Computer Peripherals and Connectors

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Introduction

Let's take a look at the back of our computer again. Here you see lots of connectors or ports we can plug in different objects, like a mouse, keyboard, and a monitor. These are known as peripherals. A peripheral is basically anything that you connect to your computer externally that adds functionality.

USB Devices

You've probably used USB devices before. USB, also known as Universal Serial Bus devices, are the most popular connections for our gadgets. USB has gone through lots of changes since inception. Your most commonly encounter USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and 3.1 in today's systems.

Understanding Transfer Speeds

In the chart, let's pay attention to the details using Mb/s instead of using MB to reference transfer speed, as these are actually different units. MB is megabyte, a unit of data storage, while capital Mb/s is a megabit per second, a unit of data transfer rate. People often mistake speeds of 40 megabits per second to mean that you can transfer 40 megabytes of data per second. Remember that one byte is eight bits, so to transfer a one megabyte file in a second, you need an eight megabits per second connection speed.

USB Ports and Compatibility

You will also need compatible USB ports to go with your devices. If you connect a USB 2.0 device into a USB 3.0 port, you won't get 3.0 transfer speed, but you can still use the port since it's backward compatible, meaning older hardware will work with newer hardware. The ports are easy to differentiate: in general, USB 2.0 ports are black, USB 3.0 ports are blue, and 3.1 ports are teal. This may change depending on manufacturers.

USB Connectors

There are lots of types of USB connectors, and you can read about all of them in the supplemental reading right after this video. The most recent one is a Type C connector, which is meant to replace many peripheral connections. It's quickly becoming a universal standard for display and data transfer.

Display Peripherals

In addition to USB peripherals, you should also be aware of display peripherals. There are some common interface standards to know. Most computer monitors will have one or more of these connections, but you might encounter some older standards too.

• DVI: DVI cables generally only output video, so if you need to hook up a monitor or projector for a slide presentation and you want audio too, you may be out of luck.

• HDMI: This has become a standard in lots of televisions and computers nowadays and outputs both video and audio.

• DisplayPort: Another popular standard among manufacturers, it also outputs audio and video.

USB Type C

In addition to audio and video, USB Type C can also do data transfer and power. As an IT support specialist, you'll work with peripherals like USB devices and display devices a lot. Now, you'll be able to distinguish between the major types.

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