Overview connections to the PC

If the front, back and sides of your computer looks, you will see numerous connections. Different devices can be connected, but what exactly? Knowledge of these connectors makes a purchase from external devices easier, because then you are sure it fits. An overview of current connections.

Many ports

We used pictures of two different PCs, so that substantially all of said ports are present. Some ports are on both pictures, some but one (refer to the numbering). 1

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1. Usb 2.0

Each computer has them: USB ports. Since time immemorial is the standard USB communication port to connect devices or convert information concerning. The standard has existed since 1996 and was in 2001 followed by the current USB2.0 protocol (480 Mbit/s). Currently running usb 2.0 against the limit in terms of speed. Flash memory, and hard disk drives are, for example, much faster than the port can (in practice, a maximum of 30 MB/s). For faster Firewire devices is sometimes used as an alternative. The follow-up is available in the form of usb 3.0.

2. Usb 3.0

Usb 3.0 The newest version of the USB standard, which provides a solution to the speed limit of usb 2.0. Usb 3.0 offers a theoretical speed of 5 Gbit/s, which in practice (minus overhead) comes down to a maximum of 400 MB/s. Usb 3.0 is indicated by the blue color in the connector. The port on the computer is compatible with USB 2.0 and includes additional contacts for the usb3.0 speed. The cable that goes into the coupled USB3.0 device is physically different. It is often still look for a motherboard or laptop that has this port standard (an alternative is a separate insert in).

3. Firewire

Firewire is an alternative to Apple's standard USB, in the 1998 hit the market. Firewire is also called IEEE 1394 called. It was standard on every Mac, and after a few years, PCs. Especially in terms of speed Firewire was technically superior to USB, making the practice speed was higher. The original FireWire standard was followed a few years back by firewire 800, which has a different physical connection. In practice, we find only firewire on PCs 400 back, The connector you see in the picture. The standard is used for external hard drives and CompactFlash card readers benefit from speed. There is also a firewire3200 protocol in the making, but if that sentence has now usb 3.0 exists?

4. Analog audio jacks

Almost every computer or notebook is equipped with at least one 3.5 mm audio jack for speakers or headphones. PCs we find the rise of surround sound now back five or six 3.5mm audio sockets. Are you using only stereo speakers, then you almost always have to use the green connection. The Blue terminal is the line input, while pink for the microphone. The other two connectors are provided for the rear speakers, center speakers and subwoofer. However, there are no standard colors and formats can differ. On notebooks, the headphone output is sometimes combined with the microphone input or headphone output is combined with a 3,5 mm optische S/PDIF-aansluiting.

5. S/PDIF

The S / PDIF is a digital audio connection which was invented by Sony and Philips (which explains the first two letters). S / PDIF is an optical and coaxial execution. The optical variant is sometimes called Toslink (which in turn stands for Toshiba Link). The coaxial version uses an RCA connector, which is usually orange to confusion with for instance the same (yellow) To avoid jack for composite video. It depends on your receiver instance which S / PDIF connection you use. Some computers also have S / PDIF inputs.

6. Ethernet

With the Ethernet connection to connect to your PC or notebook to your home network, for example, via a router or modem. Although wifi becomes more popular, Ethernet continues to provide higher and more stable data transfer rates. Modern Ethernet connections have speeds up 1000 Mbit/s (in other words 1 Gbit/s). The Ethernet connector has two status lights that you can see if there is data activity.

7. eSATA

Increasingly, there is an eSATA connection to computers. This is for connecting external SATA drives, For example, in the form of an external hard disk drive. The eSATA connector is a good alternative for usb 2.0 and firewire because it offers significantly higher speeds.

8. VGA en DVI

The most commonly used terminals to connect a PC to a monitor, the old VGA connector and DVI connector. The digital DVI port is the successor of the analog VGA port for monitors. The big difference between VGA and DVI is that there is at VGA quality which occurs due to the conversion of digital to analog signal. When DVI color information directly (digital) the video card output to the monitor. Another difference is that DVI also adds information about the resolution, so you never have to manually set this. The difference is particularly noticeable at higher resolutions, a resolution 1280 x 1024 VGA is mostly useful.

9. HDMI en DisplayPort

HDMI and DisplayPort are also offering digital alternatives to the DVI connector. The biggest difference between HDMI and DVI is that HDMI also transmits audio signals. Further, the bandwidth is much greater than with DVI. An alternative to HDMI, DisplayPort. Although the connector resembles the HDMI plug, it is not compatible. Wel is DisplayPort (net als HDMI) compatible with the HDCP copy protection. The bandwidth is 10,8 Gbit/s. Currently, the number of computers, graphics cards and monitors with DisplayPort especially limited, but that is getting higher. The difference between HDMI and DisplayPort you see in the removable insert.

10. PS / 2 port

The PS / 2 port is the port to not used as long ago as connection port for the keyboard and mouse. With most modern PCs, USB is used for input devices and a PS / 2 port may not even exist. A purple PS / 2 port for keyboard, a green is for a mouse. We see in some modern PCs because of the declining popularity of the combo connector also loopholes that are suitable for both a keyboard mouse all.

New: Thunderbolt

The Thunderbolt connector is still fairly new. It is a new PCI Express and DisplayPort based interface from Intel which is currently only found in the new MacBook Pro series of Apple. Thunderbolt, previously 'Light Peak' was named, is an alternative to an array of external connections such as SCSI, SATA, DisplayPort, HDMI, VGA, firewire en usb. It should ensure that the number of different ports on a computer is significantly reduced. The protocol has sufficient bandwidth to basically replace every form connecting. The current version is based on copper and takes up 10 Gbit/s (twice as much as usb 3.0). Intel want to switch in the future to fiber making 100 Is Gbit / s achievable. It is expected that in Thunderbolt 2012 will also appear on PCs from other manufacturers.download (3) Jeroen Horlings 21 jul. 2011 12:06 computertotaal

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