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Number 1 is pointing to the PS/2 inputs that would connect a keyboard or mouse to a desktop computer. These inputs are for the most part being “upgraded” to USB ports. USB inputs for these devices allow users the option of using wireless mice and/or keyboards. For obvious reasons this adds a great deal of convenience and takes away some of the clutter that wired keyboards and mice make. It also allows for users to use different types of mice, like the one I use. Not only is it wireless, it has a trackball as opposed to the typical mouse that you have to move around. I control the pointer with my thumb, and can use the mouse on any surface, including my lap.
Number 2 is pointing to the Parallel port. Historically the parallel port was used for zip drives, scanners, external modems, sound cards, webcams, gamepads joysticks, external hard drives, and CD-ROM drives. As with many of the other ports, the parallel port is being replaced with the USB port for many of it’s past functions. However, if you still have a parallel printer, they do make a USB-to-parallel adapter.
Number 3 is pointing to the serial port. There are quite a few devices that can be plugged in to this input, such as dial up modems, bar code scanners, printers, older digital cameras, networking, serial mouse, and what I would say is the most common use for this input, an LCD or other display units. Just like the PS/2 input, the serial port is quickly being replaced by USB type inputs.
Number 4 is pointing to the IEEE port, otherwise known as Firewire. This port is most commonly used to transfer large files such as video from a camcorder to the computer. Older versions of the firewire could transfer files at 100 mbps. In 1995, Firewire 400 came out which could transfer files at 400mbps. In 2008, a new Firewire was released that could transfer files at 1.6 Gigabits per second and 3.2 Gigabits per second. In March of 2009, they announced that there would be a Firewire released that could transfer files at an amazing 6.4 Gigabits per second. So as you can see, this technology has come a long way since it was first developed in the 1980’s by Apple. The most common networking cable is Ethernet, but in most of the newer Windows versions, Mac OS, and Linux, Firewire support was included for networking purposes. Computers could be connected together for fast network where it is important to a household or business to have multimedia. Firewire is also sometimes used in cable boxes because much of the movies and television shows are situated on the company’s storage unit. So they need a fast method of streaming the video to the customer in the most efficient manner. Besides just streaming, the cable boxes that allow the user to record shows on their DVR are also supported by firewire. So it’s pretty safe to say that if you need to transfer data or stream live video, Firewire is the most efficient way to do so.
Number 5 is pointing to the SPDIF coax digital audio input. SPDIF stands for Sony/Phillips Digital Interface, which is an interface to transmit digital audio. This port will mostly be used when the presence of an HDMI input is not available. Since most modern electronic equipment has either an HDMI or Optical digital, you will not use this port. The coax digital port is what you could call an upgrade from the red and white RCA jacks. It gives a better quality sound and since it is only one cord, is a little less of a mess. One example you would use this port would be if you wanted to hook up your computer to your televisions speaker system, but you didn’t want the picture to show up on your television. Because they have developed the Optical digital port, which is a much higher quality and which connects to devices the same way as the Coax digital port, this cord is being for the most part replaced.
Number 6 is pointing to the Ethernet ports. This port is used to connect to the internet through a router if you don’t have a Wi-Fi integrated into your computer. It is a more reliable connection than WI-FI simply because you don’t have to worry about signal strength or how many people are using the same network. Typically there are two ports on a desktop and at least one on most laptops. The one exception to this is the MacBook Air, which does not have an Ethernet port integrated in the computer but does allow you to connect an Ethernet Dongle to its USB port. Not only do computers have Ethernet ports, but many other devices have them as well. These devices include game consoles, digital video recorders, and some of the newer televisions that don’t have built in WI-FI have them as well.
