Homework-2

TYPES OF COMPUTERS

Mainframes

In the jargon of the computer trade, large computers are called mainframes. Mainframes are capable of processing data at very high speeds – millions of
instructions per second – and have access to billions of characters of data. The price of these large systems can vary from several hundred thousand to many
millions of dollars. Their principal use is for processing vast amounts of data quickly, so some of the obvious customers are banks, insurance companies and
manufacturers.

Minicomputers

A minicomputer is a multi-user computer that is less powerful than a
mainframe. This class of computers became available in the 1960’s when
large scale integrated circuits made it possible to build a computer much cheaper than the then existing mainframes (minicomputers cost around $100,000 instead of the $1,000,000 cost of a mainframe).

The niche previously filled by the minicomputer has been largely taken over by high-end microcomputer workstations serving multiple users.

Microcomputers

A microcomputer is a computer that has a microprocessor chip as its CPU.
They are often called personal computers because they are designed to be used by one person at a time. Personal computers are typically used at home, at school, or at a business. Popular uses for microcomputers include word processing, surfing the web, sending and receiving e-mail, spreadsheet calculations, database management, editing photographs, creating graphics, and playing music or games. Personal computers come in two major varieties, desktop computers and laptop computers.