The manual covers the main categories of computer hardware. The basic principles of building computer system architectures are indicated, materials are presented that will help students master the basic terminology in computer science in Russian for the successful study of the subject in 1 and 2 courses of a medical university. The manual contains tasks for self-study of the studied topics, an English-Russian dictionary of terms, questions for self-control and is an integral part of the educational and methodological set of materials in the discipline "Information Technologies."