Number 7 is pointing to the frequently mentioned USB ports. These ports it seems are taking over the world. Almost every electronic device has some form of USB port integrated in to it. Mobile phones have, for the most part anyway, the USB mini-A plug. Cell phone manufacturers talked about making a universal charging port for cell phones to make things more convenient, but I don’t think the Apple IPhone makers got the memo. I’m assuming that cell phone makers make a fortune on selling their $30 phone chargers, but it would be nice if they decided to think of the consumer, and what would be convenient for them. A lot of the devices that you plug in to your computer will be plugged in to a USB port. For example, your mouse and keyboard for desktops, and maybe a wireless mouse for your laptop are connected with a mini USB receiver which you plug in to the normal USB input. The computer automatically recognizes the new device and installs the hardware, giving you a notice that the mouse or keyboard is now ready for use. Printers use a version the USB type B plug, a standard plug on one end of the cable and the USB type B on the other. Flash drives use a standard plug that you stick into the USB ports on either your laptop or desktop. The amount of data you can store depends on the flash drive but can go from 4GB to 256GB. There are different types of USB ports that can offer greater speed. The first is the USB 1.x, which can be identified by the color white, was released in 1996 and offers speeds of 1.5Mbits on low-bandwidth and speeds of 12Mbits on full-bandwidth. USB 2.0 was released in April of 2000 and can be identified by the color black, and sometimes white. Our school laptops have USB 2.0 and have the black ports. USB 2.0, also called “high speed,” offers rates of 480Mbits. The next release is USB 3.0, which is distinguished by the color blue, and was released in 2008. It offers speeds of 5GBps and is backwards compatible with USB 2.0. In 2013, the USB group released plans to upgrade the USB 3.0 to USB 3.1 which would double the signaling rate to 10GBps. This new version is called “Superspeed,” and is backwards compatible with 3.0 and 2.0.

These are a few of the USB plugs that connect a device to your computer, or sometimes even the outlet to your wall. From left to right, here are the different plugs, (and 1 receptacle.)
Micro-B plug, UC-E6 proprietary (non USB) plug, Mini-B plug, Standard-A receptacle, standard-A plug, and Standard-B plug.
The first one on the left is most commonly used today as the plug to charge your cellphone. It can also be used to charge other devices such as a Kindle, certain tablets, and portable gaming devices. The next two were commonly used for charging older model cell phones. They can also be used to charge portable gaming devices. The next is the Standard-A receptacle you would find on just about every computer, laptop or desktop. This specific one can be identified as the USB 1.0x due to its white plug receiver. Anything from a mouse or keyboard to a printer or Flashdrive can be plugged in to this with the exception being USB 3.0. The next item is the USB Standard-A plug itself. This obviously plugs in to the USB Standard-A receptacle. On the other end of this cable however could be a multitude of different plugs. Typically this plug will connect to the computer while the other end connects to a printer, phone for charging, a keyboard, or an unconventional device such as a mini fan. They even have USB connected coffee warmers. It is for the most part only limited by your imagination on what you can do with the USB plugs. The last one is the Standard-B plug. This will typically be what connects to your printer while the other end of the cable is the Standard-A plug, which will be what connects to the computer itself. The world of USB devices is ever expanding and will only get bigger.
Number 8 is pointing to 1/8” mini jack audio ports. This is basically where you would connect the cables to a sound system for your computer. The pink port is for a microphone and would be used if you were recording music to your computer. This would mostly be used by music producers and if there is no microphone built in to your computer, it can also be used to talk to people on Skype or other programs that offer the same capability. The light blue port is the Line In and is what receives the signal input. The lime green port is the main stereo input for the front speakers or headphones. So if you wanted to listen to music from your computer, this is the port that you would plug in your headphones. The brown port, or more commonly the black port, is for the left and right rear speakers. Obviously this would be if you had surround sound. Finally you have the orange speaker which is for the subwoofer.
Number 9 is pointing to the digital optical port. This cable is what gives you the highest quality sound from either your computer or more commonly your television. Even though HDMI cords transmit video and audio, if you have a digital optical input on your device, it is recommended that you use it. The cable itself is fiber optic, so the signal is translated into light that the receiver then turns into sound. This way of transmitting sound eliminates any electromagnetic noise such as a humming noise.

