What CPU Is in Plain English

Watch this video where I define CPU in Plain English, or read the computer lesson transcription below

Here is a transcription of the above video:

In this lesson, I want to talk a little bit about the computer term “CPU,” which is short for “central processing unit.” It’s also sometimes just referred to as “the processor.”

A lot of people don’t really understand this term, so I’m going to use some very simple, plain-English ways of explaining it that should make a lot of sense, much more than what you’ve probably heard before.

I’m also going to talk a little bit about why it is that over time, your computer seems to be slower or what once used to be a really good computer now seems to be a low-end computer.

I’m going to help you understand a little bit more about the CPU. Once you understand this, you can better choose the right computer for you, depending on how you use it.

First off, I have a CPU right here. It’s this little chip. It’s not really that complicated-looking. It’s just a flat square, and it has a little thing in the center that has white stuff around it. That’s just a paste that’s needed. Right in the center, there is that little rectangular part. That itself is really the CPU. The whole thing is, but that’s the central part of the CPU.

Underneath, there are a bunch of pins. Each pin looks sort of like a short sewing needle or something. It’s about as big around as a sewing needle, but it’s a couple of millimeters long.
This thing plugs into what’s called the “motherboard” or “main logic board,” as they’re called on Macs. It’s like the central nervous system of a computer. This is like the brain.

On top of that, there’s this thing called a “heat sink.” There’s a fan which keeps the processor cool because the more it’s working, the more effort it’s putting into whatever you’re doing and the more it heats up.

It’s like when we exercise. We get warm. Our bodies sweat and the evaporation of our sweat cools us off. It’s sort of the same idea. The more we exercise, the more we tend to sweat because the hotter we’ve become.

You can think about the CPU as a brain because it is the closest equivalent to a brain in a computer. It’s the part that does the thinking, although not literally, but it seems like it’s thinking.

Another way of thinking about it is to think of it like muscles. A computer that has a low-end processor, not one of the fastest ones on the market, is like that stereotypical 98-pound weakling. A high-end CPU is sort of like a Charles Atlas or Arnold Schwarzenegger, someone who is very strong, maybe takes steroids and is very big and muscular.

Think about those two people, the 98-pound weakling and the bodybuilder. If either one of those two people carries a book across a room, there’s no real advantage to being a bodybuilder. Either one of them can easily carry a book across a room.

However, if the person is instead trying to carry a big, 100-pound bag of cement, the 98-pound weakling might not be able to get across the room or might not even be able to pick it up. If they can make it across the room, they’re probably going to stagger slowly and barely make it across because they’re trying to do something that’s just too heavy and too big for them to do.

The bodybuilder, on the other hand, will probably notice that the weight is more than a book, but they’re going to be able to carry it across the room much more easily than the 98-pound weakling.

That’s how you want to think about it. A high-end computer is like the bodybuilder. Your average-level computer is not the 98-pound weakling, but is like a normal, average person who is not particularly muscular. They could easily carry a book across a room, but couldn’t very easily, if at all, carry that huge bag of cement.

What’s the cement? What’s the book? Let me give you some examples. Most people are doing a few things with their computer. They’re writing, using a word processor like Word, or reading their emails.

They’re looking at web pages, listening to some music, watching some little video like a DVD or looking at some photographs. Those are average things. Those are equivalent to carrying a book or something light across a room. Any modern computer can do those things.

Things like editing video, making a DVD movie with footage that you’ve shot with your camcorder, or making changes to a large, super-high-quality photograph from a high-end professional camera which takes bigger, higher-quality photographs than a pocket-size digital camera, are bigger-end, heavier tasks for the computer to work with.

Another example would be playing a high-end computer game. Those activities are more like carrying that big bag of cement, so they do need a high-end computer.

When you are buying a computer, you want to ask yourself what kinds of things you are doing. Are you doing the typical everyday things like checking email, web browsing and that sort of thing? If your answer to that is yes and that’s all you’re really doing, your average, everyday computer is just going to be fine.

On the other hand, if you’re going to be doing a lot of video editing, a lot of work with large photographs and things like that, not just occasional work but a lot of work, you definitely want to get a high-end computer.

You also need a high-end computer if you’re a die-hard gamer. I don’t mean a card game like Solitaire. I mean a high-end computer game where you’re going through a virtual world and there are lots of details around you. Everything is moving very quickly. It's so detailed that it’s almost like looking through the eyes of someone walking around in the real world.

That should give you a general rule of thumb as to whether or not you want to get a high-end computer. There is one other side thing. I would recommend not getting a super-cheap computer. It may seem like you’re saving money if you get a computer for $300 $400, $500, or $600.

Chances are though, if you’re buying it from a brand name, it may actually be defective. I’m not kidding about this. I’m not going to name specific names. Apple is one company that does not do this, but other companies do. If you’re thinking of a computer company name other than Apple, chances are that it’s probably one that does this.

One particular company that does this is one of the most popular computer companies out there. They’ll buy processors cheaply that they know don’t work. They slow them down and hope they won’t break down, which obviously is not a good thing to do for their customers.

If you get a decent, average computer, it’s going to be fine for any of your everyday activities. Your high-end computer is for your higher-end things like I talked about.

The last thing I want to talk about is why, over time, what used to be a powerful computer goes from being Charles Atlas to being a 98-pound weakling.

It’s because the new versions of programs, like Word or your operating system, tend to be more complicated. These are systems like Windows Vista compared to Windows XP or OS X Leopard compared to OS X Tiger. They are not necessarily more complicated to use, but under the hood they are.

You can think of them as becoming heavier over time. The average weight has gotten greater over the years so that what used to be light and easy for an older computer is now heavy and harder to do.

I hope that makes sense. If you have any more questions and you subscribe to my newsletter, just reply to any email and I’d be happy to answer your question.