Hardware Devices Categories: Input, Processing, Output & Storage

Input devices are hardware that allows data to be entered into a computer. 

They use either manual entry (such as a keyboard or a mouse) or direct data entry (such as sensors or optical character readers). 

Essentially, these devices turn input into a form the computer can understand – for example, a mouse turns hand movements into cursor movements on the screen.

Examples of input devices are: Mouse, keyboard, touchpad, trackerball, joystick, remote control, scanner, cameras, microphone, etc

The computer processes the data received by the input devices. The hardware which does this is called the processing device.

The main processing device of all computers is the CPU or microprocessor.

When a computer processes data, and the human operator wants to see the results of the processing, then the computer sends the data to an output device.
An output device shows the computer’s output in a form that is understood by a human – for example, as text on a printer or moving images on a monitor.

Examples of output devices are: monitor, printer, speaker, projector, etc.

The devices which are used to store data are called storage devices. There are many types of storage devices, some permanent, some temporary, some fixed, some removable, etc.

Examples of storage devices are: RAM, ROM, Hard disk, Pen drive, CD, DVD, memory card, etc