I/O Ports

An I/O (input/output) port is an interface on a computer that is used to connect devices such as keyboards, printers and scanners.

 1, 2 and 3 – Sound card connectors for onboard sound (onboard sound means that it is part of your motherboard)

 4. USB connectors – Universal Serial Bus supports transfer rates of up to 12 Mbps and allows 127 devices to be hooked through one port. USB is a newer technology that is replacing serial and parallel ports. USB devices today can include printers, scanners, cameras, mice, keyboards and speakers.

Another standard that is being used today is IEEE 1394 or Firewire. Firewire supports transfer speeds of up to 400 Mps and allows 63 devices to be hooked to one port. Camcorders are the main device that are used with these connectors.

5. Parallel or LPT port – this port allows for more than one bit of information to be received at a time. Printers, scanners and some external drives could be hooked to this type of port. This port is a 25-pin female port.

6. Serial port – this port allows for only one bit of information to be transmitted at a time. It is one of the slowest transfer rates. Mice and some external modems can be hooked up using this type of port. This connector is a 15-pin female connector.

7. PS/2 Keyboard Connector – this connector is used to hook a keyboard to your computer.

8. Voltage Switch – this switch can be changed from 110V to 220V to allow for your computer to be used in countries where the voltage is different from North America .

9. Power Connector – This is where you plug in your power cable for the system.

10 . PS/2 Mouse Connector – this connector is used to hook a mouse to your computer

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