If you read us from a computer screen, whether it is a desktop or laptop computer, it is quite possible that it is not the first you have had. And it is likely that, when buying it, you will look at some of its different technical specifications , such as the speed of the processor, the amount of RAM, the type of graphics card or the storage capacity of the hard disk (even if it is an SSD disk).
But in most cases the usual thing is not knowing very well what they mean, and we are guided by the recommendations and advice of the seller. Basically we could say that all the specifications and technical characteristics are the essence of a computer, so knowing a little more about them will offer us the possibility of choosing a better computer in case of needing to buy one, or even solve some related problems. with the previous one.
CPU
The CPU , Central Processing Unit, also commonly known as the CPU, consists of the brain of the computer, since it is responsible for handling all the calculations that make it really work. It contributes to their overall speed and performance, and they offer the ability to work on multiple tasks at the same time. For this reason, the more numbers the processor has, the better .
In addition, each core has a certain speed, a measurement that gives us an idea of how fast it could be able to perform numerical processing, which is generally measured in gigahertz (GHz).
Graphics
We are possibly facing another great factor in the performance of any computer, particularly if we work editing many images or videos, or if we even simply use it to play games. But we must make a basic difference: the integrated graphics and the graphics cards that we can add individually.
Integrated graphics , for example, share memory with the CPU and are often not as powerful or powerful as having a dedicated graphics card . However, it is characterized by being the most economical option, consuming less energy, which is why it is common to find integrated graphics in laptops, where battery life is essential.
Regardless of the type of graphics we choose, we find an important element: the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), which carries out calculations just like the CPU does, but only processes numbers related to the representation of videos, animations and images on the screen.
The GPUs of a video card, for example, incorporate their own RAM or vRAM (video RAM), which works in a similar way to computer RAM, but deals specifically with graphics.
RAM
Also known as Random Access Memory , RAM gives your computer space to think. In this way, the greater the RAM capacity our computer has, the better. You know why? Mainly because RAM is the first to suffer when we handle large files or images, especially when we do everything at once, or when we have a good number of applications running simultaneously.
If the RAM memory becomes overloaded, the computer can sometimes store data on the hard drive, slowing down the speed of the hard drive.
In terms of frequency, what originally helps determine how fast a given RAM can read and write data is its overall transfer rate, coupled with latency, or how quickly it can respond to instructions.
Another specification to highlight is the DDR or Double Data Rate , which basically means that it would be capable of carrying out two writing tasks and two reading tasks for each clock cycle. DDR4 is currently considered the best, with faster clock speeds, lower latency and lower power consumption.
