The term hardware indicates to all physical components of a computer system. This includes the CPU, the keyboard, monitor and so on. The motherboard and chips of the system located inside the CPU are also examples of hardware. In very simple terms, as long as the component is tangible, it is a hardware. In contrast to this, if the components are programmed. It is called software. They are not tangible and cannot be seen or felt. A software, down to its core, is simply a set of instructions that is programmed to run by a hardware.