Glossary 193LLAN — local area network — A computer network covering a small area. A LANusually is confined to a building or a few nearby buildings. A LAN can be connected toanother LAN over any distance through telephone lines and radio waves to form awide area network (WAN).LCD — liquid crystal display — The technology used by portable computer and flat-panel displays.LED — light-emitting diode — An electronic component that emits light to indicatethe status of the computer.local bus — A data bus that provides a fast throughput for devices to the processor.LPT — line print terminal — The designation for a parallel connection to a printer orother parallel device.MMb — megabit — A measurement of memory chip capacity that equals 1024 Kb.Mbps — megabits per second — One million bits per second. This measurement istypically used for transmission speeds for networks and modems.MB — megabyte — A measurement of data storage that equals 1,048,576 bytes. 1 MBequals 1024 KB. When used to refer to hard drive storage, the term is often rounded to1,000,000 bytes.MB/sec — megabytes per second — One million bytes per second. This measurementis typically used for data transfer ratings.media bay — A bay that supports devices such as optical drives, a second battery, or aDell TravelLite™ module.memory — A temporary data storage area inside your computer. Because the data inmemory is not permanent, it is recommended that you frequently save your files whileyou are working on them, and always save your files before you shut down thecomputer. Your computer can contain several different forms of memory, such asRAM, ROM, and video memory. Frequently, the word memory is used as a synonymfor RAM.memory address — A specific location where data is temporarily stored in RAM.memory mapping — The process by which the computer assigns memory addresses tophysical locations at start-up. Devices and software can then identify information thatthe processor can access.memory module — A small circuit board containing memory chips, which connects tothe system board.
