Computer Basics: What is a Computer?

Today, computers are all around us. From desktop  computers to smartphones, they're changing  the way that we live our lives. But have you  ever asked yourself, "What exactly IS a computer?"  A computer is an electronic device that manipulates  information, or "data." The computer sees  data as 1's and 0's, but it knows how to combine  them into more complex things, such as a photograph,  movie, website, game, and much more .

Computers use a combination of hardware and  software. Hardware is any physical part of  the computer, which includes all of the internal  components and also the external parts like  the monitor and the keyboard. Software is  any set of instructions that tells the hardware  what to do, such as a web browser, media player,  or word processor .

When most people say "computer," they're talking  about a personal computer. This can be a desktop  computer, or a laptop computer, which has  basically the same capabilities but in a more  portable package .

Personal computers come in two main styles:  PC and Mac. PCs are the most common type .

There are many different companies that make  them, and they usually come with the Microsoft  Windows operating system. Macs, or Macintosh  computers, are all made by one company - Apple  - and they come with the Mac OS X operating  system .

Computers come in many other shapes and sizes .

Mobile phones, tablets, game consoles, and  even TVs have built-in computers, although  they may not do everything a desktop or a  laptop can .

There's another type of computer that plays  an important role in our lives: servers. A  server serves information to other computers  on a network. In fact, every time you use  the internet, web servers deliver the web  pages that you want to see to your computer .

Servers are also used in many offices to store  and share files .

As you can see, there are many different types  of computers out there, and they affect our  lives in a variety of ways .