Say hi to your computer - part 6 - the CD/DVD drive

Ok, we're pretty much on our last part regarding the major parts of your computer's hardware. Today, we're covering the CD/DVD drive.

Only about 5 years ago, the CD and DVD drives used to come separately. DVD drives were more expensive.

But now that prices are down, almost all recent computers come with combined DVD/CD drives and they can do the following:

Read CDs or DVDs - this means you can play your music CD or your DVD movie, or even VCD's, which I won't get into today.

Write to CDs or DVDs - this means you can write data (or also called "burn") to your CD or DVD's just like you could in the olden days of floppy disks. Except, your typical floppy only held about 1.44 mbs before (less than one song downloaded from iTunes) while a CD holds about 700mbs, and a single-layer DVD holds about 4.7Gbs. Yep, that's a lot.

The ones that separate the older ones from the new ones are the fact that they write at different speeds. The common burn speed for CD's these days are 48x.

That means 48 times the normal playing speed!

The common burn speed for DVD's these days are either 8x or 16x. Note that you need to buy the right DVDs as well. Some DVDs themselves are only capable of burning at 16x, but only 8x, so if you stick that into a 16x drive, it will only write as fast as 8x.

Windows XP and Vista can handle writing to a DVD or CD, but I really recommend something like Nero (which probably already came with your PC).

If you don't like Nero, you can try this one:

Download BurnAware Free Edition

It's pretty simple in its interface and free.

By the way, if you have an older PC, and just want to add a DVD drive to an empty slot, or just want to replace your current one, it's pretty easy. I recommend that you check out http://www.newegg.com/ for the best ones by reading the reviews.

The not-so-good drives out there will give you 'coasters' which is slang for a useless DVD or CD can't be read to to a bad burn.

I'll cover how to add one in a later day, but just get familiar with the good ones in the meantime.

Say hi to your computer - part 5 - the RAM

As I mentioned before, technically both RAM and hard drive serve as the computer's memory. But think of the RAM as your working desk-space area on your physical desk, and the hard drive as your file drawers.

One more thing you should learn. Your RAM is like Mr. short-term memory in a way.

Let me use Microsoft Word as an example. When your computer is running, it will store information like all the words you copied into your clipboard. It will also store all the words you just typed. And when you press 'save', that's when it will also be copied over into your hard drive.

That's why people tell you to save all the time, b/c if you're typing a 10 page document, but never saved, and your computer crashes or runs out of battery, there's no getting it. Mr. short-term memory has forgotten all of it.

So save often and frequently whenever your doing something important like working out your finances in excel or typing that important letter. Once it's save to the hard drive, it will stay there even when you've turned off your computer.

Now for the nerdy part - there are all sorts of RAM. They are defined by various numbers such as 1GB PC2-5300 667Mhz 200 pin RAM.

The only thing you really need to know is the 1GB. That's the same as 1024 megabytes, just like 1 cm is 10 mms. The numbers that come after that, basically the higher the number, the faster they are.

Once you get advanced enough to upgrade your own RAM yourself and save loads of money from going to Best Buy or Apple, you can just use sites like http://www.crucial.com/ or http://www.oempcworld.com/ to identify exactly the RAM type you need for your laptop or desktop computer. They have online tools that automatically identify the RAM you need for the computer you're currently using to access their website.

Oh, and it probably goes without saying, but laptop RAM is smaller, as just an FYI.

They have online tools that diagnose the computer you're using, and let you know what RAM is compatible.

Say hi to your computer - part 4 - the hard drive

Today, we're going to cover the hard drive.  As I mentioned before, your hard drive is like your desk drawer.  The bigger it is, the more info it can hold (duh).

There are 2 main types out there right now - SATA and IDE.   You don't have to know what they stand for.  (Why is the world full of so many acronyms anyways???)

SATA is faster.  You can tell what a SATA drive is versus IDE b/c it says so on the box.   Also, the connectors are the thinner, about 1.5 cm, compared to about the 3 inch thick IDE wires.

