2.2.5: Hardware Basics

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Chapter Learning Outcomes

Hardware:

1. Define digital devices and articulate their significance in daily life.
2. Identify and comprehend the primary components of a computer system, elucidating the functions each component performs.
3. Explain the factors that differentiate the computing power of computers, fostering an understanding of their capabilities.
4. Describe various types of input, output, and memory devices, outlining their roles in information processing.
5. Discuss current hardware trends, including the proliferation of mobile computing and the integration of computing into diverse technologies.
6. Assess the impact of the commoditization of computers on the technology landscape and its implications for users and industries.
7. Summarize the environmental challenges associated with electronic waste (e-waste), recognizing the importance of responsible technology disposal and its broader implications for sustainability

Introduction

As you learned in the first chapter, an information system is made up of three components: technology, people, and processes. In this chapter we will focus on the first element of technology-hardware. Computer hardware encompasses devices that you can physically touch including desktop computers, laptop computers, mobile phones, tablets, e-readers, storage devices, and input and output devices. Besides these more traditional computer hardware devices, many items that were once not considered digital devices are now becoming computerized themselves. Digital technologies are being integrated into many everyday objects so the days of a device being labeled categorically as computer hardware may be ending. In this chapter, you will also explore digital devices, beginning with defining what is meant by the term itself.

Digital Devices

A digital device processes electronic signals into discrete values, of which there can be two or more. In comparison analog signals are continuous and can be represented by a smooth wave pattern. You might think of digital (discrete) as being the opposite of analog.

Many electronic devices process signals into two discrete values, typically known as binary. These values are represented as either a one (“on”) or a zero (“off”). It is commonly accepted to refer to the on state as representing the presence of an electronic signal. It then follows that the off state is represented by the absence of an electronic signal. Technically, the voltages in a system are evaluated with high voltages converted into a one or on state and low voltages converted into a zero or off state.

Each one or zero is referred to as a bit (a blending of the two words “binary” and “digit”). A group of eight bits is known as a byte (think of a byte as being a single character you can type from a keyboard). The first personal computers could process 8 bits of data at once. The number of bits that can be processed by a computer’s processor at one time is known as word size. Today’s personal computers can process 64 bits of data at a time which is where the term 64-bit processor comes from. You are most likely using a computer with a 64-bit processor.

As the capacities of digital devices grew, new terms were developed to identify the capacities of processors, memory, and disk storage space. Prefixes were applied to the word byte to represent different orders of magnitude. Since these are digital specifications, the prefixes were originally meant to represent multiples of 1024 (210), this usage is referred to as a binary measurement, but have more recently been rounded for the sake of simplicity to mean multiples of 1000, as shown in the table below.

Prefix	Represents	Approximate Examples
Kilo	One thousands bytes	! typewritten page
Mega	One million bytes	1 Digital photo
Giga	One billion bytes	1 Blu- ray movie 25GB
Tera	One trillion bytes	Printed Collection of the library of congress 20TB
Peta	One quadrillion bytes	Date generated on Facebook everyday 4PB
Exa	One quintillion bytes
Zetta	One sextillion bytes
Yetta	One septillion bytes

Personal Computer Tour

Computers are machines that accept data as input, processes that data using stored instructions, and outputs the information.

All personal computers consist of the same basic components:

• network connection
• motherboard
• central processing unit (CPU)
• storage/memory

• input/output devices

All personal computers consist of the same basic components:

• network connection
• motherboard
• central processing unit (CPU)
• storage/memory
• input/output devices

Almost every digital device uses the same set of components, so examining the personal computer will give you insight into the structure of a variety of digital devices. The components will be explored in more detail in the following sections.

Network Connection

Personal computers were first developed as stand alone units, which meant that data was brought into the computer or removed from the computer via removable media (i.e. hard drives, USB devices, CD’s). However, beginning in the mid-1980s, organizations began to see the value in connecting computers together via a digital network. Because of this, personal computers needed the ability to connect to these networks. Initially, this was done by adding an expansion card to the computer that enabled the network connection. These cards were known as Network Interface Cards (NIC). By the mid-1990s, an Ethernet network port was built into the motherboard on most personal computers. As wireless technologies began to dominate in the early 2000s, many personal computers also began including wireless networking capabilities. Digital communication technologies will be discussed further in a later chapter.

Motherboard

The motherboard is the main circuit board on the computer. The CPU, memory, and storage components, among other things, all connect into the motherboard. Motherboards come in different shapes and sizes, depending upon how compact or expandable the computer is designed to be. Most modern motherboards have many integrated components, such as network interface card, video, and sound processing, which previously required separate components.

The motherboard provides much of the bus of the computer (the term bus refers to the electrical connections between different computer components). The bus is an important factor in determining the computer’s speed (the combination of how fast the bus can transfer data and the number of data bits that can be moved at one time). The traces shown in the image are on the underside of the motherboard and provide connections between motherboard components.

Input and Output Devices

In order for a personal computer to be useful, it must have channels for receiving input from the user and channels for delivering output to the user. Input and output devices connect to the computer through connection ports, which are generally part of the motherboard and are accessible outside the computer case. In early personal computers, specific ports were designed for each type of output device. The configuration of these ports has evolved over the years, becoming more and more standardized over time. Today, almost all devices plug into a computer through the use of a USB port. This has increased in its capabilities, both in its data transfer rate and power supplied.

