GLOSSARY
Look up definitions for rugged and industrial computer terminology.
WORD OF THE DAY
Hardware
All Definitions
Thermal Design Power (TDP)
This tells the maximum heat that a CPU can produce during operation. It is measured using Watts, which represent how much energy is transferred in a single second. So the higher the TDP, the more heat is produced by the CPU. But this also means that a CPU with a higher TDP will typically have better performance than a CPU with low TDP. This is a very important concept when designing a computer. A powerful processor with a high TDP may be very fast, but if it needs to operate in a hot environment, with little to no airflow, it will likely overheat.
Terabyte
One trillion Bytes.
Transistor
An electronic component composed of semiconducting material, commonly in use in computers, radios, televisions, etc. It controls the flow of electricity. It can open or close a circuit, or control the strength of an electrical signal.