Extra Credit Assignment for Hardware Quiz

Assignment:
Read the chapters on hardware in your book first. (See the syllabus for chapters - or just look at the index for hardware input, output, storage, and system software)

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How much RAM?
How much Hard disk space?
About how much space will be on C if you bought this computer and looked at the properties of C?
Will this computer be faster than one with the same chip and 256MB of RAM and 200GB of hard disk space?
Is the RAM on this PC Hardware or Software?
Is the operating system on this PC Hardware or Software?

I use the analogy in class of RAM being a blackboard you can erase, and hard disk being a notebook. Think of a different analogy for RAM and hard disk and tell me about it and why it is similar.
Here is a description of some of the qualities of RAM and Hard Disk that will help you to make that analogy:

Qualities of RAM:

• Temporary
• Smaller than hard drive
• Work area
• Just holds stuff, no thinking
• Fast access
• Sits closer to the thinker (CPU) than the hard drive. (Actually sits in the motherboard.)
• Has a direct line to the thinker (CPU), while the hard drive has to go through a cable to get to the motherboard.
• Holds a copy of information from the hard drive so the CPU can use it.

Qualities of hard drive:

• Holds a large amount of information
• Holds that information permanently
• Nothing in memory is not also on the hard drive (or at least had its origin on the hard drive)
• Just holds stuff, no thinking
• Fast access, but not as fast as RAM
• RAM sits between the hard drive and the cpu.

When you hand this in, I'll give you another similar quiz to take, and then take the better of your two grades.