Why You Should Purchase a PC

Why You Should Purchase A PC

Computers are capable of doing more things every year. There are many advantages to knowing how to use a computer, and it is important that everyone know how to use them properly. Using the information I have gathered, and my own knowledge from my 12 years of computer experience, I will explain the many advantages of owning a computer and knowing how to use a PC and I will attempt to explain why you should purchase a computer and learn how to use one properly.

Webster's New World Compact Dictionary defines a computer as "an electronic machine that performs rapid, complex calculations or compiles and correlates data" ("Computer."). While this definition gives one a very narrow view of what a computer is capable of doing, it does describe the basic ideas of what I will expand upon. We have been living through an age of computers for a short while now and there are already many people world wide that are computer literate.

According to Using Computers: A Gateway to Information World Wide Web Edition, over 250 million Personal Computers (PC's) were in use by 1995, and one out of every three homes had a PC (Shelly, Cashman,& Waggoner, 138).

Computers are easy to use when you know how they work and what the parts are. All computers perform the four basic operations of the information processing cycle: input, process, output, and storage. Data, any kind of raw facts, is required for the processing cycle to occur. Data is processed into useful information by the computer hardware. Most computer systems consist of a monitor, a system unit which contains the Central Processing Unit (CPU), a floppy-disk drive, a CD-ROM drive, speakers, a keyboard, a mouse, and a printer.

Each component takes a part in one of the four operations.

The keyboard and mouse are input devices that a person uses to enter data into the computer. From there the data goes to the system unit where it is processed into useful information the computer can understand and work with.

Next the processed data can be sent to storage devices or to output devices.

Normally output is sent to the monitor and stored on the hard-disk or to a floppy-disk located internal of the system unit. Output can also be printed out through the printer, or can be played through the speakers as sound depending on the form it takes after it is processed.

Once you have grasped a basic understanding of the basic parts and operations of a computer, you can soon discover what you can do with computers