1. 1. How are various styles of system units on desktop computers, notebook computers, and
mobile devices different?
The system unit is a case that contains electronic components of the computer used to
process data. On desktop computer, the electronic components and most storage
devices are parts of the system units. On most notebook computer including netbooks,
the keyboard and pointing device often occupy the area on the top of the system unit,
and the display attaches to the system unit by hinges. On mobile computers and devices,
the display often is built into the system unit.
2. What are chips, adapter cards, and other components of the motherboard?
The motherboard is the main circuit board of the system unit. Many electronic
components attach to the motherboard, such as processor chip, memory chips,
expansion slots and adapter cards, others are built into it. A chip is small piece of semi-
conducting material, usually silicon on which integrated circuits are etched. An adapter
card enhances functions of components of the system unit and/or provides connections
to peripherals.
3. What are the control unit and arithmetic logic unit components of a processor, and what
are the four steps in a machine cycle?
The control unit is the component of the processor that directs and coordinates most of
the operations in the computer. The arithmetic logic unit (ALU) performs arithmetic,
comparison, and other operations. The steps in a machine cycle:
Step 1: the control unit fetches the math problem’s instructions and data from memory
Step 2: the control unit decodes the math problem’s instructions and sends the
instructions and data the ALU.
Step 3: the ALU performs calculations on the data
Step 4: the results of the math problem are stored in memory
4. What are the characteristics of various personal computer processors, and how are
processors cooled?
2. The leading manufacturers of personal computer processor chip are Intel and AMD.
These manufacturers often identify their processor chips by a model name or model
number. Intel processor in the Pentium or Celeron family. The xeon and itanium families
of processors are ideal for work stations and low end servers.
5. What is a bit, and how does a series of bits represent data?
6. How do program instructions transfer in and out of memory?
7. What are the various types of memory?
8. What are the purpose and types of expansion slots and adapter cards, and what are the
different slots for flash memory devices?
9. What is the difference between a port and a connector, and what are the differences
among the various types of ports?
10. What are the types of buses in a computer?
11. What is the purpose of a power supply, and how does it keep cool?
12. How do you clean a system unit on a personal computer or mobile device?
