Today, computers are all around us. From desktop computers to smartphones, they're changing
the way that we live our lives. But have you ever asked yourself, "What exactly IS a computer?"
A computer is an electronic device that manipulates information, or "data." The computer sees
data as 1's and 0's, but it knows how to combine them into more complex things, such as a photograph,
movie, website, game, and much more. Computers use a combination of hardware and
software. Hardware is any physical part of the computer, which includes all of the internal
components and also the external parts like the monitor and the keyboard. Software is
any set of instructions that tells the hardware what to do, such as a web browser, media player,
or word processor. When most people say "computer," they're talking
about a personal computer. This can be a desktop computer, or a laptop computer, which has
basically the same capabilities but in a more portable package.
Personal computers come in two main styles: PC and Mac. PCs are the most common type.
There are many different companies that make them, and they usually come with the Microsoft
Windows operating system. Macs, or Macintosh computers, are all made by one company - Apple
- and they come with the Mac OS X operating system.
Computers come in many other shapes and sizes. Mobile phones, tablets, game consoles, and
even TVs have built-in computers, although they may not do everything a desktop or a
laptop can. There's another type of computer that plays
an important role in our lives: servers. A server serves information to other computers
on a network. In fact, every time you use the internet, web servers deliver the web
pages that you want to see to your computer. Servers are also used in many offices to store
and share files. As you can see, there are many different types
of computers out there, and they affect our lives in a variety of ways.