Whether you want to do some actual tinkering (building or repairing) or simply want to effectively compare device models, it is important to have at least a basic understanding of the parts of a computer and how they mesh together. While devices take different shapes and sizes, just about every piece of technology, including your laptop, phone, and even your TV will contain these components I describe below. This post will not be a deep dive into how each of these components work, but I hope to impart a baseline understanding of what they look like, how they function, and how they fit together.

It is important to note that the form factor (basic size and shape) of each computer has a significant impact on what each of the components look like. A desktop computer motherboard will look different from that of a laptop and that of a phone. 

 

“The Backbone”

First, the motherboard. The motherboard acts as a home for the various components of the computer. All of the components in the rest of the post connect in one way or another to the motherboard, but similar to a backbone or spine, it is neither useful nor functional without anything attached to it!

Motherboards come, literally, in all shapes and sizes; they are often custom made for individual laptop, phone, and tablet models, and desktop computers alone have upwards of a dozen different motherboard sizes. 

 

“The Brain” 

What I am calling the “brain” of the computer consists of several different and highly interconnected parts. Each of these parts are responsible for the main computation of the computer or the short-term or long-term storage of data.

CPU- the thinker

The CPU (central processing unit) is sometimes referred to as the “brain” of a computer by itself. The CPU is optimized to perform a wide variety of diverse tasks, from computations on Excel spreadsheets to performing artificial intelligence  logic in a video game.  

RAM – the short-term memory

RAM, short for Random Access Memory, sometimes referred to as simply “memory” is very fast, but volatile storage. “Volatile” means when the computer is powered off, all data stored only in RAM will be lost. RAM has a very fast connection to the CPU and is useful in storing data actively being used by programs. 

Storage –  the long-term memory

A long-term storage device can come either in the form of a spinning hard disk drive (HDD) or a fully digital solid state drive (SSD). Unlike RAM, this type of storage is nonvolatile and retains data even without power.

HDDs are typically less expensive, particularly at higher capacities, but are slower and prone to data loss from magnets and shock damage from drops. SSDs are usually more expensive, but much faster, more reliable, and smaller than HDDs.

GPU – the visual cortex

The graphics card, also called the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), is optimized to perform similar, repetitive computations, making it able to efficiently and quickly produce frames in a video game and complete repetitive tasks such as video rendering.

GPUs can be very powerful, ready to play games or quickly render graphically intensive videos, but this also makes them get very physically hot. They may require several large fans to keep them safely cool, such as the one in the bottom of the picture above. Within smaller desktops and laptops, the GPU will be much smaller (for small desktops it may look like the GPU at the top of the image above), due to the decreased capacity to cool the parts within a smaller chassis. 

 

“The Face”

For the typical desktop computer, the display is a separate monitor, a completely external component, which can be easily swapped out and upgraded. For a laptop or phone, however, the display is deeply connected to its functionality. 

 

Knowing the anatomy of a computer is requisite to being able to tinker with it. A pre-built desktop computer is often more modular than you might think, with the capacity to add storage, upgrade RAM and GPU, and even, if you’re feeling adventurous, replace the CPU as well. It is also possible to purchase parts of a computer separately to build a computer for yourself as a more gratifying and cost-effective option to an off-the-shelf computer. It is harder to upgrade devices like laptops and phones where many of these components are soldered into larger, non-user-upgradeable pieces, but there are still opportunities to perform repairs and upgrades on components like batteries and broken screens.