The word computer makes us first visualize that mechanized device that most of us use every single day of our lives for personal and professional reasons. In fact many people suffer computer withdrawal symptoms when they are away from their PC's (or personal computers) for too long.

Whether you choose the convenience of a take-it-everywhere laptop or the desktop computer there is one suitable for every taste and every necessary job.

Computers, albeit very different kinds of computers can be found in so many ordinary things that we use everyday. We often use computers without even knowing it. Think televisions, microwave ovens, and CD and DVD players. The list is endless of where computers, whether they are big or miniscule, can be found. Even cars cannot perform properly without their portable computers in working order.

A computer has many specific parts and they each perform a specific function onto themselves. A central processing unit (or CPU) is integral to the computer's functioning, as is its vast storage of memory. The motherboard (or main circuit board) works in conjugation with the electrical element, which is the power supply, which handles any and all electrical concerns.

The permanent storage unit of the computer is the hard drive (sometimes called the hard disk) and this cannot work without the operating system as the driving force. Other important elements of a computer include the integrated drive electronics controller (IDE), the peripheral component interconnect bus (PCI) and the part used to attach a scanner, which is called the SCSI or small computer system. Music videos, games and movies cannot be played on a computer without the instalment of an accelerated graphics port (AGP) and the combination of a sound card and graphic card. Working together these parts allow a computer to perform its job beautifully.

To explain how a computer processes the information input into it in a way that is easy to understand, as a computer user types information into the computer using the keyboard and computer mouse, they are able to choose how they want their material to be presented on the screen and therefore how the finished product will look.

As the information shows itself on the computer screen (many call it a computer monitor), inside the computer it is doing an information inventory, that is, sifting and sorting every little piece of information and committing it to memory as well as organizing and cataloging it. The person who is busy typing is concentrating on his/her work and not aware of the fact that the computer is hard at work at the very same time.

One of the biggest advantages to using a computer is that what you type can be saved in one of two ways- directly onto the computer's hard drive for easy retrieval or on a floppy disk or CD. If saved on a disk or CD that information can be used not just on the computer it was originally typed on but on practically any PC! It doesn't get any better than that.