Unit
Unit may refer to any of the following:
1. When describing a number, a unit is the same as the number one.
2. With computers, in general, a unit is one part of the whole computer system. The examples below are units relating to a computer.
- Processing unit - The section of the computer that performs the processing. For example, a CPU (central processing unit).
- Memory unit - The volatile location that stores the data being accessed or processed. RAM (random-access memory) is an example.
- Graphics processing unit - Portion of a video card that specializes in performing the processing required for rendering images and video. More commonly called the GPU (graphics processing unit).
- Power supply unit - The hardware providing power to the computer. More commonly called the PSU (power supply unit).
- Peripheral unit - External peripherals are optional devices that facilitate computer operation. Examples include a keyboard, mouse, speakers, or webcam.
With computers and measurements, a storage unit or units of storage are measurements used to calculate how much space that data occupies in memory or other storage devices. For example, a bit is the smallest unit of storage, and a gigabyte is one of the larger ones.
See computer-related terms containing unit for a full list of different computer-related terms on our site containing the word unit.
3. With a measurement, a unit is a specific, single quantity adopted as a standard. A unit can be a measurement of mass (e.g., kilogram), length (e.g., inch and meter), storage (e.g., byte and megabyte), temperature (e.g., Celsius and Fahrenheit), time (e.g., second), and many others.
What is smaller than a unit?
With the metric system prefixes, when a unit is broken up or made smaller, deci is the first order below, followed by centi, then milli, etc.
What is larger than a unit?
With the metric system prefixes, when going up from a unit, deca is the first order larger, followed by hecto, then kilo, etc.
4. With gaming, a unit is an individual entity that the player can control or interact with inside the game world. For example, in an RTS (real-time strategy) game like Age of Empires or StarCraft, the player controls several units when defending their base or attacking other players. In an MMORPG (massively-multiplayer online role-playing game) like World of Warcraft, the player's character is considered a unit, and all other players and NPCs (non-player characters) are units too.