Hardware

Main article: Computer hardware

The term hardware covers all of those parts of a computer that are tangible objects. Circuits, displays, power supplies, cables, keyboards, printers and mice are all hardware.

History of computing hardware

First Generation (Mechanical/Electromechanical)	Calculators	Antikythera mechanism, Difference Engine, Norden bombsight
	Programmable Devices	Jacquard loom, Analytical Engine, Harvard Mark I, Z3
Second Generation (Vacuum Tubes)	Calculators	Atanasoff–Berry Computer, IBM 604, UNIVAC 60, UNIVAC 120
	Programmable Devices	Colossus, ENIAC, Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine, EDSAC, Manchester Mark I, CSIRAC, EDVAC, UNIVAC I, IBM 701, IBM 702, IBM 650, Z22
Third Generation (Discrete transistors and SSI, MSI, LSI Integrated circuits)	Mainframes	IBM 7090, IBM 7080, System/360, BUNCH
	Minicomputer	PDP-8, PDP-11, System/32, System/36
Fourth Generation (VLSI integrated circuits)	Minicomputer	VAX, IBM System i
	4-bit microcomputer	Intel 4004, Intel 4040
	8-bit microcomputer	Intel 8008, Intel 8080, Motorola 6800, Motorola 6809, MOS Technology 6502, Zilog Z80
	16-bit microcomputer	Intel 8088, Zilog Z8000, WDC 65816/65802
	32-bit microcomputer	Intel 80386, Pentium, Motorola 68000, ARM architecture
	64-bit microcomputer[20]	Alpha, MIPS, PA-RISC, PowerPC, SPARC, x86-64
	Embedded computer	Intel 8048, Intel 8051
	Personal computer	Desktop computer, Home computer, Laptop computer, Personal digital assistant (PDA), Portable computer, Tablet computer, Wearable computer
Theoretical/experimental	Quantum computer, Chemical computer, DNA computing, Optical computer, Spintronics based computer

Other Hardware Topics

Peripheral device (Input/output)	Input	Mouse, Keyboard, Joystick, Image scanner
	Output	Monitor, Printer
	Both	Floppy disk drive, Hard disk, Optical disc drive, Teleprinter
Computer busses	Short range	RS-232, SCSI, PCI, USB
	Long range (Computer networking)	Ethernet, ATM, FDDI