n.
Computer machinery and equipment, including memory, cabling, power supply, peripheral devices, and circuit boards.
Computer operation requires both hardware and software . Hardware design specifies a computer's capability; software instructs the computer on what to do. The advent of microprocessor s in the late 1970s led to much smaller hardware assemblies and accelerated the proliferation of computers. Today's personal computer s are as powerful as the early mainframe s, while mainframes are now smaller and have vastly more computing power than the early models.