How to Check Your PC Specs (Mac, Windows & Linux): A Comprehensive Guide

You need to know the specs of your PC so you can understand its capabilities, troubleshoot issues, and plan upgrades. This is true if you’re a gamer wanting to check if your system can handle the latest titles, a professional verifying software compatibility, or even if you’re just a curious user.

Here’s how you can check your device‘s specs, regardless if you’re a Windows, Mac, or Linux user.

Key Takeaways

Knowing your PC specs is important for understanding your device’s capabilities.
Windows users can check their specs using Settings, System Information, PowerShell, Command Prompt, and other tools.
Mac users can access their specs through “About This Mac”, System Report, or Terminal commands.
Linux users can use terminal commands like lscpu, lshw, and free -h for detailed hardware info.
Regularly checking your PC specs helps you maintain system health and optimize performance.

What are PC Specs?

PC specs, or PC specifications, detail the hardware components of your computer. You need to understand your PC specs for software compatibility, hardware upgrades, and troubleshooting performance issues.

Here are the main components in PC specs:

CPU (Central Processing Unit)

The “brain” of the computer, handling processing tasks and determining execution speed.

GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)

Renders images, videos, and animations, important for gaming, video editing, and 3D rendering.

RAM (Random Access Memory)

Short-term memory for active data, affecting multitasking and overall performance.

Storage

HDDs or SDDs, determining data capacity for the operating system (OS), applications, and files.

Motherboard

Main circuit board connecting all components, dictating hardware compatibility.

Power Supply Unit (PSU)

Provides power to components, requiring sufficient capacity for installed hardware.

Cooling System

Fans and cooling mechanisms preventing overheating, are important for performance and hardware longevity.

How to Check PC Specs on Windows PC

Windows offers several ways for you to check your storage and PC specs. Each method provides a different level of detail. Here’s what you need to know.

Note: Here, we show you how to check PC specs on Windows 11. We cover older versions below this section.

How to Check PC Specs in Windows Settings

Here’s how to check your computer specs using Windows Settings.

Open the Windows Settings app on your Windows PC.
Next click the System option in the left-hand pane, scroll all the way to the bottom of the screen, and then click About.
You can then see your PC specs in the Device specifications group.

Here, you’ll see a summary of your PC specs, including device name, processor, installed RAM, device ID, product ID, system specs (e.g., 64-bit operating system), and if your system supports pen and touch.

How to Find PC Specs Using System Information App

To open the System Information app, press Windows Key + R to open the Run app, enter msinfo32 in the text box, and then click OK.

The System Information app will appear.

You can get extremely detailed information about your PC here. It includes all of the standard specs, plus does a deep-dive into the finer details of your device.

How to Check PC Specs Using PowerShell and Command Prompt

If you want to feel like a hacker, you can use PowerShell or the Command Prompt apps to check your PC specs.

First, open PowerShell or Command Prompt (the commands are the same on both). Next, depending on what you want to get, you can run either of these commands.

To get a summary of your system information, run:

Command Prompt: systeminfo
PowerShell: Get-ComputerInfo

To find details about the CPU, run:

Command Prompt: wmic cpu get name, numberofcores, numberoflogicalprocessors
PowerShell: Get-WmiObject win32_processor | Select-Object Name, NumberOfCores, NumberOfLogicalProcessors

To get information about the RAM, run:

Command Prompt: wmic memorychip get manufacturer, capacity, speed
PowerShell: Get-WmiObject win32_physicalmemory | Select-Object Manufacturer, Capacity, Speed

How to Find PC Specs Using DxDiag

You can also use the DirectX Diagnostic Tool (DxDiag) to find detailed information about your PC’s hardware.

To open DxDiag:

Press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog box, enter dxdiag in the text box, and then click OK.
The DirectX Diagnostic Tool window will appear.

You can see detailed information about your system here. You can also check the other tabs, which are specifically valuable for gamers (though you’ll need to know game software specs as well), as they show display, sound, and input information.

How to Check CPU Specs

To find detailed information about your CPU, you can use various built-in tools and methods available in Windows. The quickest way is to use the Settings menu, navigate to System, and check the About section to see your CPU’s name and speed.

However, any of the methods mentioned earlier in this article can be used!

How to Check GPU Specs

The best resource to check your GPU specs is the DxDiag tool mentioned earlier. Just open it up and go to the Display tab to see comprehensive details about your GPU, like the name, manufacturer, chip type, display memory, etc.

How to Check PC Specs on Versions Prior to Windows 10

Checking PC specs on older versions of Windows, such as Windows 7 and Windows 8, involves similar steps with slight differences in navigation.

For Windows 7, you can access System Properties by clicking the Start menu, right-clicking on Computer, and selecting Properties. This window displays basic information like the processor, installed memory (RAM), and system type.

In Windows 8, move your mouse to the upper-right corner to open the Charms menu, click on Settings, and then PC info to see basic specs.

Both versions allow you to quickly find essential details about your PC, though the navigation differs slightly due to changes in the user interface (UI). You can expect this to continue with future updates, as well.

How to Check PC Specs on Mac

To check the specs of your Mac:

Click the Apple icon in the top-left corner of the screen.
Then click About This Mac from the drop-down menu that appears.

The pop-up that appears will give you an at-a-glance look at your Mac’s specs. This includes the chip, memory, startup disk, serial number, and OS.
If you need more info about your Mac, which you probably do, click the More Info button at the bottom.
A new window will appear. Scroll all the way to the bottom and click System Report.
A new window will appear, giving you extremely comprehensive details about your Mac.

There are other ways to get your Mac specs. For example, you can open the Terminal app and run the system_profiler SPHardwareDataType command to get info like your model, processor, memory, and serial number.

However, the method mentioned above gives you both a quick overview and a very details look at your specs, so this is the recommended way.

How to Check PC Specs on Linux

Checking the specs on your Linux machine is typically done through the terminal using various commands that provide detailed information about your system.

Here are a few commands and what they return:

lscpulshwfree -h

Open the terminal and enter lscpu.
It shows detailed info about the CPU, such as its architecture, number of CPUs, threads, cores, and CPU speed.

Open the terminal and enter sudo lshw. If this tool is not already available, you may need to install it using your package manager (e.g., sudo apt install lshw for Debian-based systems).
It shows a comprehensive overview of your hardware, like your CPU, memory, storage, network interfaces, etc. This is one of the most detailed outputs you can get.

Open the terminal and enter free -h.
This shows the system’s free and used memory in a human-readable format. It shows the total, used, free, shared, buff/cache, and available memory.

The Bottom Line

You need to know how to check the specs on your PC so you can understand your system’s capabilities, troubleshoot issues, and plan upgrades.

We’ve covered methods for Windows, Mac, and Linux, each offering different levels of detail. Regularly checking your PC specs helps you stay informed about your system’s health and performance, as well!

Choose whichever method best fits your comfort level and the level of detail you need.