A computer is made up of several fairly straightforward pieces, each with their own role in the operation of the device. These are:

Motherboard (MB)

The motherboard is the base of your computer. Although it doesn't store your files, run your games graphics or compute your crypto losses on excel, it is still very important. Like the nervous system of your body, it acts as a communication line between all the other parts of your computer.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

The CPU is the brain of the computer, its main job is to do mathematical and logical operations in sequence. We give it a guide on the operations it can do called an instruction set. It is able to do a set of basic operations billions of times a second, and by chaining them together you can do more complex calculations.

Random Access Memory (RAM)

RAM is the short term memory of the computer and is where software is stored when it's running, it can only store data when it is powered and isn't suitable for long-term storage. RAM is split up into memory addresses which act as containers for data.

RAM is much faster than long term memory like your SSD or HDD. The CPU can look up a specific memory address with the data it needs to operate on quickly. Once it operates on the data it might store it in a different memory address.

Storage (SSD/HDD)

Storage is what keeps all the files you download off the internet and software you run on your computer. There are two main types of storage used in modern computers. The traditional hard disk drive (or HDD) which consists of disks where the data is written onto it by a magnet, and the newer and much faster solid state drive (or SSD) which stores your data as trapped charges.

Despite how fast these have gotten, RAM is still orders of magnitude faster and it's the reason why we have both in our computers.

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

It became fairly evident after some time that although the CPU was very capable, as graphics got more and more complex, there was a need for a special processor more suited for graphics processing. Hence, the GPU.

The GPU has a fairly different internal layout, there is even a special type of RAM called VRAM used for storing graphical data. They have much fewer operations in their instruction set, but in exchange they can do many simple calculations at the same time. This makes them much more suited for graphics work where you are changing the colour value of many pixels at once or operating on matrices for AI workloads.

Power Supply Unit (PSU)

Desktop computers all come with a built in power supply that transforms the AC coming from your wall into DC that your computer can use. A good power supply can improve the energy efficiency of your computer significantly, although once it provides your computer enough power reliably, there aren't any significant performance or stability benefits to increasing the wattage of your PSU.

On laptops the power supply AC to DC transformer is built into the charging brick or on some very slim chargers, the plug head.

Battery

Lithium-ion batteries are a core part of any portable device and are what make many of them so convenient. It lets you power the device when you are away from a wall outlet.

Different devices often prioritise the battery to different extents as having a larger battery means less room for cooling and more weight, important factors to consider for a portable device.

Their capacity is often measured in mAh on phones and Wh on laptops, with upper limits often being determined by price, weight or flight restrictions.

Heat Sink

A heat sink is a part that is mounted on top of heat generating components to help cool them down. They are often compromised of a stack of thin metal fins connected to copper heat pipes that transfer the heat from a component like a CPU or GPU to the surrounding air.