For typing and giving your computer commands. I’m a sucker for a nice mechanical keyboard.

The display screen. Comes in different sizes, resolutions, and panel types like LCD, LED, OLED.

The Power-On Self Test. A series of quick checks the computer runs at startup.

An even faster SSD interface. If you want the absolute quickest response times, look for an NVMe SSD.

A faster, pricier type of storage that makes your computer boot up and load programs much quicker.

The main circuit board everything else connects to. Think of it as the backbone of your system.

Your computer’s long-term storage for files, programs, and the operating system itself.

A web address specifying the location of a resource on the internet.

Secure Sockets Layer. An encryption protocol used to secure data sent over the internet. Usually via HTTPS.

The Hypertext Transfer Protocol that powers the web. More secure HTTPS is becoming the standard.