Technology Explained in Plain English

[Nit Pick 247]

Basically what I would like is to hear peoples plain English/layman's terms of technology. For example you are trying to explain to someone who just does not get the difference between an SSD and an HDD. How would you explain it in the most basic of terms. Like an ELI5 type of reddit explanation.

 

The reason why I made this thread is to get the best explanations.

 

Share explanations you heard, gave to someone else or came up with.

 

Sorry if there was a thread like this, I used google search and nothing came up.

Edited June 20, 2015 by Nit Pick

[Sweetie-Belle 180]

Here's a few explanations for PC parts. Sorry if they're in bold: they're copy pasted

 

 

 

CPU/Processor: "The processor or CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the brain of your computer and is arguably the most critical component, as a slow processor will always result in a slow computer."

 

RAM/Memory: "Memory or Random Access Memory (RAM) slots into the motherboard and is where all of the information being used by the processor is stored. For example when you start a program, open a picture or play an MP3, it is moved from the hard drive into memory so that the processor can access all the information related to it. It does this because memory can be accessed many times quicker than a Hard Drive. When the computer is switched off, the information stored in memory is lost."

 

Motherboard: "The motherboard provides the 'hub' of your computer that everything else plugs into. It also provides the first level of management, so when the computer is switched on, the motherboard figures out what components are where and how to get them all up and running."

 

Graphics Card/Video Card/often called a GPU: "The Graphics card takes information from the processor and calculates how to display it on the screen. Each card has its own processor, referred to as a Graphics processing Unit (GPU) and its own memory referred to as Video RAM (VRAM). The GPU processes the information and then passes the result to the VRAM where it is stored ready to send to the monitor."

 

Hard (Disk) Drive/HDD: "The Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is where all the data in a computer is stored when not in use by the processor. Unlike memory, data stored on a HDD remains intact when the computer is turned off. All the programs, documents, photos, videos, music etc that you keep on your computer are stored on the HDD and loaded into memory when you begin using them."

 

Power Supply/PSU: My explanation: The power supply is well, what powers the computer. It's that simple

 

Solid State Drive/SSD: My explanation. A SSD is basically a (way) faster Hard (Disk) Drive. You will see a big difference buying a SSD!

[Nit Pick 247]

From what I gather about CPUs: in order for your PC to be future proofed as possible. Get as much speed and cores as possible (within one's own price range).

[Celtore 2,770]

The word technology means magic. It's basically anything that's really cool that you don't know how it works. And if you break it, you have to buy a new one.

 

Computers are basically big calculators with the ability to store things and crunch numbers insanely fast.

 

SSD vs HDD: SSD is a type of storage that is faster than a HDD, but it's more expensive to get the same amount of space.

 

Software: Instructions written in a language of sorts that eventually get reduced down to 1s and 0s which the CPU understands. It interprets and processes those instructions exactly as it's given them.