Geek School – The Computer Teardown
I was taking a peek inside the computer Lenovo sent me for review and giveaway when I decided it was a good time to educate the little geeks in training on how a computer works. My children don’t speak fluent geek so I had to compare a computer to a person before they got a basic understanding on how a computer works.
Brain
The brain of a computer is the CPU. It is also referred to as a microprocessor (processor for short). In the case of the Lenovo ThinkCentre A63 Tower Computer (6674-APU), the CPU is a triple-core AMD Athlon II X3 435 2.90 GHz processor. Triple-core means the microprocessor has three processors integrated on the chip. And no, a triple-core processor isn’t three times as fast as a single-core processor. This is because each core has to share resources with each other. In addition, the performance of a multi-core processor depends on the ability of the software to run in parallel on multiple cores.
Memory
The memory of a computer consists of RAM (short for random access memory) and a hard drive. RAM is the computer’s short term memory. Every time the computer is turned off, the information stored in RAM is essentially erased. If you need to retain information, you have to store the information in the computer’s long term memory: the hard drive. The Lenovo ThinkCentre A63 I’m reviewing has 2GB of RAM and a 250GB serial ATA (SATA) hard drive. You can increase the computer’s memory by adding more RAM (two DIMM slots on the motherboard) or another hard drive (four SATA connectors on the A63).
Digestive System
Our digestive system breaks food down into a form our body can use as nourishment and energy. A computer also needs energy, but the power from a wall outlet is not in the form a computer can use directly. That’s where the power supply comes in. It acts like a digestive system by converting the 120V AC power from a wall outlet to low DC voltages that the computer can use (usually 3 to 12V). The stomach of the ThinkCentre A63 is a 280W power supply. In general, the higher the wattage, the more load (DVD drive, hard drive, graphics, etc) the power supply can handle.
Nerves and Blood Vessels
The cables and wires inside a computer case are the nerves and blood vessels of the computer. Some of the wires are used as blood vessels to transport energy to the various components of the computer system. Other wires are used as nerves to transmit data to different parts of the computer. There are also etched lines on the motherboard and chips. An etched line is a computer bus. It is used to transmit data.
Mouth and Ears
The mouth of the computer is the speaker and the ear is the microphone. Speakers can be a stand-alone system or built into the monitor. In the case of the ThinkCentre A63, the speaker is integrated into the case (there are also two audio jacks for external speakers — thank goodness kids can only have one mouth). The A63 does not have a built-in microphone, but it does have two microphone jacks (one in front and one in back).
Sweat Glands
Computers run hot. VERY HOT. Unlike humans, computers cannot cool down by perspiring. Instead, they rely on heat sinks and fans to cool off. In the Lenovo system, there are three fans: (1) Heatsink and fan on top of the CPU, (2) fan at the back of the computer case, and (3) fan at the back of the power supply. Without the fans, a computer will overheat and act erratically (lock up, reboot itself repeatedly, refer to itself as HAL, etc).
[Disclosure: I received a dual monitor computer system for review from Lenovo. However, I'm not keeping it. The PC will be given away on this geek dad blog. Giveaway details and dates have not been finalized.]
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Love it. Just wondering where the digestive system is…you know the spot that eats all the important stuff, including time?? LOL
Hugs,
Holly
Very interesting way to explain a computer! Clever man.
did the little geeks in training enjoy the training?
Bravo! I really enjoyed how you made learning accessible through your analogy of the computer system to the human body. As a fellow geek , I love how you can pass on information to little geeks and make it much, much more creative and interesting. Hope the little ones enjoyed it!
Mouth? Is that where it eats CDs and Dvds? LOL In our house it’s the other way around the kids explain to mom and dad. And grandbaby has already disable every computer device she has touched and loves pushing buttons yup ours too :)
I’m having the same problem with the toddler pushing every button he finds. I have to put big boxes around the computers so he doesn’t turn the computers on and off.
I wish I would have known you when I was setting up my PC training classes, even though I think I did a pretty good job. I just LOVE your analogy better!
Come to think of it, I should be teaching my grand babies via your classes, but then again I think their parents have me do my class to put them to sleep. LOL What do you think?….
Lots of laughs…
I’m glad someone found my post interesting. My wife usually rolls her eyes when I talk about computers.