When it comes to buying computer accessories, people don’t tend to put a lot of thought into buying cables. They are relatively simple pieces of technology – they merely carry a signal from point A to point B. That said, cables are an absolutely essential part of your computer’s operation. The only thing that’s really complicated about cables is knowing what cable goes where. While generally a salesperson in an electronics store can help you, it pays to know what you’re looking for and how to set it up.
Different peripherals on a computer required different sorts of cabling. One of the most common types of cables used for computers is the USB, or Universal Serial Bus cable. A bus is so-named because it transfers data form one place to another. USB cables are used to connect a wide variety of different types of computer peripherals, such as keyboards, mice, printers, scanners, digital cameras, and many others. USB is easily identifiable by its wide and narrow head, and most inputs that accept USB can be located through the “trident” logo. The trident logo has a square, a triangle and a circle on each of its three prongs.
A less common but similar type of cable is known as FireWire. The actually name for this type of connector is the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 1394 interface, but Apple computers refers to it as FireWire and the name has stuck. While FireWire is faster than USB connection and has similar functions, its higher price and the fact that Apple requires royalties for the use of the technology have kept it from mass acceptance.
One type of cable that is found on almost every computer in the world is the network, or Ethernet cable. The network cable is what most commonly allows computers to connect to the Internet through high-speed connections. In recent years, as wireless technology continues to become more common, network cables are somewhat less commonly seen. However, the majority of people still connect their computers to the Internet through one of these cables. They strongly resemble telephone cables, except their heads are wider and the cable itself is thicker.
Most computer peripherals can be connected through USB connections, but not all of them. In particular, monitors require unique connectors. There are a number of different types of monitor connections, from old-style VGA connectors to modern DVI, HDMI, and other types of connections. It’s important to understand what kind of outputs your computer’s video card allows, as well as what kind of inputs your monitor accepts before making any type of cabling purchase.
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