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Types of Computers

Based on the size, computing power and capabilities, the computers are divided in to several types. Let us have a look at these ranking from top to low.

1. Super Computer

The fastest and extremely fast computer capable of execution hundreds of millions of instructions per second (MIPS) is called a Super computer. They are highly expensive (around 50-100 million dollars to a few billion dollars) and most powerful. 

It can execute n* 10 power 10 to n* 10 power 50 operations per second ex. the NASA super computer Pleiades can execute 5.95 to 7.25 petaflops per second.  1petaflop = one thousand million million = 10 power 15 floating-point operations per second - FLOPS)

The super computers are used in research purposes and in intense calculations like weather forecast, Earth quake studies, nuclear reactors & simulations, Astro physics, complex scientific operations etc. NASA uses super computers to launch satellites, rockets and for space exploration.

Titan is one such super computer with 17.25 petaFLOPS - 25 petaFLOPS speed and costs around $97 million! It ranks 4th among top 500 computers as on June 2017.

PARAM (developed by C-DAC) and ANURAG are Indian Super computers.


Exascale super computer is another super computer that has 30 times more capability than that of the super computers. Tianhe - 2 is one such Exascale super computer.

2. MainFrame Computer

Expensive large scale computers capable of supporting hundreds of millions of users simultaneously. They are measured in MIPS (Millions of Instructions Per Second). They are used by government, banks , large business and other organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing and statistics etc. Mainframes are ranked below super computers.

A super computer is meant for executing a few programs as fast as possible where as a mainframe machine aims at executing many tasks and supporting many users simultaneously.

IBM S/390, IBM S/709, Hitachi Z800 and Fujitsu ICL VME are popular under Main Frames category. 

3. Server
  
A server system is a system that is dedicated to and capable of providing services to clients which requests for services. This happens over a network. Servers have very powerful processors, huge memory and good processing speeds. Some servers have built in database. There are various types of servers like Database servers (dedicated only to DB) , File servers, and application servers. Servers are quite costly machines used in complex and crucial applications. Google server is the fastest popular server we all know.


4. Mini Computer

Mini computers are mid ranged multi user computers less powerful and less costlier than Main frames but more powerful and little costlier than micro computers. Large organizations, universities, individual departments of companies etc use Mini computers. Dumb terminals (only keyboard and monitor - no CPU) can connect to mini or mainframe computers and used centralized processing model to work.

Supermini or super minicomputers are the powerful mini computers with capabilities near to the mainframe systems. 

DEC VAX, PDP -11 are some famous Mini computers.

 PDP-11/40. The processor is at the bottom. A TU56 dual DECtape drive is installed above it.
 By Stefan_Kögl - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=466937


5 . Micro Computers

Also known as Desktop or personal computers are designed to be used by a single user. Apple - 1 the first personal computer (PC) was launched in 1976. The IBM 5150 PC was launched in 1981.

Micro computers or PCs are most widely used and fastest growing computers with various types ranging from wearable or hand held PDA to desktop and laptops. Also called Home computers, these machines enable working with any high level programming languages. These are a single chip microprocessor based systems designed entertainment, education and work purposes. There are various types of PCs. 

Let us see more on types of micro computers in another post.
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