Bluetooth

Besides USB, some input and output devices connect to the computer via a wireless-technology standard called Bluetooth, which was invented in 1994. Bluetooth exchanges data over short distances of 10 meters up to 100 meters using radio waves. Two devices communicating with Bluetooth must both have a Bluetooth communication chip installed. Bluetooth devices include pairing your phone to your car, computer keyboards, speakers, headsets, and home security, just to name a few.

Input Devices

All personal computers need components that allow the user to input data. Early computers simply used a keyboard for entering data or selecting an item from a menu to run a program. With the advent of operating systems offering the graphical user interface, the mouse became a standard component of a computer. These two components are still the primary input devices to a personal computer, though variations of each have been introduced with varying levels of success over the years. For example, many new devices now use a touch screen as the primary way of data entry

Other input devices include scanners which allow users to input documents into a computer either as images or as text. Microphones can be used to record audio or give voice commands. Webcams and other types of video cameras can be used to record video or participate in a video chat session.

Output Devices

Output devices are essential as well. The most obvious output device is a display or monitor, visually representing the state of the computer. In some cases, a personal computer can support multiple displays or be connected to larger-format displays such as a projector or large-screen television. Other output devices include speakers for audio output and printers for hardcopy output

3D Printing

A 3-D printer allows you to print virtually any 3-D object based on a model of that object designed on a computer. 3-D printers work by creating layer upon layer of the model using malleable materials, such as different types of glass, metals, or even wax. 3-D printing is quite useful for prototyping the designs of products to determine their feasibility and marketability. 3-D printing has also been used to create working prosthetic legs and an ear that can hear beyond the range of normal hearing. The US military now uses 3-D printed parts on aircraft such as the F-18. [1]

Section Footnote Links

1. The Economist. (2013, September 13). 3-D Printing Scales Up. ↵

PC Commoditization and E-Waste

The Commoditization of the Personal Computer

Over the past forty years, as the personal computer has gone from technical marvel to part of everyday life, it has also become a commodity. There is very little differentiation between computer models and manufacturers, and the primary factor that controls their sale is their price. Hundreds of manufacturers all over the world now create parts for personal computers which are purchased and assembled. As commodities, there are essentially little or no differences between computers made by these different companies. Profit margins for personal computers are minimal, leading hardware developers to find the lowest-cost manufacturing methods.

There is one brand of computer for which this is not the case – Apple. Because Apple does not make computers that run on the same open standards as other manufacturers, they can design and manufacture a unique product that no one can easily copy. By creating what many consider to be a superior product, Apple can charge more for their computers than other manufacturers. Just as with the iPad and iPhone, Apple has chosen a strategy of differentiation, an attempt to avoid commoditization.

E-Waste

Advances in computing technology reduce costs, increase productivity and allow innovation to flourish. But there is a dark side to advancement. A PC has an expected lifetime of three to five years, and a cell phone is expected to last less than two years. Rapid obsolescence means the creation of ever-growing mountains of discarded tech junk, known as electronic waste or e-waste. In 2016 alone approximately 44.7 million metric tonnes of e-waste were created. By 2020, it is predicted that amount will increase by 17% and we will create approximately 52.2 million metric tonnes of e-waste annually throughout the world.[1] Canada is a large contributor to this e-waste problem. A report released by Statistics Canada stated that, in 2012 we contributed 14.3 million tonnes of waste to the global e-waste problem. [2] Consumer electronics and computing equipment can be a toxic cocktail that includes cadmium, mercury, lead, and other hazardous materials. Once called the “effluent of the affluent,” e-waste will only increase with the rise of living standards worldwide.

The quick answer would be to recycle, as e-waste contains materials like plastics and aluminum, as well as small bits of increasingly valuable metals such as silver, platinum, and copper. However, there’s often a disconnect between consumers and managers who want to do good and those efforts that are actually doing good. The complexities of the modern value chain, the vagaries of international law, and the nefarious actions of those willing to put profits above principle show how difficult addressing this problem will be.

The process of separating out the densely packed materials inside tech products so that the value in e-waste can be effectively harvested is extremely labor intensive, more akin to reverse manufacturing than any sort of curbside recycling efforts. Therefore a lot of e-waste is sent abroad which can be much cheaper than processing at home. Much of this waste ends up in China, South Asia, or sub-Saharan Africa.

Thinking deeply about the ethical consequences of a firm’s business is an imperative for the modern manager. A slip up (intentional or not) can, in seconds, be captured by someone with a cell phone, uploaded to YouTube, or offered in a blog posting for the world to see. The worst cases expose firms to legal action and can tarnish a brand for years. Big firms are big targets, and environmentalists have been quick to push the best-known tech firms and retailers to take back their products for responsible recycling and to eliminate the worst toxins from their offerings.

Section Footnote Links

1. Leary, K. (n.d.). The World's E-Waste Is Piling Up at an Alarming Rate, Says New Report. https://www.sciencealert.com/global-electronic-waste-growth-report-2017-significant-increase ↵
2. Statistics Canada. (2016, May 24). EnviroStats. Trash Talking : Dealing with Canadian household e-waste. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/16-002-x/2016001/article/14570-eng.htm ↵