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hardware> The physical, touchable, material parts of a computer or other system. The term is used to distinguish these fixed parts of a system from the more changeable
software or
data components which it executes, stores, or carries.
Typical computer hardware consists of electronic devices (
CPU,
memory,
display) with some electromechanical parts (keyboard,
printer,
disk drives, tape drives, loudspeakers) for input, output and storage. Completely non-electronic (mechanical, electromechanical, hydraulic, biological) computers have also been conceived of and built.
See also
firmware,
wetware.