Year 8 – Computing systems Worksheet

Lesson 2 – Under the hood

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Check the specs

You will be provided with a handout containing the ‘specs’ (specifications) of a range of computing
systems. This is a list of hardware components and technical characteristics.

Task .
Different computing systems have different configurations. Standard characteristics in one
computing system might not be present in another.
Go over the specifications in the handout and complete the table with tick marks ( ✓) wherever a
characteristic is present in a specification. As an example, the “Desktop” column has already been
filled in for you.
Note: The information in the right-hand column of the specifications is not importaSDVL,
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nt in this task. We are only interested in the presence of each characteristic.

Desktop Laptop Mobile Raspberry Pi micro:bit Rover

4

Processor ✓ Y Y Y Y Y

Memory ✓ Y Y Y Y Y

Storage ✓ Y Y Y Y Y

Communication ✓ Y Y Y Y Y

Graphics processor ✓ Y Y Y Y Y

Input and output

Connections ✓

Weight

What are the components that are present in every one of these computing systems?

Page 1 Last updated: 29-04-20

Year 8 – Computing systems Worksheet
Lesson 2 – Under the hood
Save a copy

Explorer task .
The computing systems in the handout range from a typical desktop, to a tiny computer, to a space
rover. However, the categories in the specs (the left-hand column) are surprisingly similar.
What conclusions can you draw from this observation?

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This resource is licensed under the Open Government Licence, version 3. For more information on this licence, see
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Page 2 Last updated: 29-04-20