Hardware is the general term that is used to describe physical artifacts of a technology.

Hardware historically referred to the metal bits that were used to make wooden products stronger, more functional, longer lasting and easier to fabricate/assemble than if they did not have the benefit of metal fittings.

In a looser sense, hardware can be major military equipment, or electronic equipment, or computer equipment.

A motherboard, also known as a mainboard, is the central or primary circuit board making up a complex electronic system, such as a modern computer.

A typical computer is built with the microprocessor, main memory, and other basic components on the motherboard. Other components of the computer such as external storage, control circuits for video display and sound, and peripheral devices are typically attached to the motherboard via ribbon cables, other cables, and power connectors.

Prior to the advent of the IBM PC in 1983, a computer was usually built in a case or mainframe with a series of wired together connectors called a backplane into which the CPU, memory and I/O on separate cards was plugged.

With the arrival of the microprocessor, it became more cost-effective to place the backplane connectors, processor and glue logic onto a single 'mother' board, and have the video, memory and I/O on 'child' cards - hence the terms 'Motherboard' and Daughterboard.

One of the first popular microcomputers to feature this design was the Apple 2 computer, which had a motherboard and 8 expansion slots.

There is more information about IBM-compatible personal computers in PC motherboard.

A central processing unit, or sometimes simply processor, is the component in a digital computer that interprets computer program instructions and processes data. CPUs provide the fundamental digital computer trait of programmability, and are one of the necessary components found in computers of any era, along with primary storage and input/output facilities.

Beginning in the mid-1970s, microprocessors of ever-increasing complexity and power gradually supplanted other designs, and today the term "CPU" is usually applied to some type of microprocessor.

The phrase "central processing unit" is a description of a certain class of logic machines that can execute computer programs. This broad definition can easily be applied to many early computers that existed long before the term "CPU" ever came into widespread usage.

However, the term itself and its initialism have been in use in the computer industry at least since the early 1960. The form, design and implementation of CPUs have changed dramatically since the earliest examples, but their all round operation has remained much the same.

Early CPUs were custom-designed as a part of a larger, usually one-of-a-kind, computer. However, this costly method of designing custom CPUs for a particular application has largely given way to the development of mass-produced processors that are suited for one or many purposes.

This standardization trend generally began in the era of discrete transistor mainframes and minicomputers and has rapidly accelerated with the popularization of the integrated circuit. The IC has allowed increasingly complex CPUs to be designed and manufactured in very small spaces.

Both the miniaturisation and standardisation of CPUs have increased the presence of these digital devices in modern life far beyond the limited application of dedicated computing machines. Modern day microprocessors appear in everything from automobiles to cell phones simple electrical toys.