Types of Computer with examples

Types of Computer

Computer is an electronic device that accepts data, processes information in a pre-defined fashion. It is the set of instructions provided to it and produces the desired output. Generally, there are three types of computers in the world:

1. Analog Computer
2. Digital Computer
3. Hybrid Computer

Analog Computer

An analog computer is a form of computer that uses continuous physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities to model the problem being solved. These computers designed to process analogue data.

Analogue computers used where we don’t need exact values always such as speed, temperature, pressure and current. Analogue computers directly accept the data from the measuring device without first converting it into numbers and codes.

Digital Computer

‘Digit‘ means to say that 0-9 and According to computing language, ‘Digit‘ means to say that 0 and 1. The digital computer is a digital system that performs various computational tasks. To perform tasks, it uses a binary number system that has two digits 1 and 0. A binary digit called a bit. It uses in electronic technology to generate, process, and store the different types of data.

Types of Digital Computer

Digital Computers classified into four categories:

i. Mainframe Computer:

Until the innovation of the personal computer in the early 1980s, computers were large, multiple cabinet affairs that required special room conditions and trained operators and programmers.

Mainframe computers are larger computers that can fill a room. These large computers, sold by IBM, Amdahl, Unisys, Hitachi company. Those companies are used to fulfil the computing needs of large companies and corporations and are also used in large telecommunications centres. They are very powerful with huge amounts of storage and processing capability. The drawbacks to the mainframe computer for use as a personal computer are its size, its immense amount of computing power, and its price, which can run into millions of dollars.

ii. Minicomputer:

The minicomputer developed to serve the computing needs of smaller companies and the larger departments of corporations. It says today as a midrange computer, has essentially the same functionality as the larger mainframe computer but on a smaller scale—and not much smaller, at that. The minicomputer developed largely to open new markets for computers after most of the larger companies had purchased mainframes.

Todays the minicomputer made by Hewlett Packard, Compaq, and others, that are manufactured under the name minicomputer that is midlevel computers that are more powerful than personal computers and less powerful than a mainframe. Because of advances in technology, today’s minicomputer can fulfil the entire computing needs of a small- to a medium-sized company as well as serve as a very powerful communications server. Minicomputers are much too big, in terms of processing power and size, not to mention price, and are used as a personal computer.

iii. Microcomputer:

The microcomputer is a small and relatively inexpensive computer with a microprocessor or CPU (Central Processing Unit). It consists of processor, memory, and minimal input/output (I/O) circuitry mounted on a single printed circuit board (PCB).

The microcomputer is a general-purpose computer that designed for individual use. It is suitable for personal work, at the office for office work, etc. So, Microcomputer is also known as a Personal Computer (PC). Some examples of personal computers are IBM PC, Apple PC, Dell PC, etc. We can difference between microcomputer, minicomputer, mainframe computer.

iv. Supercomputer:

The supercomputer is an extremely powerful computer used mostly in research and space, military, and governmental applications. A supercomputer can cost tens of millions of dollars. It contains the equivalent of thousands of personal computers that share in the processing load to solve very large and complex problems in hours or days instead of weeks, months, or years.

This computer is the largest and most powerful computer, sometimes equaling the power of several mainframes combined. Such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is using a supercomputer to calculate the value of the mathematic value pi to over a million decimal places, so far.

Hybrid Computer:

A combination of analog computers and digital computers that are capable of inputting and outputting, it says Hybrid Computer. These computer systems are a cost-effective method of performing complex simulations.