Typical Personal Computer
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 4MB Cache 1066MHz FSB Dual-Core Processor $359
Input devices include objects like the keyboard and mouse, and output devices include computer monitors, printers. Typically, on each clock cycle, the computer fetches instructions and data from its memory. The instructions are executed, the results are stored, and the next instruction is fetched. Instructions, like data, are represented within the computer as binary code,a base two system of counting. More powerful computers such as minicomputers, mainframe computers and servers may differ from the model above by dividing their work between more than one main CPU. Multiprocessor and multicore personal and laptop computers are also beginning to become available. Computer programs are simply lists of instructions for the computer to execute. These can range from just a few instructions which perform a simple task, to a much more complex instruction.
The most common form of computer in use today is the embedded computer, small computers used to control another device. Embedded computers control machines from fighter aircraft to digital cameras