GuruIntroduction
Computers come in various shapes and sizes, each designed to cater to specific needs and tasks. The classification of computers is essential to help users choose the right device for their requirements. From supercomputers to smartphones, each type of computer serves a unique purpose. In this blog post, we will delve into the classification of computers and explore the distinctive features of different categories.
⮞These days, computers are available in many sizes and types. You can have a computer that can fit in the palm of your hand or that which can occupy the entire room; single user computers can be used by hundreds of users simultaneously. Computers also differ based on their data processing abilities.Hence,computers can be classified according to purpose, data handling, and functionality.Computers can be classified into several categories based on their size, purpose, and capabilities.Here are the most common classifications of computers:
1. Supercomputers
Supercomputers are the pinnacle of computing power and are primarily used for highly complex and resource-intensive tasks. These massive machines are capable of performing trillions of calculations per second and are commonly used in scientific research, weather forecasting, nuclear simulations, and other applications that require immense processing power. Some well-known supercomputers include IBM's Summit and Cray's Titan.
2. Mainframe Computers
Mainframe computers are large and robust machines that are designed to manage and process vast amounts of data simultaneously. They are typically used by large organizations and enterprises for tasks like database management, transaction processing, and running critical business applications. Mainframes are known for their reliability and high availability, making them crucial in industries such as banking, healthcare, and airlines.
3. Minicomputers
Minicomputers, also known as midrange computers, are smaller than mainframes but still powerful. They are often used in scientific and engineering applications, as well as for running network servers.Minicomputers offer a balance between processing power and affordability, making them suitable for mid-sized organizations and specialized tasks.
4. Personal Computers (PCs)
Personal computers, commonly referred to as PCs, are the machines most of us are familiar with. They are designed for individual use and come in various forms, including desktops, laptops, and tablets. PCs are versatile and cater to a wide range of applications, from word processing and web browsing to gaming and content creation. The choice of operating systems, such as Windows, macOS, and Linux, allows users to customize their computing experience.
5. Workstations
Workstations are high-performance computers designed for professionals in fields like graphic design, 3D modeling, engineering, and scientific research. They are equipped with powerful processors, ample RAM, and dedicated graphics cards to handle demanding tasks. Workstations provide the computing power needed for rendering complex graphics and simulations.
6. Servers
Servers are specialized computers designed to provide services or resources to other computers over a network. They come in various types, including web servers, file servers, and database servers. Servers play a crucial role in the functioning of the internet and are used by businesses and organizations to host websites, manage data, and facilitate communication.
7. Embedded Computers
Embedded computers are integrated into other devices and systems, such as appliances, automobiles, and industrial machines. These computers are dedicated to specific functions and are often invisible to the end user. They operate silently in the background, enabling various devices to perform their intended tasks efficiently.
8. Smartphones and Tablets
Smartphones and tablets have become ubiquitous personal computing devices. These mobile computers are compact, portable, and equipped with powerful processors and a wide range of applications. They serve as communication tools, cameras, entertainment centers, and more. The popularity of smartphones and tablets has transformed the way we connect and interact with the digital world.
Classification According to Purpose
Computers are designed for different purposes. They can be used either for general purposes or for specific purposes.
General-purpose Computers
A general-purpose computer,as the name suggests,is designed to perform a range of tasks.These computers have the ability to store numerous programs.These machines can be used for various applications,ranging from scientific as well as business purpose applications.Even though such computers are versatile, they generally lack speed and efficiency.The computer that you use in your schools and homes are general-purpose computers.
Specific-purpose Computers
These computers are designed to handle a specific problem or to perform a single specific task.A set of instructions for the specific task is built into the machine.Hence, they cannot be used for other applications unless their circuits are redesigned, that is,they lacked versatility.However, being designed for specific tasks, they can provide the result very quickly and efficiently.These computers are used for airline reservations, satellite tracking, and air traffic control.
