For bonus points: What’s the difference between the yellow, red, and white cables?
The yellow RCA connector is used for composite (one-signal) video. The red and white connectors are used for stereo sound.
Apple fanatics should know this one pretty well.
You only get half credit…unless you knows its name, too.
The now-outdated Video Graphics Array (VGA) connector, used to connect computers to their monitors, supports a maximum video resolution of 2048\u00d71536.
You might recognize this one if you built your own PC.
SATA cables have been connecting host bus adapters to computer storage drives since 2003.
This one is still pretty uncommon.
The Micro-B receptacle is used to charge the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (shown), among other devices.
Their colors indeed have meaning.
Older computer keyboards used the purple color-coded PS/2 cable; mouse cables used the color green.
You won’t find any long ones around — these cables have a max length of 18 inches.
These cables were commonly used inside of computers to connect data storage devices to the motherboard. They have since been made obsolete by SATA cables.
These are not to be confused with their smaller cousin, the standard RJ-11 phone jack.
It has been in production since 1983.
These cables are often used in conjunction with home theater systems.
Fox Van Allen is a Los Angeles-based writer for CBS Interactive covering technology, tech lifestyle and gaming topics for GameSpot, CNET, ZDNet and TechRepublic. He has previously worked as a news and feature writer for a number of other sites, including Techlicious, Tecca, WoW Insider (Joystiq) and Blizzard Watch. In his spare time, Fox is an amateur skydiver, retro gaming and arcade enthusiast, 8-bit pixel artist, podcaster and Twitch live streamer.
