Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
4
Adjust any of the sliders as needed and then close the dialog box.
Audio can also be output to a portable digital media player such as an iPod or iPhone, but that type of output
is not the same as sending the audio to a speaker system. When you output music to a digital player, you are
transferring files to the player, so the process is much more like copying files to an external drive than it is
setting up sound output. The next section of this chapter discusses file storage and transfer.
NOTE
Quick Review
1
What is LCD technology?
2
Define monitor resolution, and explain how it is measured.
3
Name three types of printers, and give an example of an appropriate use for each.
Choosing Appropriate Storage Devices
As you learned in
Chapter 2,
when a computer processes data, RAM
(Random Access Memory) holds that data temporarily. RAM is known as
primary storage
because it's where the data must be in order to interact
with the CPU. Data waits for the CPU's attention in memory, and then
it waits again in memory when the CPU has finished processing it.
primary storage
System RAM in a computer,
where processed data is first stored after it exits
the CPU.
For data to be safely and permanently stored, however, it must be placed
in
secondary storage
. Secondary storage devices are nonvolatile, so
they don't lose their contents when the computer's power is turned off.
Secondary storage can include hard disk drives, solid state drives, CDs,
DVDs, and network and cloud-based storage.
secondary storage
Storage that retains data
after the computer is turned off, such as a hard
disk drive, DVD, or USB flash drive.
Storage devices are evaluated in these ways:
◾
Capacity: How much can it hold?
◾
Cost: How much does the storage cost per megabyte or gigabyte?
