4 expansion slots, 2 USB ports, a parallel port, two serial ports, 2 drive bays and a choice of a 400 or 533 bit bus along with 512 megs of SDRAM expandable to 2 gigs”. When Milly asked the expert to tell her what all these terms meant, the “expert” started laughing uncontrollably and stated “...have you been living under a rock?

Everybody knows those terms mean! Get a life! Don’t you spend 4 hours a day on the Internet like Ido?” It was at this point that Milly had enough of Tech-Til-You-Drop and left the store.

a) i) What is cache?

ii) What is the difference between Level 1 cache (also called on-board or primary cache) andLevel 2 cache (also called external or secondary cache)?

b) i) What is the purpose of RAM?

ii) Why would Parker want to expand the amount of RAM he has?

iii) List and briefly describe the different types of RAM available.

c) i) What is a bus?

ii) The expert mentioned that STYD brand computer used either a 400 bit or 533 bit bus.

What does this mean in terms of the amount of data they can carry?

d) i) What are expansion slots?

ii) Why is it important to have a number of expansion slots.

e) i) What is a port?

ii) What is the difference between a serial port, a parallel port and a USB port?

iii) What is the primary purpose of each of the ports mentioned in (ii)?

  1. Parker wishes to use the Internet and was told by an acquaintance that he required a modem.

a) What is the purpose of a modem?

b) What else does Parker need to access the Internet?

  1. Parker’s friend had a computer destroyed during the last lightning storm. What device may haveprevented this from happening?
  1. Parker realizes that she must buy software as well as hardware to allow her to use her computersystem.

a) Explain to Parker what software is and its purpose.

b) Briefly describe the purpose of each of the following types of software for Parker:

  • MicrosoftWindows XP and
  • Microsoft Windows 7,
  • a word processor,
  • a spreadsheet,
  • a database,
  • a presentation program,
  • a desktoppublishing program,
  • a graphics program,
  • an integrated package,
  • a software suite,
  • an Internetbrowser
  • a programming language.
  1. Parker's school has a computer network. Since she lives in residence, she can connect to theschool network.

a) Describe the advantages and disadvantages of networking computers.

b) What device does Parkerneed to be able to connect to the school network?