Everyone is tired of people using the wrong terms for everything. Using the word bacteria to refer to a single germ or mixing “discreet” and “discrete”. Both of these have completely unrelated meanings. In this article, we will mention several commonly misused tech terms to clear up any confusion.
Hard Disk and Hard Drive
First, we will discuss the venerated Hard-Disk, many people who misuse this term and mix it with any non-removable storage device in a computer. It only refers to the mechanical spinning drives in it; if you break down the word Hard, it refers to the Rigidness of the disk, or if we break down floppy disk internals, its magnetic platters were floppy, hence floppy disk. SSDs or solid-state drives shouldn’t be addressed as hard disks or hard drives. If we were to talk generally talk about mechanical drives and SSDs as a group, it’s better to refer to them as just drive.
Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) and Graphic Card
Staying on the topic of Internal PC Components, GPU, or Graphics Processing Unit is always or most often wrongly mixed with a Graphics Card. People often use the term GPU to refer to a Graphics Card, but the GPU relates only to the processing unit chip inside the Graphics Card.
For example, GP 104, which Nvidia brands as a GTX 1070 or 1080, depends on enabled cores from the factory. It’s fine to refer to an RX 480 as a GPU, but if you take a specific model such as the GIGABYTE WindForce RX 480 8GB, it’s better to refer to it as a Video Card or a Graphics Card.
In cases of Heavily Integrated Devices such as a smartphone, it’s better to refer to its Graphics Accelerator as a GPU because it’s usually a part of its SOC or System chip rather than calling it your Adreno 630 Graphics Card.
Disc or Disk
Addressing the misused terms regarding the Removable Media, specifically Optical Disks, it’s essential to highlight the differences between a Disc with a C and a Disk with a K. They both sound the same and are mixed often. Disc with a C is referred to as Optical Media like CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Rays, and Disk with a K refers to Magnetic Media such as Floppy Disks and Hard Disks.
The term “HD”
People usually get confused by seeing the term HD mentioned on almost all the TVs ranging from cheap 1366 by 768 to immensely expensive 8K. Well, while this term is not technically incorrect unless the resolution is not at least 720p. Manufacturers that make 1280 by 720 TVs often use this term without any qualifiers, all that so that they can make lower-end screens seem more appealing to their customers. 720p means HD, as we’ve mentioned, 1080p means Full HD, 1440p means qHD or quad HD, and 2160p or up means Ultra HD. Full and Ultrasound a lot more to potential buyers than a jumble of numbers, but it’s also confusing. Terms like 2k and 4k only refer to cinematic resolutions used in the movie industry, meaning that true 4k is only slightly wider than most 4k monitors or TVs on the consumer market. If you’ve ever seen a 1440p monitor advertised as 4k, it’s because it’s a little wider than most 4k monitors or TVs on the market. If you’ve ever seen a 1440p display branded as 2k, you can shake your head in horror because the actual 2k resolution used in the film is nowhere near 1440p; genuine 2k is only marginally wider than 1080p.
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