When a computer receives data from an input device (e.g., keyboard), it goes through an intermediate stage before it’s sent to an output device (e.g., monitor). A processing device is any hardware inside a computer that interprets and manipulates incoming data during this stage. For example, in the diagram below, the CPU is the processing device.
Processing device examples
Processing devices in or used with a computer include the following:
- Bluetooth adapter
- CPU (central processing unit)s
- GPU (graphics processing unit)
- Motherboard
- Network card
- RAM (random-access memory)
- Sound card
- Video card
Device, Hardware terms, Processing