Classification According to Type of Data-Handled Technique
Different types of computers process the data in a different manner.According to the basic data handling principle, computers can be classified into three categories: analog, digital, and hybrid.
Analog Computers
A computing machine that works on the principle of measuring, in which the measurements obtained are translated into desired data is known as analog computer. Modern analog computers usually employ electrical parameters,such as voltages,resistances or currents,to represent the quantities being manipulated. Such computers do not deal directly with the numbers. They measure continuous physical magnitudes (such as temperature, pressure, and voltage), which are analogous to the numbers under consideration. For example, the petrol pump may have an analog computer that converts the flow of pumped petrol into two measurements – the quantity of petrol and the price for that quantity.
Analog computers are used for scientific and engineering purposes. One of the characteristics of these computers is that they give approximate results since they deal with quantities that vary continuously. The main feature of analog computers is that they are very fast in operation as all the calculations are done in ‘parallel mode’. It is very easy to get graphical results directly using analog computer. However, the accuracy of analog computers is less.
Digital Computers
A computer that operates with information, numerical or otherwise, represented in a digital form is known as digital computer. Such computers process data (including text, sound, graphics, and video) into a digital value (in 0s and 1s). In digital computers, analog quantities must be converted into digital quantity before processing. In this case, the output will also be digital. If analog output is desired, the digital output has to be converted into analog quantity. The components that perform these conversions,are the essential parts or peripherals of the digital computer.
Digital computers can give the results with more accuracy at a faster rate. The accuracy of such computers is limited only by the size of their registers and memory.The desktop PC at your home is a classic example of digital computer.
Hybrid Computers
A hybrid computer incorporates the measuring feature of an analog computer and the counting feature of a digital computer. For computational purposes, these computers use the analog components and for the storage of intermediate results, digital memories are used. In order to bind the powers of analog and digital techniques, hybrid computers comprehensively use analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters. Such computers are broadly used for scientific applications, various fields of engineering and in industrial control processes.
Classification According to Functionality
Based on physical size, performance and application areas, we can divide computers generally into four major categories: micro, mini, mainframe, and super computers.
Micro Computers
A micro computer is a small, low cost digital computer, which usually consists of a microprocessor, a storage unit, an input channel, and an output channel, all of which may be on one chip inserted into one or several PC boards. The addition of a power supply and connecting cables, appropriate peripherals (keyboard, monitor, printer, disk drives, etc.), an operating system and other software programs can provide a complete micro computer system. The micro computer is generally the smallest of the computer family.Originally, they were designed for individual users only, but nowadays they have become powerful tools for many businesses that, when networked together, can serve more than one user. IBM-PC Pentium 100, IBM-PC Pentium 200, and Apple Macintosh are some of the examples of micro computers. Micro computers include desktop, laptop, and hand-held computers.
- Desktop Computer: Desktop computer or PC (Personal Computer) is the most common micro computer. It is principally intended for stand-alone use by an individual. These micro computers typically consist of a system unit, a display monitor, a keyboard, internal hard disk storage, and other peripheral devices. The major criterion behind the importance of the PCs is that they are not very expensive to purchase by the individuals or the small businesses. Some of the major personal computer manufacturers are APPLE, IBM, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard.
- Laptop: A laptop is a portable computer, that is, a user can carry it around. Since the laptop computer resembles a notebook, they are also known as notebooks. Laptops are small computers enclosing all the basic features of a normal desktop computer. The biggest advantage of this computer is that one can use this computer anywhere and at anytime, specially when one is travelling and does not have a proper place to keep it. Moreover, these computers do not need any external power supply as a rechargeable battery is self-contained in them. These computers are expensive as compared to desktop computers.
