Meaning that the "hard" are the parts that are tangible.

(able to hold)

Acer Veriton M490G

Main Specification
Processor : Intel Core i5 760 2.80GHZ Ram: 4.0GB DDR3 HDD: 320GB

Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 6450 1.0GB

ROM: DVD/RW

Audio In & Mic In

4 USB Ports Optical Drive

Power & HDD Led Indicator Power On & Off

Audio In Audio Left & Right Mic In

PS/2 mouse

Serial port (COM 1)

USB 2.0 ports

Audio jack

PS/2 keyboard

Graphics Card port

RJ45 LAN jack

A motherboard is the central printed circuit board (PCB) in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, while providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the main board, system board, or, on Apple computers, the logic board. It is also sometimes casually shortened to mobo.

The central processing unit(CPU) performs most of the calculations which enable a computer to function, and is sometimes referred to as the "brain" of the computer. It is usually cooled by a heat sink and fan.

Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM) Double Data Rate(DDR)

A hard disk drive (often shortened as hard disk, hard drive, or HDD) is a nonvolatile storage device that stores digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating rigid platters with magnetic surfaces.

SATA - Serial Advanced Technology Attachment

The SATA standard defines a data cable with seven conductors (3 grounds and 4 active data lines in two pairs) and 8 mm wide wafer connectors on each end

IDE - Integrated Drive Electronics

40-pin connectors generally attached drives to a ribbon cable. Each cable has two or three connectors, one of which plugs into an adapter interfacing with the rest of the computer system.

700 MB (up to 80 minutes audio) 4.7 GB (single-sided, single-layer) 8.5 GB (single-sided, double-layer) 25 to 50 GB (single-layer) 50 to 100 GB (dual-layer)

 CD-ROMs or compact disc read-only memory- type of optical disc that uses laser technology for recording
can contain audio, text, graphics, and video can only read, cannot erase or modify the content holds 650 MB 1 GB of data

CD-R or compact disc-recordable multisession optical disc that you can record your own items on
can read from many times can write on each part only one time cannot erase

 CD-RW or compact disc-rewritable an erasable disc you can write on multiple times
write and rewrite data, instructions, and information multiple times

DVDs technology that can be used to store large amounts of text and even cinema-like videos
DVD-ROM or digital video disc-ROM high capacity optical disc store 4.7 GB to 17 GB read-only

 DVD+RW or DVD-rewriteable can erase and record multiple times

major use
edit videos from a video camera or VCR, stored and edited on your computer, and then written to a DVD+RW disc

Tape magnetically coated ribbon of plastic housed in a tape cartridge capable of storing large amounts of data and information at a low cost
primarily used for long-term storage and backup

The keyboard is very simple to operate, and touch-typing aside, most people can operate a keyboard well enough. The keyboard is usually the primary input device for a PC, which is why

In computing, a mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting two dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons. (Although traditionally a button is typically round or square, modern mice have spring-loaded regions of their top surface that operate switches when pressed down lightly.) It sometimes features other elements, such as "wheels", which allow the user to perform various system-dependent operations, or extra buttons or features that can add more control or dimensional input. The mouse's motion typically translates into the motion of a cursor on a display, which allows for fine control of a graphical user interface.

Printer - A printer is a peripheral which produces a hard copy (permanent human-readable text and/or graphics) of documents stored in electronic form, usually on physical print media such as paper or transparencies. Many printers are primarily used as local peripherals, and are attached by a printer cable or, in most newer printers, a USB cable to a computer which serves as a document source. Some printers, commonly known as network printers, have built-in network interfaces (typically wireless or Ethernet), and can serve as a hardcopy device for any user on the network. Individual printers are often designed to support both local and network connected users at the same time.

A thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) is a variant of liquid crystal display (LCD) which uses thin film transistor (TFT) technology to improve image quality (addressability, contrast). TFT LCD is one type of active matrix LCD, though all LCD-screens are based on TFT active matrix addressing

Computer software, or just software is a general term primarily used for digitally stored data such as computer programs and other kinds of information read and written by computers. Today, this includes data that has not traditionally been associated with computers, such as film, tapes and records. The term was coined in order to contrast to the old term hardware (meaning physical device) in contrast to hardware, software is intangible, meaning it "cannot be touched".

System Software
Operating System Device Drivers

Application Software
Word processor/Spreadsheet Video Games Software

Server Utilities
Telecommunications Educational Software

Military Software
Image Editing Software

The purpose of systems software is to unburden the applications programmer from the often complex details of the particular computer being used, including such accessories as communications devices, printers, device readers, displays and keyboards, and also to partition the computer's resources such as memory and processor time in a safe and stable manner. Examples are - Windows XP, Linux, and Mac OS X.

Application software, also known as software application, application or app, is computer software designed to help the user to perform a singular or multiple related specific tasks. Typical examples are word processor/ spreadsheet, media players database application.