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Monitors

The first computer monitors used CRT’s which made the monitor large in size. These monitors used to be monochrome with poor video quality. Later IBM introduced graphic adapter 1981 for color display which actually displayed four colors. But LCD monitor had a great impact on this market. With the advent of LCD in monitor, the size and weight of the monitor decreased and clarity increased but because of its cost it was restricted to laptops. CRT was still popular among general public because of their wider view angle and the lost cost but as the price of LCD decreased they become favorite and slowly stared replacing CRT. Though today LED is replacing the plasma and LCD screen science it has more sharpness and clarity but because of its cost it is still not the highest selling display unit.

Keyboard

The invention that led to the computer keyboard was typewriter, patented by Christopher Latham Sholes in1868. When it was first introduce, the keyboard (In Typewriter) had character arranged alphabetically but it led to jam on pressing the neighboring key in succession. This led to the arrival of QWERTY keyboard layout. When introduced in computers same QWERTY layout was followed with certain addition key like arrow key and function key. In addition to this a separate numeric keypad is also introduced with others key like Home, Delete, Page UP, Page Down etc. After that keyboard has gone through the various changes. Wireless keyboard, multimedia keyboard were also introduced.

USB

USB (Universal Serial Bus)

USB was introduced in January 1996. The idea was to standardize the connectivity of the devices. Also these devices were not plug-and-play devices. It was actually the brain child of seven different companies-Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Compaq, Nortel, DEC and NEC. The data transfer rate was also high as compared to the other ports. For USB 1.0 it was 1.5 Mb/s, referred to as low speed, and 12 Mb/s as full speed. Later in April 200, USB 2.0 was released with a maximum high speed data transfer of 480 Mb/s. now in 2008 USB 3.0 was also launched with a maximum transfer rate of 5 Gb/s. there is no doubt that USB has change the way we connect our devices to computer.

Webcam

Webcam was introduced in 1991 in Cambridge University Computer Science Department and was known as Coffee Cam. Science this camera could be used over the Internet or web; it was based on the fact that they are low in cost and are portable and the cheapest way for video calling. Today webcams are widely used for video calling, video conference and surveillance. It also help people who are hard of hearing in communicating through sign languages. Apart from these features webcam can be use for gesture control.

RAM

Before microchip memory was in the form of transistors, tubes etc. but then came the static RAM, developed in 1969 by Intel. Later Honeywell introduced the first dynamic RAM 1102 but that failed, so they come up with 1103. It was said to be largest selling chip during early 70,s. it was said to be the turning point in the history of integrated chips, since for the first time a fairly good amount of information could be stored on a single chip.

Processor

Single chip microprocessor was introduced by Intel in 1971, called Intel 4004. Before this, few hundreds of transistors were used and placed on a circuit board and then few numbers of these boards were used as processor. It was 4-bit processor which actually revolutionized the embedding system. Microprocessor increased the reliability as the design was simplified and there were few electrical connections. Then in 1972, Intel came up with the world’s first 8-bit processor Intel 8008. But the Intel 8080, introduces in 1974, became the integral part of personal computer and was used in MITS Altair 8800 computer and machines running CP/M operating System. In 1976 Intel introduced 16-bit 8086 processor which was later used to devise 8088 by IBM for the first PC. Major breakthrough can be dedicated to Pentium which was released in 1993, which had a speed of 60 MHz and could process data like images, handwriting, voice etc. In 2006 Intel come up with core Processor, which has speed of 1.6 GHz and consist of multiple cores.