Dell Hardware Spares Glossary
A
AGP — Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) is an interface specification designed to improve a system's graphic performance by increasing its bandwidth. It helps speed the communication flow between the CPU and the graphics controller. This enhancement allows texture maps of greater size, detail, and realism enabling 3D applications to run faster because of higher bandwidth.
B
Battery — An internal power source used to operate portable computers when not connected to an AC adapter and an electrical outlet.
Bluetooth™ — A wireless technology standard for short-range (9 m [29 feet]) networking devices that allows for enabled devices to automatically recognize each other.
Bezel - Also known as the faceplate. A plastic panel that covers the face of a product.
C
CACHE - Same technology as cache memory used in servers. Storage cache usually resides on RAID controllers and boosts performance because the CPU doesn't have to wait for a disk head to spin. Data can be written to and read directly from cache.
CD-ROM — Compact Disc-Read-Only Memory, a Compact Disc (CD) stamped with data that cannot be erased and filled with new data.
CD-RW — Compact Disc-ReWritable, a CD that can be written to and erased many times (up to 1000). A CD-RW drive allows you to write to CD-R and CD-RW discs.
CRT display — Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) is the technology used in most televisions and traditional types of computer monitors.
D
DDR SDRAM — Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory is memory that provides higher bandwidth than ordinary SDRAM memory.
DDR2 SDRAM — A new memory architecture delivering up to 100% increased bandwidth over today's standard, designed to improve performance and reduce power consumption. It will likely be the prevailing memory offered by suppliers for the next several years due to its potential benefits.
DIMM Capacity — The configurations of DIMM that are available for a specified computer.
DIMM Socket (or Slot) — A place to plug in a DIMM. Also called a slot.
DIMM — Dual Inline Memory Module - A device that adds memory to a computer.
Dual Channel — Memory technology that delivers twice the peak bandwidth of single channel memory.
Dual Hard Drives (Non RAID) — Dual hard drives allow you to store massive, high-density graphic/video files or digital photographs. Dual hard drives are often used by users who require significant storage space separate from their primary hard drive.
DVD+R — DVD recordable disc, a DVD that can be written to only once and never erased.
DVD+ROM — DVD Read-Only Memory, a DVD stamped with data that cannot be erased and filled with new data.
DVD+RW — DVD-Rewritable disc, a DVD that can be written to or erased many times.
E
Ethernet — Refers to the speed that data travels in the network. Ethernet speed is 10 Mbps (10 million bits per second), which is about 200 times faster than a 56K modem. Fast Ethernet technology is 10 times faster than that, about 100 Mbps.
ECC — error checking and correction — A type of memory that includes special circuitry for testing the accuracy of data as it passes in and out of memory.F
Floppy Drive — Floppy drives record up to 1.44 MB of data on a rugged 3.5" removable magnetic diskette.
FSB — front side bus — The data path and physical interface between the microprocessor and RAM.
G
GHz — Short for gigahertz, GHz is a unit of frequency equal to one billion cycles per second. The speed of computer processors, or clock speed, is often measured in gigahertz.
Gigabyte — A unit of data measurement equal to 1 billion bytes or 1 thousand megabytes (MB).
H
Hard Drive — The hard drive is the primary storage unit of the computer. It is where the operating system, applications, files and data are kept.
Hz — hertz — A unit of frequency measurement that equals 1 cycle per second. Computers and electronic devices are often measured in kilohertz (kHz), megahertz (MHz), gigahertz (GHz), or terahertz (THz).
Heat sink — A metal plate on some microprocessors that helps dissipate heat.
Hot swapping - The removal or addition of components while the system is running. For example, hard drives, power supplies, PCI cards and buses are often candidates for this term.
I
I/O - Refers to data that is being sent from the CPU to any type of storage device or peripheral.
I/O Size - The transfer request size that specifies the number of bytes read or written in each I/O request. You can select any value from 1 byte to almost 1 Gigabyte (limited only by the amount of virtual memory available).
I/O Type - Specifies the percentage of read and write operations performed in each operation. You can have 100% Read, 0% Write, or vice versa or a combination of both.
K
Kb — kilobit — A unit of data that equals 1024 bits. A measurement of the capacity of memory integrated circuits.
KB — kilobyte — A unit of data that equals 1024 bytes but is often referred to as 1000 bytes.
L
LCD Display — Liquid Crystal Displays are a lightweight, energy-efficient display type used in laptop and flat computer monitors. TFT/Active Matrix LCDs have one transistor per pixel to retain image quality between scans.
LED — light-emitting diode — An electronic component that emits light to indicate the status of the computer.
M
Megabyte(MB) - A unit of measurement equal to 1 million bytes.
Monitor Size — Monitor size is measured diagonally across the face of the monitor, from one corner of the casing to the other.
