What is a peripheral device?
A peripheral device is a hardware device that is connected to the main parts of the computer, but that is not a main part of the computer. Peripheral devices will also include devices also referred to as output or input devices. The main computer parts include the computer’s processor and memory. Most of the other hardware components attached to the computer will fall under devices known as peripheral devices.
Peripheral devices can be internal such as CD or DVD drive and internal modem. They can also be external in nature such as printers, mouse, keyboards, monitor, scanner, speakers, USB flash, microphone, externalized hard drives, joy sticks, light pens and web-cam.
Here are some examples of the popular and basic forms of peripheral devices.
Keyboard- keyboard is an important input device that allows the computer user to communicate with the computer. With the keyboard you can enter alphabets and numbers. You can also create, edit and modify documents and data.
Monitor- The computer monitor is an output peripheral device that displays data and information. Displayed data can include graphics, text, video and pictures.
Printer – The printer is another out device that is used to create hard physical copies of texts, graphics and photographs.
Mouse- The computer mouse is also an input peripheral device that is used to point and select items as seen in the monitor. The mouse makes operating the computer easier. It can be used to sort, arrange and operate program functions. The mouse can be used with text, data, graphics, video and computer programs.
Speaker- Computer speakers are output peripheral devices that play sounds in the computer. They can play recorded sounds stored in several music or video files, over the internet, computer alert sounds and recorded sounds.
Web-cam- Web-cam is an input peripheral device that allows transfer of video data and images to the computer. Web-cam allows people to send live video images and date via the internet.
This list certainly does not exhaust all the available peripheral devices. For more information, please check out this page on Wikipedia.