Dell XPS M2010 Owner's Manual

Also see for XPS M2010: Setup guide Setup guide Service manual Service manual Owner's manual

Contents

186 GlossaryRPM — revolutions per minute — The number ofrotations that occur per minute. Hard drive speed is oftenmeasured in rpm.RTC — real time clock — Battery-powered clock on thesystem board that keeps the date and time after you shutdown the computer.RTCRST — real-time clock reset — A jumper on thesystem board of some computers that can often be usedfor troubleshooting problems.SSAS — serial attached SCSI — A faster, serial version ofthe SCSI interface (as opposed to the original SCSIparallel architecture).SATA — serial ATA — A faster, serial version of the ATA(IDE) interface.ScanDisk — A Microsoft utility that checks files, folders,and the hard disk’s surface for errors. ScanDisk often runswhen you restart the computer after it has stoppedresponding.SCSI — small computer system interface — A high-speedinterface used to connect devices to a computer, such ashard drives, optical drives, printers, and scanners. TheSCSI can connect many devices using a single controller.Each device is accessed by an individual identificationnumber on the SCSI controller bus.SDRAM — synchronous dynamic random-access memory— A type of DRAM that is synchronized with the optimalclock speed of the processor.serial connector — An I/O port often used to connectdevices such as a handheld digital device or digital camerato your computer.Service Tag — A bar code label on your computer thatidentifies your computer when you access Dell Support atsupport.dell.com or when you call Dell for customerservice or technical support.setup program — A program that is used to install andconfigure hardware and software. The setup.exe orinstall.exe program comes with most Windows softwarepackages. Setup program differs from system setup.shortcut — An icon that provides quick access tofrequently used programs, files, folders, and drives. Whenyou place a shortcut on your Windows desktop anddouble-click the icon, you can open its correspondingfolder or file without having to find it first. Shortcut iconsdo not change the location of files. If you delete ashortcut, the original file is not affected. Also, you canrename a shortcut icon.smart card — A card that is embedded with a processorand a memory chip. Smart cards can be used toauthenticate a user on computers equipped for smartcards.S/PDIF — Sony/Philips Digital Interface — An audiotransfer file format that allows the transfer of audio fromone file to another without converting it to and from ananalog format, which could degrade the quality of the file.standby mode — A power management mode that shutsdown all unnecessary computer operations to save energy.surge protectors — Prevent voltage spikes, such as thosethat may occur during an electrical storm, from enteringthe computer through the electrical outlet. Surgeprotectors do not protect against lightning strikes oragainst brownouts, which occur when the voltage dropsmore than 20 percent below the normal AC-line voltagelevel.Network connections cannot be protected by surgeprotectors. Always disconnect the network cable from thenetwork connector during electrical storms.SIM — Subscriber Identity Module. A SIM card containsa microchip that encrypts voice and data transmissions.SIM cards can be used in phones or portable computers.SVGA — super-video graphics array — A video standardfor video cards and controllers. Typical SVGA resolutionsare 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768.The number of colors and resolution that a programdisplays depends on the capabilities of the monitor, thevideo controller and its drivers, and the amount of videomemory installed in the computer.S-video TV-out — A connector used to attach a TV ordigital audio device to the computer.