CS 1010 Unit I Assessment

Describe your home or office computer setup to include all peripheral equipment, networks, and the Internet or intranet. Be sure to describe all input, output, and storage devices. 

My current home computer setup is a few years old now, but still does everything I need it to do. I utilize a basic laptop which has an integrated keyboard, mousepad, and monitor. The monitor is powered by an internal video card with the ability to connect to an external monitor via HDMI cable.

The laptop maintains 8 GB’s of memory which allows it to run Windows 10 without any of the issues that some of the older machines with less available memory were having. The internal hard drive is 256 GB’s and I also have an external HD that holds 1TB of data. The external HD connects via one of the several USB 3.0 connections. For ease of holding temporary data like school papers or reports, I have several smaller flash drives of differing sizes. These also use the USB 3.0 connections. In fact, I think there is also a USB 2.0 connection as well as a DisplayPort connection that could be used in lieu of HDMI for an extra monitor.

While I do not have a printer directly connected, the laptop is connected to my home network that also houses a printer. Both connect to the network via wireless network router that is password protected. This LAN (local area network) is based in my home and allows my other password protected devices like smartphones and doorbell cameras to connect as well. While technically there is an intranet connection that could be utilized between devices on my home network, we primarily utilize the internet connection.

Onboard software includes the Microsoft Office suite and I use WORD often. I have also become familiar with PowerPoint and Excel. For the most part, my little laptop does everything I need it to do in my home environment. When I am at work, I use several different machines and devices; laptops, tablets, desktops, and handheld PDA’s as well.