With a minimum of 300 words, select and describe a physical component of a microcomputer identified in the computer concepts training. Briefly summarize how a microcomputer functions.

Answer:

Microcomputers come in various shapes and sizes. They have many ranges from desktop to notebook computers which are in trend today. They have a limit of input and output device. They are small in size and low cost and a low storage capacity. They have limited range of software that can be used. It is easy to use but it has low computing power and one one user can use at a time. It is commonly used for personal application.Each one of the microcomputers has all the functional components of a larger computer system. It has four important physical components:-
1. Motherboard
2. Device controller cards
3. Secondary or mass storage devices
4. Display and other devices
We will talk about motherboard. The motherboard of a PC has a microprocessor chip also known as CPU, primary memory chips called RAM or Random Access Memory chips, Read Only Memory (ROM) for storing data and instructions permanently. It has mony more chips and circuits for performing timing, input/output and other support functions. All components of a motherboard are connected to each other through a set of parallel electrical connections. The set of such connections is called a bus. It has a number of slots for connecting different device controller cards which used in connecting display and other devices. Some of the devices are printers, mass storage devices, hard disk drive and compact disk drive, modem, etc.
A microcomputer uses a single microprocessor for its CPU, which performs all logic and arithmetic operations. operations. It also contains a number of associated semiconductor chips that serve as the main memory for storing program instructions and data and as interfaces for exchanging data of this sort with peripheral equipments such as input/output devices e.g., keyboard, video display, and printer and auxiliary storage units.