Screening

The computer monitor or screen — and LCD and plasma TVs — use technology that’s quite different from old-fashioned television circuitry from your childhood. Computer monitors and plasma and LCD TVs work with dots of light called pixels. Each pixel can have a different color, created by tiny, colored gizmos sitting next to each other. As a result, the picture displayed on computer monitors (and plasma and LCD TVs) is much sharper than on conventional TV tubes.

The more pixels you can cram on a screen — that is, the higher the screen

resolution — the more information you can pack on the screen.

A special-purpose computer called a graphics processor (or GPU), stuck on your video card, creates everything that’s shown on your computer’s screen.

Computer monitors are sold by size, measured diagonally, like TV sets. Just like with TV sets, the only way to pick a good computer screen over a run-of-the-mill one is to compare them side by side or to follow the recommendation of someone who has.

Managing disks and drives

Your PC’s memory chips hold information only temporarily. If you want to reuse your work, you have to save it, typically on a disk. The following list describes the most common types of disks and drives:

1) Floppy disk: The 1.44MB floppy disk drives that were ubiquitous on PCs for many years have bitten the dust. You have little reason to buy one nowadays.

2) SD/xD/CF card memory: SD card, xD card, CompactFlash, memory stick — what ever you have — the multifunction readers cost a pittance and read almost everything, including minds.

3) Hard drive: Get the biggest, cheapest drive (or drives) you can. Although it’s generally true that more expensive hard drives are more reliable than cheaper ones.

Given the ability to cache — temporarily and quickly store data in the controller on the drive itself — speed doesn’t matter nearly as much as it used to, unless you’re transferring enormous amounts of data.

4) Solid state drive: This item gets cheaper and cheaper. Solid state drives feature low power consumption and give off less heat. They have no moving parts, so they don’t wear out, like hard drives.

5) CD, DVD, or Blu-ray drive: Of course, these types of drives work with CDs, DVDs, and the Sony Blu-ray discs, which can be filled with data or contain music or movies. CDs hold about 700MB of data; DVDs hold 4GB, or six times as much as a CD. Dual-layer DVDs (which use two separate layers on top of the disc) hold about 8GB, and Blu-ray discs hold 50GB, or six times as much as a dual-layer DVD.

6) USB flash drive: Flash memory (also known as a jump drive, thumb drive, or memory stick) should be your first choice for external storage space or for copying files between computers.

This list is by no means definitive: New storage options are coming out every day.

12. Заполните пропуски, используя следующие слова:

pixels, hold, competitors, require, to add, chip

1. The main computer … inside that big box is also called a CPU.

2. Most computers allow you … more memory to them.

3. Computer monitors and plasma and LCD TVs work with dots of light called ….

4. It’s probably from Intel or AMD or one of their ….

5. CDs … about 700MB of data.

6. Most expansion cards use PCI, but very fast cards … PCIe.

13. Переведите следующие сочетания слов с русского языка на английский:

Быть излишним; высококачественный монитор; главный компьютерный чип; ключевой центральный элемент; добавить больше памяти; купить видеокарту; содержать несколько гнезд для платы расширения; разрешение экрана; специализированный компьютер; хранить информацию; накопитель на жестких дисках; огромное количество данных; потребляемая мощность; содержать музыку; область памяти.

14. Образуйте 3 основные формы от следующих глаголов:

to figure out, to contain, to rate, to run, to add, to include, to require, to cram, to cache, to feature, to wear out, to hold

15. Составьте предложения, используя следующие слова:

1. much, a, faster, need, than, you, items, both, more, you, marginally, computer, need.

2. hold, your, chips, temporarily, only, information, memory, PC’s.

3. include, motherboards, a, most, built-in, capability, video, rudimentary.

4. rate, different, in, ways, manufacturers, CPUs, their, different.

5. and, feature, solid, low, off, consumption, heat, state, less, drives, power, give.

16. Заполните пропуски, используя глаголы, данные в скобках:

1. This gizmo … the main computing (to do).

2. New storage options … every day (to come out).

3. The big box … many parts and pieces (to contain).

4. Computer monitors …. by size, measured diagonally, like TV sets (to sell).

5. This item … cheaper and cheaper (to get).

17. Вставьте нужные по смыслу модальные глаголы must, have to, can:

1. Although Windows 7 … run on a machine with 512MB, Microsoft recommends a minimum of 1GB.

2. Most motherboards include a built-in rudimentary video capability, which … be adequate if your video demands rarely rise above the mundane.