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INPUT DEVICES
An input device used to provide data to a computer used for interaction and control. It basically acts as a
mediator between the user and the computer.
The following are some examples of input devices, their specifications and functions.
HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS AND FUNCTIONS IMAGE
DEVICE
1 Keyboard It is a primary input device used to type and feed a computer data.
This data is in form of words, numbers and symbols.
It’s layout is almost identical to a traditional typewriter with
additional keys to perform specified functions
2 Mouse It is a small movable device in an oval shape that has one or more
buttons to allow operations such as pointing objects on the
monitor, moving and selecting text icons and folders and opening
files and folders.

3 Track ball It is similar to a mouse but the ball is on top of the device. The
cursor is controlled by moving the ball. It has the same functions as
a mouse. Pointing objects on the monitor, moving and selecting
text icons and opening files and folders

4 Joystick It has a fire button for gaming, a control stick and control buttons.
They are used to control a pointer on the screen and most popular
in gaming to control characters in video.
5 Graphics tablet It is a flat rectangular pad which can be drawn on with a special
pen called a stylus. Whatever is drawn on the tablet can be seen on
the computer screen and saved as images. It is mainly used for
computer aided design and drawing. It allows designers to produce
more accurate images than when using a mouse.
6 scanners They are used to convert printed images on paper to printed form.
There are three types of scanners; flatbed scanner, hand-held
scanner and sheet-fed scanner.

7 Digital camera It is used to capture digital images which can be transferred to a

computer for editing.it has an in built screen to allow previewing
the digital photograph.

8 Web camera They are connected to the computer. They can capture both digital
(WebCam) images and video.

9 Microphone It is used to input sound.it is used to input spoken words which are
then analysed by a program.

10 Touchpad It is a small touch sensitive pad used as a pointing device on some

portable computers.by moving along the pad, you can move the
pointer on the screen.

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11 Touchscreen It is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence of
touch within the display area

12 Light pen It is a computer input device I the form of a light sensitive wand
used in conjuction with a computer’s CRT display. It allows the user
to point to displayed objects or draw on a screen with more
precision than s touch screen.

13 Stylus Small pen-shaped object that is used to input commands to a

computer screen.

14 Game pad It is a peripheral device designed to be connected to a computer. It

has many buttons and may have one or two mini joysticks. It is
used in video game controlling.

15 Barcode reader It is a hardware device capable of reading a barcode and printing

out the details of a product or logging it into the database

16 Musical It is typically a piano style user interphase device used for sending
Instruments MIDI signals to a computer. The MIDI information sent to a
Digital Interphase computer is capable of producing an array of digital sounds that
keyboard resemble analog musical instruments.
17 Magnetic Ink It can read text printed with magnetized ink. It is mostly used by
Character Reader the banking industry to process cheques.
(MICR)
18 Optical Mark They can sense hand drawn marks such as small circles written on
Recognition pre-printed forms. They are often used for marking multiple choice
Readers (OMR) answer sheets, capturing data from questionnaires, enrolment
forms and lottery tickets.

19 Digitiser It is an input device which converts graphic and pictorial dara into
binary input

20 Optical Character These are devices that convert data from source
Readers (OCR) documents(handwritten) to machine recognizable form. They can
reliably read or translate script or handwriting.

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OUTPUT DEVICES
An output device is a form of computer equipment that receives data from one source and converts it to
another form
The following are examples of output devices;
HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS AND FUNCTIONS IMAGE
DEVICE
1 Speaker It is a hardware device connected to a computer soundcard for
outputting sound generated by the computer meant to alert
the user, music or spoken text.
2 Monitor It displays the video and graphic information generated by the
computer through the video card. It is similar to a television
but with a higher resolution.
3 Printer It is an external hardware device responsible for taking
computer data and generating a hard copy of it.

4 Headphones They give sound output from a computer. It can either be

wired to the computer or connected via Bluetooth.

5 Video card It converts digital output from a computer and converts it to

analog video signals and enhances the video output

6 Sound card A sound card is an internal expansion card that provides

input and output of audio signals to and from a computer
under the control of computer programs.

7 Data projector A device that takes image from the computer screen and
projects it onto a larger screen. It can be adjusted to give a
clear image and is used in presentations.
8 Facsimile It is a device that transmits and receives messages over
machine(fax) telephone line.

9 Multifunction Provides the functionality of a printer, scanner, copy machine

device and scanner.
10 Plotter A plotter’s work is similar to a printer but it is used to print
posters of large size.

11 Plotter A plotter is a rare output device because it is used for specific

purposes like engineer drawings. It provides precise output,
high quality drawings, graphs and diagrams

12 Braille display Converts digital text into braille characters, enabling visually
impaired individuals to read and interact with context.

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13 Sound bar Enhances audio output from Tvs and computers improving the
sound quality and providing a more immersive experience.

14 LED Flashes or changes in color to indicate specific events or

notification notifications
light
15 E-book reader Displays digital books and documents in a format optimized for
reading often using E-ink technology for better readability

16 Digital Signage Digital signage, sometimes called electronic signage,

display refers to display technologies like LED walls (or video
walls), projection and LCD monitors to vividly display
webpages, videos, directions, restaurant menus,
marketing messages or digital images
17 3D Printer Prints 3D images. Uses ink of different colours

18 Sound card It gives output. It gives output in form of sound from a

computer. It can be increased and decreased to fit user
specifications.

19 CD-ROM Ii is a type of compact disk that can only be read not written
on. It is a digital storage medium

20 DVD Digital versatile disc-read only memory (DVD-

ROM) is a read-only digital versatile disc (DVD)
commonly used for storing large software
applications. It is similar to a compact disk-read
only memory (CD-ROM) but has a larger
capacity. A DVD-ROM stores around 4.38 GB
of data. A CD-ROM usually stores 650 MB of
data

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INPUT/OUTPUT DEVICES
HARDWARE DEVICE FUNCTIONS AND SPECIFICATIONS IMAGE
1 USB Drive A detachable device which can
receive data from any computer
as well as send out data to other
devices.
2 Modems It is responsible for transmitting
data from one device to another
using telephonic

3 CD and DVD Drive Saves data from the computer in

the given format and can also
send out data to other devices
with disk space.
4 Headset It has a speaker which is an
output device and a microphone
which is an output device.
5 Touchscreen It allows users to interact with a
computer by touching the
screen, which acts as both as an
input and output devices.

6 facsimile This is a fax machine with

scanner being an input device
and printer being the output

7 Game Console Device with videogames that

outputs a video signal or image
to display a video game while
handheld controller is used as an

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 input device therefore the
console is both an input and
output device.
8 Audio Cards They are responsible for
processing audio signals in a
computer.They can also receive
audio input from microphone
and produce audio input
9 Network Cards Allow computer to connect to a
network. They receive data from
other devices on the network
and also send data to those
devices.