1. Super Computer
A super computer is the fastest type of computer that can perform complex operations at a very high speed. The super computers were first presented in the year 1960 by Seymour Cray at Control Data Corporation. They are more expensive than the other categories of computers and are specially designed for the applications in which large number of complex calculations has to be carried out to get the desired output. The main reason behind the fast speed of super computers is that they are designed only to execute a few of programs at a time, rather than many programs simultaneously. Some manufacturers of super computers are IBM, Silicon Graphics, Fujitsu, Intel, etc. Examples of Super Computers are CRAY 3, Cyber 205, NEC SX-3, Blue Gene/L System, is the fastest supercomputer.
The various application areas of super computers are as follows
In petroleum industry - to analyze volumes of seismic data which are gathered furling oil seeking explorations to identify areas where there is possibility of getting petroleum products inside the earth.
In Automobile industry - to do crash simulation of the design of an automobile before it is released for manufacturing for better automobile design.
Meteorological centers use super computers for weather forecasting.
Super computers are manufactured with no special hardware, like the typical computer, they have CPU and memory as their major components. However, the CPU of super computer operates at faster speed, as compared to the other categories of computers. Super computers are the fastest computers because they employed thousands of processors, hundreds of gigabytes of RAM and thousands of gigabytes of secondary storage. These computers have multiple CPUs that can process multiple instructions at a time, known as parallel processing.
2. Mainframe Computer
A mainframe computer is a very large computer that is employed by large business organizations for handling major applications, such as financial transaction processing, enterprise resource planning, industry and consumer statistics, and census. They are capable of handling almost millions of records in a day. The mainframe computers can also be used as the centralized computers with several user terminals connected to it. The mainframe computers are actually considered as the predecessor of servers. These computers are bigger and more expensive than other computers. The implementation of mainframe computers also requires large space with a closely monitored humidity and temperature levels.
3. Mini Computer
A mini computer was first introduced in the year 1960 by Digital Equipment Corporation. They were called mini computers because of their smaller size than the other computers of those times. They can handle more data and more input and output than microcomputers. Minicomputers are less powerful than mainframe computers but more powerful than microcomputers. Therefore, they are referred to as the midrange computers. They are able to cater to the needs of multiple users at a single instant of time. The number of users supported by mini computers may range between 4 and 50. These computers are generally designed for small and medium-sized business environments.
4. Micro Computer
A microcomputer is a small and cheap digital computer that is designed to be used by individuals. It is built around a microprocessor, a storage unit and IO channel. Apart from these components, the other parts that a microcomputer includes are power supply, connecting cables, keyboard, mouse, printer, and scanner. These computers also include several software programs such as operating system, system software and utility software.
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