Most new computers come with SATA these days.  

Ok, let me tell you about a 3rd.  I kind of lied.  The latest rage are SSD hard drives.  I believe it stands for Solid State Disk.  It's just a fancy term for the kind of flash memory that your digital camera or usb drive uses.  It's faster overall and it doesn't spin like your regular SATA and IDE hard drive, so it's supposed to last longer.

The only caveat is that it's still very expensive technology, so it will cost you an arm and a leg more.  (you can thank me for those exact amounts later!)

Also, hard drives (the SATA, IDE) spin in different speeds.  There are 3 main speeds:   4200 rpm, 5400 rpm, and 7200 rpm.   The faster they spin, the faster your data will read/write from them.

Typically the slower ones in laptops, b/c the slower the speed, the less hot it is.  The faster it is, the hotter it gets.  It's just physics!

Often, you'll read some amazon.com reviewer or something like that raving about how fast a laptop  is, but complaining that it gets hot.  You can't have both, unless you have some loud fan inside cooling it off.  That laptop probably has a fast processor and/or a fast hard drive.

That's it for hard drives!  Maybe I should prepare a certificate to hand out once this hardware portion is all done!

Say hi to your computer - part 3 - the motherboard

Today let's talk about the motherboard. The motherboard is not really too much to talk about, except that there are 2 main different kinds of motherboards based on the processor. Of course, again, that would be one type for Intel and one for AMD.

OK - that's not entirely true, as there are different sizes involved for each processor, such as 939, or 754, but that's really too much information for the run of the mill guy.

The motherboard again is where everything comes together. You have the processor placed in the middle area, and then you have wires that attach to your peripheral items, such as your CD/DVD drive, and your hard drives.

It also has your input plugs, such as USB, PS/2 (the round one for the keyboard/mouse), printer, and some more recent ones even have firewire. Usually it also has your inputs for sound and video as well, as they are integrated.

If you want better sound or video, you have to purchase a separate video card or sound card, but that's not usually necessary unless you're a hard-core gamer or video editor. But if you were, you wouldn't be reading this!

The motherboard itself often also comes in 2 main sizes, the regular and microATX, and yeah, like you guessed, the latter one is smaller.

How will you even use this information? Is this all too much and useless?

No, it's not. I'm just laying down the foundations for you, so that you can build upon it yourself, and even get to building your own PC one day just for fun (and for quality).

Say hi to your computer - Part 2: the processor

Ok, Average Joe, now you've gotten the basic 'outline' of what your computer is composed of, we're going to talk a bit more about your processor.

As I mentioned before, the 2 major players in the processor field are Intel and AMD.  Intel is more popular and has a significant share of the market at over 70%.  

You can read more about that here at X-bit Labs.

Anyways, your desktop computers generally hold faster processors than your comparable laptop, since there is more space in your desktop and they can put bigger, faster chips in there.

Your laptop usually has a bit slower chip, because laptops (or notebooks as they like to call it now.  The story is that after someone sued for the term 'laptop' after getting his/her laps burned, but that story has to be validated) have to be concerned about power consumption, since people like to use them portably and use them via battery.  

You can technically have a superfast processor in a laptop too, but no one will be happy with 40 mins of use on a full charge.

The latest trend are the dual core processors - both Intel and AMD create them.

They are supposed to do the work of 2 processors, and yes, they are significantly faster.  But keep in mind that the software also has to be specially written to take full advantage of the dual core technology, so it's not really twice as faster as you might think.

Prices are going down on the dual core processor laptops, so you should be able to get one for under $1000 easily these days.  Intel's dual core processors are named Core Duo or Core 2 Duo and AMD names theirs with X2 in the name.  Don't worry, they always write on the laptop somewhere that it's dual-core and you won't ever miss it.

That wraps it up, Average Joe.  Hope you had an educational, informative time reading this.

And make sure to come back and tell your other Average Joe's and Jane's about this site.