This picture shows a media dashboard internal card reader with a USB Hub ESATA SATA IDE power port and speaker/microphone input. In the upper left hand corner of the device you see the SD Mini and SD card slots. Typically any digital camera you buy will have a slot for an SD card. These cards can vary in size, which is why there is more than one slot. When you take a picture with your camera, it saves it to the SD card. If you want to download the pictures to your computer, you can either connect it to your computer with a USB cord, or plug the SD card straight into a port like these. The lower left hand corner has a hub of USB 2.0 ports which can be used to connect devices such as a cell phone for charging, or a camera for downloading images straight to the computer. The ports labeled SATA/ESATA are used for external hard drives. The advantage it has over USB is that there is no interference between it and any other devices you have plugged in to your computer. When you have multiple USB devices plugged in to your computer, even with a USB 3.0, you’re not going to get the full speed specs that the device has specified, so information will transfer much faster while using the ESATA with an external hard drive. Just below the ESATA slot is the IDE port. IDE stands for Integrated Drive Electronics. It can support up to 2 devices, which will have to be chained together. For example, if you wanted to hook up an external hard drive and a CD/DVD device, you would connect the HD on the far end of the cable and connect the CD/DVD device in the middle. You would also need to select which is the master and which is the slave by setting the jumpers on each drive. All you need to do is select “cable select,” and it will automatically determine the settings based on the position of the devices on the cable. SATA, which can only support 1 device, is beginning to replace the IDE, or PATA, slot. The 12v/5v plug is the power adapter. And again the last two plugs are for a microphone
This devices main use is for reading memory cards that you would find in a digital camera, camcorder, and also in some cell phones. There are a wide variety of SD cards that will vary based on the specifications of the device in which it is being used. They also have adapters for micro SD cards in which you would put the micro SD card in to a standard sized SD card adapter. This specific hub also has a USB 2.0 for reading a flash drive. This device would come in handy for someone who runs a photography studio.

This image is showing what you would call a “daisy chain” between the SCSI internal drive on one end and the SCSI flatbed scanner on the other end. SCSI stands for Small Computer System Interface. SCSI is capable of connecting multiple devices together by way of daisy chain, with some systems being able to connect up to six at a time. There are some less expensive systems that are made specifically for certain devices such as a scanner or printer. These are only capable of connecting the device that it is designed to connect to. There are multiple used for SCSI including, high performance and high capacity hard drives, image scanners, removable-media drives such as Zip, Jaz, and Castlewood Orb, High performance laser printers, and high performance optical drives, which would include CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, and DVD-ROM. When you hear the words “high performance,” you may think of dollar signs. Well you would be correct in assuming that these devices are pretty expensive. Prices can vary anywhere from $12,000 to a more reasonable $200 depending on what you want to use it for.

The black arrows are pointing to the HDMI input and the cable that goes in to the input. This cable is considered the high definition cable because of how fast it can transmit the image from the computer or cable box to the display unit. There are several different brands and knock offs sold, but when comparing the materials used to make the cable and connectors, it’s obvious to see why you want to pay a little more for the name brand cable. Monster Cables make all different lengths and variations of this cable. Obviously the longer the cable, the more it will cost. They also make certain cables that are made for the 3D televisions that have a much faster transfer rate. If you try to go cheap with a 3D television, you will not get a crisp 3D picture. It can often appear blurry instead of “popping out.” The pink arrow is pointing to the DVI-D port and cable. The DVI port is the successor to the VGA port and is used to connect your computer to your monitor. This particular port, with the “-D” at the end means that it only supports digital display, which is what most monitors and televisions are now on. DVI-I supports both digital and analog, so you can use the older monitors if you want. There is definitely a big difference between the DVI and the VGA picture when plugged in to a flat screen monitor capable of high definition. The VGA port is designated by the blue arrow, and is analog only. So unless you have an older monitor, you will have to buy an adapter to connect the VGA to DVI. Ultimately though, if you want the best picture you will want to use the HDMI port. The HDMI cord is also convenient because it transmits sound as well as picture, so there will be one less cord hanging behind your desk.
So in conclusion, it is pretty safe to say that although there are many different types of inputs and outputs; USB is becoming one of the more popular ways of connecting to your computer and pretty much every other electrical device. Be it for connecting devices to your computer, charging your phone, saving data, or creating a WiFi hotspot, USB will soon, in my opinion anyway, be THE way of connecting devices to your computer.