How computers are like offices

The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the chip which is basically the brains of the computer. It is also known as the processor. You can think of the CPU as "the brain" or "the boss". He's the one who organizes everything and tells everybody what to do. Just like bosses get old and need to move on with their lives, you'll need to get a newer boss that's more in tune with newer programs and faster at processing the information. Older bosses tend
to get Alzheimer's.

The Ram is the immediate memory (short term memory) that your computer accesses when your programs are open. In our office analogy, the RAM is like all the workers in the office. The employees are the programs in the office (RAM). Just like everybody in an office has a different title and position: business analyst, developer, web designer, marketing guru, etc. When the boss (CPU) needs something to be done, he tells an employee (program) in the office (RAM) to do something and he will do it. You will need more office space
(RAM), if you have lots of people (programs) needing additional space in the office.

The RAM will help the computer be able to handle all your open programs with ease and efficiency, so if you have an open word document and at the same time you are watching youtube videos in your computer, the more RAM you have, the better equipped the computer will be to handle all those tasks. The bigger the office, the more productive the workers can be. One good indication you need more RAM is when your computer starts slowing down drastically when you open several programs you need. This could be a video game moving very slowly or your computer in general crawling whenever you try to do something.

This is where the long term memory resides for the programs. Think of it as additional office branches in our office analogy. When the boss (CPU) needs more resources, he will call the branch office to give him additional employees who are knowledgeable. If you get a lot of new projects that consume a lot of resources, then you will need additional satellite offices (Hard Drive) with people to handle all the projects. Get a large hard drive if you are planning on storing a lot of photos, videos, files in your computer.

Even before the CPU accesses the RAM for memory, it has an even more immmediate memory called the CPU Cache. In this way, information is readily accessible even before accessing your RAM memory. Let's say the boss (CPU) needs some documents from the payroll group. Even before he can go to the payroll office (RAM) to retrieve the documents, there are a few kiss asses (CPU Cache) sitting in the same office that already have the documents ready for him. There is no need to travel to the payroll office (RAM) to get the documents he needs. The more the CPU cache the better your computer will perform, without having to tax your RAM.

Just imagine instead of there being one CEO, there are two CEO's and they are twins. They pretty much agree on everything without conflict. It would make business life so much simpler and you would be able to handle many more tasks with ease. That's the idea behind dual core. Most computers today are coming out as dual core systems.

Allows communication transfer between the CPU and the memory. The faster the CPU Front side bus the better. Imagine if the boss (CPU) needs a document from one of his employees (program in the RAM) who is in the second floor. Instead of walking the stairs to the employee, he takes the escalator to get to his destination faster. The escalator is like a faster front side bus.

Trying to make the computer go faster than it's supposed to. Imagine the boss comes with rollerblades to work. Whenever he tries to get somewhere quickly, he would ride his rollerblades to his destination. Everything would be done a bit faster. However, danger can take place if he gets super fast roller blades and he loses his balance. He might fall get hurt. Same thing with your computer, if you overclock it too much, performance problems may occur.

An additional chip used for displaying graphics. The CPU sends information to the graphics card and the graphics card translates that information to send to your computer screen to create a picture. Graphics cards also have their own RAM so it does not have to involve the computer's internal memory for better graphics display. Imagine if the boss hires a bunch of beautiful babes for the office, the entire office atmosphere will look a whole lot better.

This is what controls all the inner workings of the computer. In our office analogy, you can think of it as the management team. The boss,the developers, the business analysts, CFO, Human Resources all being controlled by the management team. In windows systems, this is Windows XP or Windows Vista.

Need to purchase your own computer now? I hope I helped you understand a little bit better how computers work. Dell is one of my favorite retailers for purchasing computers. Dell also has frequent coupon code offers to save you additional money. With a dell promotional code you may be able to save substantially. If you want a Mac, you can visit the Apple Store. Check if there is an apple store promotional code available to make sure you get the best deals.

Another place to get a computer or office supplies it's office depot. Office depot coupon codes can additionally help you save on office supplies needed.