N
NIC (PC Network Card) - Network Interface Card allows the computer to communicate with a network of other computers and the Internet. Each computer on a home network — whether wired or wireless — must have a network interface card.
- Internal Cards (Mini-PCI cards) - Internal wireless network cards are hardwired to your notebook's motherboard and give you access to a wireless network.
- External Cards - A credit card-size object that fits into the network card slot, commonly located on sides of notebook computers. The external NIC gives you access to a wireless network.>
O
Optical Drive — Optical drives, or media drives, let you read and/or write optical data discs, such as CDs or DVDs. CDs can hold up to 700MB of data, and DVDs can hold up to 4.70GB of data.
Optimal Resolution — The recommended screen resolution for a monitor, measured in pixels (horizontal x vertical). Higher resolutions can allow more information to fit on a screen, resulting in less scrolling.
P
PATA — PATA Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (a.k.a. IDE). A storage interface technology that preceded SATA.
PCMCIA — Personal Computer Memory Card International Association — The organization that establishes standards for PC Cards.
Petabyte (PB) - A unit of measure consisting of one quadrillion bytes (1,000 terabytes).
Pixel — A single point on a display screen. Pixels are arranged in rows and columns to create an image. A video resolution, such as 800 x 600, is expressed as the number of pixels across by the number of pixels up and down.
PCI Express— PCI Express (PCIe) is the latest interface specification designed to improve a system's graphic performance by increasing its bandwidth. It helps speed the communication flow between the CPU and the graphics controller. This enhancement allows texture maps of greater size, detail, and realism enabling 3D applications to run faster because of even higher bandwidth compared to AGP.
Processor — The processor is the brain of a computer. It is also called the central processing unit (CPU). It interprets and executes instructions of computer programs or the operating system.
PS/2 — personal system/2 — A type of connector for attaching a PS/2-compatible keyboard, mouse, or keypad.
R
RAID Controllers - RAID controllers are I/O devices that control the layout and format of the data. A RAID controller places data across multiple media or device type according to the RAID group specified.
RAID Hard Drives— RAID hard drives combine the performance and security of multiple hard drives into one disk. RAID 0 (data striping) is for maximum performance while RAID 1 (data mirroring) enhances data reliability. Performance users such as video editors often utilize RAID 0. Users to whom data integrity is vital often utilize RAID 1. With RAID 0, all capacity on both hard drives is usable. With RAID 1 only half the capacity is usable and the other half is devoted to back-up.
Random Access Memory — RAM, or system memory, is the workhorse behind the performance of your computer. RAM temporarily stores information from your operating system, applications, and data in current use. This gives your processor easy access to the critical information that makes your programs run.
S
SATA or Serial ATA Hard Drives — SATA Serial Advanced Technology Attachment is an evolutionary storage interface likely to replace industry-standard PATA (a.k.a. IDE) technology due to the higher data rates it offers.
Screen Resolution — Resolution refers to the number of pixels, or dots of color, viewable on a display. Resolution is often given as the number of pixels in a row and the number in a column. Generally, the higher the resolution, the sharper the image.
SCSI — SCSI Small Computer System Interface, a processor-independent standard for system-level interfacing between a computer and intelligent devices including hard drives, floppy disks, CD-ROM, printer, scanners and many more.
SDRAM — Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory, high-speed memory measured in megabytes (MB). SDRAM enables a system to run applications and temporarily store documents that are being worked on.
SVGA — super-video graphics array — A video standard for video cards and controllers. Typical SVGA resolutions are 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768. The number of colors and resolution that a program displays depends on the capabilities of the monitor, the video controller and its drivers, and the amount of video memory installed in the computer.
S-video TV-out — A connector used to attach a TV or digital audio device to the computer.
SXGA — super-extended graphics array — A video standard for video cards and controllers that supports resolutions up to 1280 x 1024.
SXGA+ — super-extended graphics array plus — A video standard for video cards and controllers that supports resolutions up to 1400 x 1050.
System board — The main circuit board in your computer. Also known as the motherboard.
T
Transfer Rate — The fastest rate at which data can be transferred from a drive, usually measured in megabytes per second (MB/s).
U
USB — Short for Universal Serial Bus, a USB is an external bus standard that allows the transfer of data at rates up to 12 Mbps. A USB port is used to connect peripheral devices, such as mice, printers and keyboards among others, to your computer.
UXGA — ultra extended graphics array — A video standard for video cards and controllers that supports resolutions up to 1600 x 1200.
V
Video Memory — Video cards often have their own memory, called video memory, used for storing graphical representations. More video memory allows more colors to be displayed at higher screen resolutions, providing cleaner, brighter images.
W
Write Speed — The speed at which a drive can write data to a disk, measured in multiples of x as compared to the read speed of the original audio CD or video DVD.
X
XGA — extended graphics array — A video standard for video cards and controllers that supports resolutions up to 1024 x 768.