Which of the following are the physical components of a computer system, such as printers, circuit boards, wires, and keyboards?

• A. Software
• B. Hardware
• C. Firmware
• D. Network

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is distinguishing tangible parts of a computer from software and related terms. Hardware refers to the physical pieces you can touch, such as printers, circuit boards, wires, and keyboards. These are the objects that make up a computer system. Software, on the other hand, is the programs and data that run on that hardware and isn’t something you can physically touch. Firmware is embedded software stored in a device’s memory to control hardware at a low level; it’s still software, though it resides inside hardware. Network describes connections and communication between devices, which is more about how systems interact than a single physical component. Since the items listed are actual physical devices, they are hardware.