How to find out the characteristics of your computer

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-19 14:05

The best ways to identify installed hardware on Windows, macOS and Linux.

You usually have to clarify the characteristics of your computer when installing demanding games or applications, updating video card drivers, as well as upgrading components or repairing. This can be done in several ways, depending on the operating system. Here are the most popular ones.

How to check the specifications of your Windows computer

1. Utility "System Information"

If basic information about your PC is enough for you, the easiest way to get it is through the standard "System Information" utility. To do this, right-click on the shortcut or in the "Computer" ("My Computer") window in "Explorer" and select "Properties". Instead, you can simply press the Win + Pause / Break keyboard shortcut. The window that opens will show the type of processor, the amount of RAM and various system information.

2. Device manager

For a complete and detailed picture, you can use the "Device Manager". It displays absolutely all computer equipment, including internal and external components - from sound cards and disk drives to monitors and printers.

You can open the utility from the "System Information" window by clicking "Device Manager" in the side menu. All components here are grouped into categories and open by clicking on them. By clicking on a specific element, all data about it opens.

3. Dxdiag

This diagnostic tool is also included with Windows. It will show in great detail all the information about the system and computer components: model, number of processor cores, amount of RAM, type of graphics adapter and much more.

To view this data, just press the key combination Win + R, enter

dxdiag

and click "OK" or Enter.

4. Speccy

Free application that is specially designed to view PC configuration. Speccy clearly and in detail will show information about the processor, memory, video adapter and other components of the computer. The data here will be much more complete than in the built-in utilities. And they are displayed much more conveniently.

Install the program from the link and run it. The main screen will show a compact summary of the main features. More detailed information about each device can be viewed through the side menu.

How to check the specifications of your macOS computer

1. About This Mac

To find out what hardware your Mac is using, you just need to do two things: click on the apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen, and then select About This Mac. In the window that opens, key information will be displayed with the macOS version, model name, as well as the type of processor, the amount of RAM and the video card.

2. System report

If the previous information is not enough, click the "System Report" button in the "About This Mac" window. You will see the most detailed report with all possible details about the components of the computer.

3. Mactracker

Another convenient option is the Mactracker app. This is a whole encyclopedia, which contains the most detailed information about all Apple products in the entire history of the company. Computers, laptops, mobile devices, software - everything can be found here.

To view your Mac's specifications, select This Mac from the sidebar. In the product window, information is categorized and displayed on the appropriate tabs.

The only drawback is that Mactracker does not analyze equipment, but takes data from the catalog and shows only standard models. Therefore, if you upgraded, say, memory or storage, this will not be reflected in the summary.

How to find out the specs of a Linux computer

1. Utility HardInfo

On Linux computers, it is convenient to view hardware parameters through the HardInfo utility. It clearly displays information about all installed components - from the processor and video card to expansion cards and USB.

HardInfo is included with most distributions and is displayed under the name "System Information and Testing" (in the "Administration" menu). If there is no utility, you can install it using the terminal command

sudo apt-get install hardinfo

2. lshw command

For those who are accustomed to using the command line, we can recommend the lshw utility, which displays a huge amount of information about the installed hardware and allows you to find out the characteristics of your computer. As a rule, it is included in distributions, but if it is not there, then you can fix it with the command

sudo apt-get install lshw

To run the utility, just enter in the terminal

sudo lshw

and confirm the action by entering the administrator password. For a more concise and convenient presentation, it is better to add the parameter

-short

that is, use the following command:

sudo lshw -short