Guide to hardware jargon

It’s the tiny heart of the machine and normally listed first in any computer specifications. Take the Dell Studio 15, a great mid range multipurpose laptop, it has a Intel® Core™ i3-330M (2.13Ghz, 4Threads, 3MB cache) processor

• Intel is the manufacturer, and Core™ i3-330M is the ‘family’, model and then number of the processor.
• 2.13 GHz is the ‘clock speed’ of your processor. It’s a measure of how fast the processor can handle certain tasks measured in gigahertz.
• Threads allow the cores within the CPU to share the same resources but execute different processes; more threads the more the CPU can cope with.
• 3MB cache refers to the cache memory; it is used by the CPU to reduce average access time to memory, by storing copies of common data in the cache. A larger cache means a faster CPU.

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The Dell Studio 15 has 2048MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [1x2048]

• The size of memory, 2048MB (can be written as 2GB) will also determine the speed and power of your computer. It’s basically the speed at which your computer can access data for tasks.
• 1333MHz is the data transfer speed; the higher the speed the quicker the transfer.
• Dual Channel and DDR3 SD (Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic) all increase the transfer rate of RAM.
• The final set of numbers [1x2048] show that it has one module of 2048MB of RAM. (It could use two sets 1024MB to give the same total of RAM)

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RAM is faster than your hard drive, but loses data every time it’s powered down, so the drive is your permanent storage.

Drives comes in two types; hard disk drive (HDD) and solid state drives (SSD). A hard disk uses a magnetic reader to read and write information onto and off a spinning disc. A solid state drive works like your memory stick, it’s faster, has no moving parts so it’s quieter and cooler. It’s more expensive however and you can’t get such large drives.

The Studio 15 has a 250GB (5,400rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive

• 250GB is the size, and the rpm refers to how fast the drive spins. The faster it spins, the faster you can access your data.

• Serial ATA is the type of interface.

For information on sound and graphics/video cards then check out guide to gaming PCs which includes a tonne of info on components.

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Our Studio 15 has a 15.6″ High Definition (1366×768) WLED screen.

• 15.6 inches refers to the diagonal length of the screen
• High Definition (1366×768) means that the screen is 1366 by 768 pixels, meaning it supports HD content.
• WLED means that the screen is lit by White Light Emitting Diodes, which is pretty standard. The newest generation are Organic LEDs.

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