Peripherals:

**Peripherals:**

**Printers**

Printers are an output device and are used to print
something. For example a word document on a computer, using the print function
on the computer will take whatever is in the document on the computer and use
the ink and paper inside the printer and it will print it making a physical version
of a virtual document.

**Plotters**

 A Plotter is a printer that can take commands from the
computer to create drawings on paper with either one of more pens, unlike the
printer a plotter can create continues point to point lines fro the commands.

**Camera**

 A camera is an input device for the computer as it can be
used to take pictures and put them onto the computer. The camera can also be
used live feeds like using it for Skype or something where the camera records
and sends a live feed of you to the other user.

**Scanners**

Scanners have the same ability as a printer but they can
also scan documents as well and they can make more physical copies of the
document or they can scan it and send it to a computer so it is in a digital
format.

**Keyboard**

The keyboard is an input the is plugged into a USB port of a
computer and every time a key is entered the computer reads it and displayed
the key that is entered.

**Mouse**

The mouse in another input device that is plugged into a USB
port, the mouse is synced with a curser tat s on a monitor so every time you
move the mouse it sends messages to the computer and these messages  are read and the cursor moves in relation to
the movement of the mouse. The computer also reads the messages about the left
and right mouse clicks and the scroll wheal and which direction the wheel
turns.

**Monitors**

The monitor is a output device as it lets you see what you
have input, the monitor is able to display due to the graphics processing unit
creating the images.

**Display adapters**

These adapters are used for graphics processing and these
are what show images for the monitor. These are often in the PCI express slot.

**Multimedia Devices**

A multimedia device is a device that removes the need for
several different devices and put them all into one device. Example of
multimedia devices would be Tablet computers, MP3 players and memory cards.

**Storage Media**

Storage media are devices that store user and application
information. This is mostly the hard drive. Removable drives are also popular
storage medias.

**Networking**

Networking is the basic idea of having multiple computers
all being able to talk to each other in close to proximity to each other. All
the computers that care connected to a network are called nodes and they are
often connected through cables like Ethernet or wireless. Computers that are
on a network and share resources with ease and can access things like the
internet, printers, serves and other nodes.

 Networks are done in
topologies, the most common one is collapsed ring but there are other like Bus,
Star, Ring, Mesh, Cable and Token.

**Portable Drives**

Portable drives have become a lot more usable and have been
upgrade to have better performance like speed and size. They are easy to use
and extremely useful as they allow you to move around large amounts of data
with ease and be able to use it anywhere you want by plugging the drive into a
computer using the USB ports.

**Plug and Play**
Components

Plug and Play describes devices that can be used as soon as
they are connected to a computer. This is useful as the user does not have to install
any drivers and the computer will automatically recognise the device and begin
work with it straight away.

**Performance Factors**

Performance on a computer is decided by a few things like,

·
Response time – the less time it takes the
better

·
Low drain on computer resources – the less drain
on computer resources the better meaning it can do other things and not be too affected.

·
Speed – how fast the computer is able to
compress or decompress information.

·
Bandwidth – the more the better

What determines those though are the components within the
computer like how many cores or how powerful the CPU, whether you have and HDD
or SSD, how you are cooling your machine, hoe much free space is on the
machine, the condition of the machine, how much RAM you have, the age of the
machine. All these things have an effect on the overall performance of it.