Warm Up 3/25 - Let's Talk Hardware

Over the next few days, lets start talking about the physical hardware that makes up a computer.

We are going to start today with an overview of the different parts of a computer, the over the next few days we are going to take a couple of them apart!

You warm up today will require you to write three parts:

Let's start with this LifeHacker.com article.  It is a part 1 of "how to build a computer".
(Feel free to do a quick search of other websites telling you about important computer 'parts' or 'hardware' or 'components'.  This one is also pretty useful if you want to get a little more technical.)

Part 1) You are going to start by identifying all of the different major components of a modern PC (or Mac for that matter).  Make a list, and include a brief explanation in your own words of what each major component does  [ Bonus: Pick out two other components from this list, and quickly research what they are]

Part 2) (Quick) Different Types of Computers - check this brief slideshow, and tell me two things you learned about the names/types of computers.

Part 3) Find some awesome/amazing/extreme/crazy computer builds.  The great thing about building PC's is that you can customize it so much, and if you are willing, can do some amazing and crazy things with them!

 Check out these articles, each one is a collection of PC's that go well beyond what we normally have in our home.  Look through them, and tell me about which one is the coolest in your warm up
Crazy Case Mods
Insane Desktops
20 Most Amazing Computers Ever Made
If you want to find more, do a search of your own using one of those awesome adjectives!


Finished?!  Go here: http://www.extremetech.com/tag/computer-building and just click around.  See what is hot right now!

We will be sharing a lot of this, and having a group discussions about it.  This will lead us in to tomorrow...

=)