Are computers categorized in any way
Super Computers: These are high capacity machines with thousands of processors that can perform more than several trillion calculations per second. A supercomputer is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It’s a term used to describe computers that have the most capable processing power of its time. Early supercomputers in the 60s and 70s used just a couple processors, while the 90s saw supercomputers with thousands of processors at a time. Today, modern supercomputers run hundreds of thousands of processors, capable of computing quadrillions of calculations in just a few nanoseconds. You probably won’t need that kind of power to access Facebook… Actually, supercomputers are used in computational science to calculate and carry out a plethora of complex tasks. Modeling molecular structures, weather forecasting, and the field of quantum mechanics, among others, rely on supercomputers and their intense processing power to solve their equations.
Mainframe Computers
They are water or air cooled computers and vary in size from small to medium and large, depending on their usage. They are often called as mid size computers. The mainframe is accessed by its users through a dumb terminal.
Like supercomputers, mainframe computers are huge, towering machines with lots of processing power. Mainframe computers are mostly used by corporations, government agencies, and banks – organizations that need a way to store large quantities of information. They are not the same as supercomputers. The processing capabilities of mainframe computers are measured in MIPS, or millions of instructions per second. Supercomputers, on the other hand, are measured in FLOPS, or floating point operations per seconds.
Workstations: These are expensive, powerful personal computers used for specific task like designing, 3d animation, engineering calculations etc.
Microcomputers
Microcomputers: These are personal computers which are either stand alone or connected over a network. The types of microcomputers are - desktop PC, Tower PC, notebook ( Laptops), PDA and hand held computers. Microcomputers are the ones people are most familiar with on a daily, non-professional basis, but of course that doesn’t mean they’re exclusive to the home. Microcomputers are smaller computers that run on microprocessors in their central processing units. They are much cheaper than supercomputers, mainframe computers and even minicomputers, because they’re meant for everyday uses that are more practical than professional. The range of capabilities for microcomputers are still vast, though. A film editor might use a microcomputer to run many intensive editing programs at once, while a student might use a microcomputer for Facebook and word processing.
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The term microcomputer itself is pretty outdated, in this sense. Most people use what they would call personal computers, and even within this definition there are several variations. Theseinclude:
- Desktop computers: Desktop computers are not as dated as the non-computer savvy might think. They are still popular for the user’s ability to customize them, replace parts and fix them with much more ease than they would a laptop. It’s also more convenient to be able to connect peripherals like screens and keyboard and computer mice that fit your needs. In this sense, desktop computers could be used at the office for professional tasks, or at the home. Desktop computers can be specialized for things like gaming as well, equipped with high-end graphics cards and more RAM.
- Video game consoles:Some people don’t think of video game consoles as computers, but they are. They have many of the same hardware components as computers, but are usually less advanced, which is why they’re able to cost much less than a top-notch gaming computer.
- Miscellaneous: Other examples of microcomputers include video game arcade cabinets and smart TVs.
Microcontrollers: these are also referred to as embedded computers. They are tiny in size with a specialized microprocessor installed in it. They are normally found in smart appliances and automobiles.
Minicomputers-Servers
A minicomputer is a multiprocessing machine that can support up to about 200 users at the same time. It’s like a less powerful mainframe computer, and is about the size of a refrigerator. A server can be an example of a minicomputer, but not all servers are minicomputers. Despite their name, a minicomputer is not a personal computer like the desktop machine you might have at home or work. They are much larger than that. Because of the ways microcomputers – which we’ll cover next – have excelled in processing power even beyond minicomputers, and at a much smaller size, minicomputers have become pretty much obsolete.
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