Computer hardware

Not to be confused with household hardware.

PDP-11 CPU board

Computer hardware equals the collection of physical elements that constitute a computer system. Computer hardware refers to the physical parts or components of a computer such as monitor, keyboard, Computer data storage, hard drive disk, mouse, printers, CPU (graphic cards, sound cards, memory, motherboard and chips), etc. all of which are physical objects that you can actually touch. In contrast, software is untouchable. Software exists as ideas, application, concepts, and symbols, but it has no substance. A combination of hardware and software forms a usable computing system.

See also

• Computer architecture
• Embedded computer
• History of computing hardware
• Mainframe computer
• Minicomputer
• Personal computer
  • Personal computer hardware
• Von Neumann architecture
  • Central processing unit
  • Computer data storage
  • Input/output
    • Peripheral

Media related to Computer hardware at Wikimedia Commons