Super Computer, Mainframe Computer, Mini Computer and Micro Computer

 a)    Super Computer

 

Super computer is physically the largest computer on size and it is the fastest, most expensive and most powerful computer. It can process large amount of amount of data. The fastest super computer can perform more than one trillion calculations per second. Some super computers have thousands of processors. It is especially made to process the complex and time consuming calculations. It has multiples CPUs hence it supports fully parallel processing (ability to carry out multiple operations or tasks simultaneously).

 

Applications of super computer in real life situation are as follows:

 

·         It can be used to forecast the weather and global climate.

·       It is used in military research and defense system.

·       It is used in Automobile, Aircrafts and Spacecrafts designing.

·       It is used for encoding and decoding the sensitive information.

·       It is used in seismograph, plasma and nuclear research.

·       It is used for the study of DNA and genetics engineering.

 

Examples of Super Computer:

 

Year	Super computer	Location
2002	NEC Earth Simulator	Earth Simulator Center, Yokohama, Japan
2005	IBM Blue Gene / L	DoE/ US National Nuclear Security Administration,
		Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California , USA

 

 

b)   Mainframe Computer

It is second largest computer which covers about 1000 sq. feet. It is a general purpose computer which has been designed for large scale data processing. It is also very expensive and high speed computer system. It supports large numbers of computer terminal with separate input and output unit in each terminal so that about 100 or more persons can work in this computer at a time. Time sharing techniques is used to access the same computer at the same time by multiple users.

 

Mainframe computers are used in large organizations such as insurance company and banks, where many people frequently need to use the same data. In a traditional mainframe computer, each user accesses the mainframe resources through a device called a terminal. There are two types of terminal: a dumb terminal does not process or store data. It has simply an input output devices where as an intelligent terminal can perform some processing operations, but it usually does not have any storage.

Examples of mainframe computers: IBM 1401, IBM 7090, ICL 2950/10 etc.

 

 

c)     Mini Computer

It is the medium – sized general purpose computer which was first released in 1960s. Minicomputer got its name because of small size in comparison to other computer of those days. The capabilities of a minicomputer are somewhere between those of mainframe and personal computers. For this reason, minicomputers are also called midrange computers. It covers about 10 sq. ft. Its CPU can be connected up to 50 terminals so that up to 50 persons can work in this computer at a time. It is used in medium size organization and co-operation like bank, insurance company, reservation center etc.

 

Examples of minicomputer: Prime series, AS/400, AP-3 etc

 

 

 

d)   Micro Computer

 

It is the smallest general purpose computer on the basis of size and it is called microcomputer because it has microprocessor as a central processing unit (CPU). Microprocessor is a small silicon chip which is made integrating millions of components. It is also called personal computer because it can be used only by a single person at a time. It is easy to handle so it is used in different application areas such as school, college, home, cyber etc. Microcomputers are of various types. For example: Desktop computer, Laptop Computer, Notebook, Palmtop computer, Pocket PC etc.

 

The examples of microcomputer are IBM PC, Apple /Macintosh etc.

 

 

·        Difference between Micro Computer and Super Computer:

 

Micro Computer		Super Computer
1.	It is least powerful according to processing	1.	It is more powerful computer.
capabilities.
2.	It is the slowest computer in terms of	2.	It is faster computer in terms of processing.
processing.
3.	It is a general purpose computer.	3.	It is a special purpose computer.
4.	It is the smallest computer on the basis of size.	4.	It is larger computer in size.
5.	It can be portable as well as non-portable.	5.	It is non-portable computer.
6.	It is cheaper.	6.	It is the most expensive computer.
7.	It can be handled by only one person.	7.	It requires numbers of experts to operate.
8.	It has limited memory and storage capacity.	8.	It usually contains larger memory and storage
		capacity.
9.	It is used in office, house.	9.	It is used in weather forecasting, scientific
		research.
10. Example: Desktop PC, Laptop , Tablet etc.		10. Example: CRAY X-MP/24, NEC- 500,
		PRAM .