Peripheral device

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In computer hardware, a peripheral device is any device attached to a computer in order to expand its functionality. Some of the more common peripheral devices are printers, scanners, disk drives, tape drives, microphones, speakers, and cameras. A device can also refer to a non-physical item, such as a pseudo-tty, a RAM drive, or a network adapter.

Before the advent of the personal computer, any connected device added to the three base components—the motherboard, CPU and working memory (RAM, ROM, or core)—was considered to be a peripheral device.

The personal computer has expanded the sense of what devices are needed on a base system, and keyboards, monitors, and mice are no longer generally considered to be peripheral devices.

[edit] See also

• peripheral