How computers work: quick answers
These are the questions people search most about computers, each answered on its own page in plain words. Every page gives the short answer first, then the reasons behind it, then the questions people usually ask next. Each one is taught properly in a module of the How Computers Work course, with something to play with.
Router vs. modem: what’s the difference?
One box connects the house, the other shares it. Which to restart first.
What is RAM, and how much do you need?
Your computer’s working space, why it forgets, and how much you need.
SSD vs. HDD: which is better?
Flash chips vs. a spinning plate, and why the swap makes old computers fast.
CPU vs. GPU: what’s the difference?
A few brilliant cores vs. thousands of simple ones, and why AI wanted the second.
Mac vs. Windows vs. Linux: which should you get?
Three families plus ChromeOS, where they came from, and how to choose.
Why these questions
They’re the ones with the most people asking. Hundreds of thousands of searches a month go to questions like “router vs. modem” and “what is RAM,” and most of the answers out there are written for people who already know the jargon.
These pages are written for everybody else: a high schooler, a parent, or a grandparent who was just told their laptop is junk.
How they fit the course
The course follows four friends fixing an old laptop, one part at a time. Each page here is one stop on that trip, pulled out so you can read it on its own. If you want the whole trip, the course page has the outline and three toys you can try right now.
Learn it by taking one apart
Every answer here is a lesson in the app, with a toy to play with and a Fix-It Card for when it happens at your house.
How Computers Work is a course in five-minute lessons, with something to play with in every one and an old laptop the crew fixes along the way. Part I is free. Coming soon to iPhone, iPad and Android; the toys on the course page work right now.