- Hand-held Computers: A hand-held, also called Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), is a computer that can conveniently be stored in a pocket (of sufficient size) and used while the user is holding it. PDAs are essentially small portable computers and are slightly bigger than the common calculators. A PDA user generally uses a pen or electronic stylus, instead of a keyboard for input. As shown in Figure 1.16, the monitor is very small and is the only apparent form of output. Since, these computers can be easily fitted on the palmtop, they are also known as palmtop computers. Hand-held computers usually have no disk drives, rather they use small cards to store programs and data. However, they can be connected to printer or a disk drive to generate output or store data. They have limited memory and are less powerful as compared to desktop computers. Some examples of PDAs are Apple Newton, Casio Cassiopeia, and Franklin eBookMan.
Mini Computers
In the early 1960s, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) started shipping its PDP series computer, which the press described and referred as mini computers. A mini computer is a small digital computer, which normally is able to process and store less data than a mainframe but more than a micro computer, while doing so less rapidly than a mainframe but more rapidly than a micro computer. They are about the size of a two-drawer filing cabinet. Generally, they are used as desktop devices that are often connected to a mainframe in order to perform the auxiliary operations.
Mini computer (sometimes called a mid-range computer) is designed to meet the computing needs for several people simultaneously in a small to medium size business environment. It is capable of supporting from 4 to about 200 simultaneous users. It serves as a centralized storehouse for a cluster of workstations or as a network server. Mini computers are usually multi-user systems and so these are used in interactive applications in industries, research organisations,colleges, and universities. These are also used for real-time controls and engineering design work. High-performance workstations with graphics I/O capability use mini computer. Some of the widely used mini computers are PDP 11, IBM (8000 series), and VAX 7500.
Mainframe Computers
A mainframe is an ultra-high performance computer made for high-volume, processor-intensive computing. It consists of a high-end computer processor, with related peripheral devices, capable of supporting large volumes of data processing, high performance on-line transaction processing systems, and extensive data storage and retrieval. Normally,it is able to process and store more data than a mini computer and far more than a micro computer. Moreover, it is designed to perform faster than a mini computer and much faster than a micro computer. Mainframes are the second largest (in capability and size) of the computer family.However, a mainframe can usually execute many programs simultaneously at a high speed, whereas super computers are designed for single processes.
Mainframe allows its user to maintain large information storage at a centralised location and be able to access and process this data from different computers located at different locations. They are typically used by large businesses and for scientific purposes. Examples of mainframe computers are IBM’s ES000, VAX 8000, and CDC 6600.
Super Computers
Super computers are the special purpose machines, which are specially designed to maximise the numbers of FLOPS (Floating Point Operation Per Second). Any computer below one gigaflop/sec is not considered a super computer. A super computer has the highest processing speed at a given time for solving scientific and engineering problems. It basically contains a number of CPUs that operate in parallel to make it faster. Its processing speed lies in the range of 400–10,000 MFLOPS (Millions of Floating Point Operation Per Second). Due to this feature, super computers help in many applications such as information retrieval computer-aided design.
A super computer can process a great deal of information and make extensive calculations very, very quickly. They can resolve complex mathematical equations in a few hours, which would have taken a scientist with paper and pencil a lifetime, or years, using a hand calculator. They are the fastest, costliest and most powerful computers available today. Typically,super computers are used to solve multi-variant mathematical problems of existent physical processes, such as aerodynamics, metrology, and plasma physics.
These are also used by military strategists to simulate defence scenarios. Cinematic specialists use them to produce sophisticated movie animations. Scientists build complex models and simulate them in a super computer. Here, it is used to model the actions and reactions of literally millions of atoms as they interact. Super computer has limited use because of its price tag and limited market. The largest commercial uses of super computers are in the entertainment/advertising industry.Examples of super computers are CRAY–3, Cyber 205, and PARAM.
Conclusion
The classification of computers offers insight into the vast and diverse world of computing devices. Each type of computer is optimized to excel in particular areas, whether it's processing massive data sets,serving as a personal productivity tool, or controlling industrial machinery.Understanding these classifications helps us choose the right computer for the job and appreciate the incredible versatility and impact of computing technology in our lives.