Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 405, Buying Computer Accessories.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 405.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development, in Transcription by CastingWords, cultural notes, comprehension questions and, if that weren't enough, a complete transcript of this episode.
This episode is called Buying Computer Accessories.
An accessory is something you buy that works with something else.
It's something that helps you or improves on another product.
This is going to be a dialogue between Kevin and Ginger about buying things for your computer.
So we'll have lots of vocabulary related to the computer.
Let's get started.
It's really nice of you to come with me to buy my computer.
This is the desktop I'm thinking about.
This is okay, but if I were you, I'd buy a laptop.
It's more versatile.
You can travel with it.
I'm not sure about getting a laptop.
The screen is so small.
No problem.
You can get a separate monitor.
This is a good one.
You just need a connector and a cable to hook it up to your laptop.
Here's a monitor stand, too, so you can elevate it if you want to.
You can get these great speakers.
You plug them into your laptop and the sound is amazing.
I'm not sure about the battery.
It comes with a battery that lasts three to five hours, but you can always buy a spare.
Of course, it comes with a power cord, too, so you can just plug it in if your battery runs low.
The keyboard is a little cramped, too.
That's what a full-size keyboard is for.
You can buy a separate keyboard and mouse and attach them to your laptop.
It'll be just like having a desktop.
Then why don't I just buy a desktop?
If you do, you won't be able to buy all of these great accessories.
That's half the fun of buying a new computer.
Our dialogue begins with Ginger saying, It's really nice of you to come with me to buy my computer.
This is the desktop I'm thinking about.
Ginger says, The desktop here refers to the desktop computer, which is a computer that has a large machine and usually a separate monitor, the thing that you use to see what's on your computer.
It has a screen that you look at.
A desktop then is a machine, a computer, that is separate usually from the monitor.
Kevin says, this is okay.
This desktop is okay.
But if I were you, I'd buy a laptop.
A laptop, L-A-P-T-O-P, is sometimes called a notebook computer.
It's a small computer that you can fold up and put in a bag or in a backpack.
Or Kevin says the laptop is more versatile.
Versatile V-E-R-S-A-T-I-L-E is something that has many different uses, something that can be used in different ways.
You could say that person is versatile.
She can do different things for her company.
Kevin says you can travel with a laptop computer.
Ginger says I'm not sure about getting a laptop.
She says the screen is so small.
The screen is the part of the computer monitor that you look at, as we mentioned before.
Kevin says no problem.
You can get a separate monitor.
You can get a separate piece of equipment that you can put on your desk that has the screen on it.
This is a good one, Kevin says.
You just need a connector and a cable to hook it up to your laptop.
A connector is something that helps you put one piece of electronic equipment together with something else.
A connector usually has holes in it on one or both ends, and it plugs into some electronic device.
A cable is the long piece of wire, usually covered in plastic, that connects two pieces of electronic equipment.
So a cable will typically have a connector on both ends, one for one piece of equipment, the other for the other piece of equipment.
To hook something up means to connect two things together, usually electronic things.
I hooked up my DVD player to my television.
I connected it so I could watch a DVD movie.
Kevin says, here's a monitor stand too, so you can elevate it if you want to.
To elevate means to raise, to make something higher, to move something up.
If you go into a large building, they'll typically have something called elevators, which is a noun comes from the verb to elevate means to go up.
It takes you up into the building.
It's a small box that elevates or goes up.
Kevin says that the monitor stand will elevate the computer monitor.
The monitor stand is a piece of plastic or metal that you can put a monitor on top of, so it's a little higher up off your desk.
That's a monitor stand.
Ginger says the speakers on the laptop aren't very loud.
Speakers are parts of a radio or a computer or a television that we use to listen to music, to people talking to this podcast.
Perhaps you may have speakers.
Usually a speaker is something that more than one person can hear.
If it's just one person putting it into their ears, those things are called earbuds or headphones.
But a speaker is something that is meant for many different people to hear.
So Ginger is complaining that the speakers are too soft.
They're not loud enough.
Kevin says you can get these great speakers.
You plug them into your laptop and the sound is amazing.
To plug something into something else is to connect a piece of electronic equipment to another piece of electronic equipment or to some source of electricity.
For example, if you have a computer... you will plug it in to the wall.
You will get electricity from your wall, from your electrical system in your house.
So you can plug something in to get electricity, to get power, or you can plug something in as a way of connecting two pieces of equipment.
Kevin is suggesting that Ginger can buy these speakers and then plug them into her computer so she can have better sound.
She doesn't have to use the speakers that are built in to the laptop, that are part of the laptop frame, the laptop container or case we would say.
Ginger says, I'm not sure about the battery on the laptop.
The battery is what stores electricity.
It stores or keeps power.
So you can use something without having to plug it into the wall for electricity.
Your cell phone has a battery.
Most laptop computers have a battery.
Kevin says the laptop comes with a battery, meaning it is sold with a battery that lasts.
That will be good for three to five hours of use.
But you can always buy a spare.
A spare.
S-P-A-R-E is an extra charge copy of something, an extra piece of something, usually in case something that you have breaks and you need another one right away, for example in your car.
If you have a car, you may have a spare tire.
The tire is the part of the car that goes around the wheels and allows you to drive on a street, and A spare tire is an extra tire.
In case you have one tire that doesn't work properly, you can put on the extra, the spare tire.
So you can have a spare battery for your laptop as well.
He says, of course the laptop comes with a power cord too, so you can just plug it in if your battery runs low.
A power cord is a long cable that connects your piece of electronics to the source of electricity in the wall.
So you plug in the power cord.
It's a cable that connects something to a wall where you have electricity.
Ginger then says the keyboard is a little cramped too.
The keyboard is the part of the computer that you type on that has letters and numbers that you can hit.
We call those keys.
To say something is cramped means it is very close together, too close together.
You might say it's crowded.
You might walk into a room and say it's cramped in here.
It's so small there are too many people here.
That is to be cramped.
Ginger says the keyboard is cramped.
It's too small.
Kevin says you can buy a full-sized, a bigger keyboard and a mouse and attach them to your computer.
Ginger says...
Kevin says, That's half the fun of buying a new computer.
When we say something is half the fun, we mean that's part of the excitement.
That's part of the fun of doing something.
Kevin is suggesting that buying all these extra things is part of the fun of buying a computer.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
This is okay, but if I were you, I'd buy a laptop.
It's more versatile.
You can travel with it.
I'm not sure about getting a laptop.
The screen is so small.
No problem.
You can get a separate monitor.
This is a good one.
You just need a connector and a cable to hook it up to your laptop.
Here's a monitor stand too so you can elevate it if you want to.
The speakers on the laptop are very loud.
You can get these great speakers.
You plug them into your laptop and the sound is amazing.
I'm not so sure about the battery.
It comes with a battery that lasts three to five hours, but you can always buy a spare.
Of course, it comes with a power cord, too, so you can just plug it in if your battery runs low.
The keyboard is a little cramped, too.
That's what a full-size keyboard is for.
You can buy a separate keyboard and mouse and attach them to your laptop.
It'll be just like having a desktop.
Then why don't I just buy a desktop?
If you do, you won't be able to buy all of these great accessories.
That's half the fun of buying a new computer.
The script for this episode was written by the versatile Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2008.
