microcomputer

A standard 102-key keyboard. As well as providing a QWERTY typing keyboard, the function keys (labelled F1-F12) may be assigned tasks specific to a particular system.

The three types of communications port in a microcomputer. The USB port transmits data at a faster rate than a serial or parallel port.

The component parts of the microcomputer: the system unit contains the hub of the system, including the central processing unit (CPU), information on all of the computer's peripheral devices, and often a fixed disk drive. The monitor (or visual display unit) displays text and graphics, the keyboard and mouse are used to input data, and the floppy disk and CD-ROM drives read data stored on disks.

Small desktop or portable computer, typically designed to be used by one person at a time, although individual computers can be linked in a network so that users can share data and programs.

Its central processing unit is a microprocessor, contained on a single integrated circuit.

Microcomputers are the smallest of the four classes of computer (the others are supercomputer, mainframe, and minicomputer). Since the appearance in 1975 of the first commercially available microcomputer, the Altair 8800, micros have become ubiquitous in commerce, industry, and education.