The back of most PCs is this huge festival of different ports and connectors, and we
just realized we've never done an episode explaining what they all are.
Which is honestly kind of wild, because some of these are pretty nostalgia inducing at
this point. Now let's start out with these multicolored connectors.
These are all for audio, so why are there so many?
Well, a typical pair of PC speakers will plug in to that green port, with the pink one being
for a microphone, and the blue one being a line in if you want to connect an input device
that's not a microphone. Is that clear?
No microphones. Some PCs will have three additional ports.
One for a center speaker or subwoofer, one for side speakers, and one for rear speakers
if you have a more traditional surround sound setup that doesn't use a digital connection.
But if you do have something like an external AV receiver or an external DAC that bypasses
your computer's built-in sound processing, you can connect those here.
It's called a Toslink connector, and it uses an optical signal, hence why you can often
see light shining out of it. Next, let's talk networking.
This guy is an Ethernet port, which on most modern systems supports a connection of at
least 1 gigabit per second. You'll typically use this port to connect to your router and get on the internet, and
it's also usually the only port to have indicator lights on it.
What those lights mean depends on the model, but it's fairly common for one light to
indicate activity and another to indicate link speed. So check your manual for the juicy details.
And these two screw-in connectors on some systems are for your Wi-Fi antennas.
Some desktops and motherboards include these, so you don't have to depend on having a
router or an Ethernet wall jack nearby. Just screw the antenna in, and you should be good to go, although you may need to install
a driver afterwards. Let's move on and talk about an older port that's still somewhat common on modern systems.
This guy is called a PS2 port, and was what most of us used to connect keyboards and mice
before USB came along. Older systems often had a purple port for keyboards and a green port for mice, but modern
systems that still feature PS2 often combine them into one port, where you can plug in
either device. Now, there isn't too much reason to use PS2 these days on your home PC, but it can at
least free up a USB port for other devices. USB has been around since the 90s, and was developed to be a many things in one kind
of port. And it's largely succeeded at this.
If you're plugging in something other than a monitor, analog audio equipment, or an
Ethernet cable, there's a very good chance you're using USB.
You can connect things like printers, webcams, keyboards, mice, streaming accessories, and
even miniature Christmas trees over USB, but do keep in mind that all USB ports are
not the same. A modern desktop PC might have USB ports that support various data transfer rates, different
charging speeds, or other features like updating your computer's firmware without booting
it up. These features will often be color coded.
For example, USB 3 ports that support 5 gigabit per second speeds are often blue, but again,
check your PC's or motherboard's manual to figure out exactly what's what, especially
as there isn't always consistency between manufacturers.
In some companies, even just make all their USB ports the same color for a signature look.
PCs are also increasingly coming with these USB Type-C ports, allowing you to use newer
USB-C cables. And on laptops, they're often used for charging as well.
Some USB-C ports also support the Thunderbolt protocol, which enables specialized applications
like connecting external graphics cards. Now let's wrap things up by talking about monitor connections.
Screen systems typically come with one or both of these ports.
This one is simply called DisplayPort, and this other, more symmetrical one is HDMI,
you know, just like you probably have on your TV. There are some small differences between the two ports, but for most typical use cases,
you can just use whichever one your monitor supports. They also both carry audio signals, allowing you to use your monitors built in speakers
or an external receiver if you so desire.
And that's everything you'll usually find on the back of a modern PC.
But if you want to know more about some of the ports that USB replaced not so long ago,
and that you can actually still find on some modern systems, such as VGA and DVI, go check
out this video next. Thanks for watching guys! Like the video if you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it, check out our other videos,
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