3. Types of Computers
Computers can be classified into three categories.
Classification of Computers by Typeof data they handled.
Classification of Computers by Purpo se .
Classification of Computers by capacity o r Size .
5. Analog Computers
The term analog is taken from the word analo g o us that means
sim ilar.
It measures data varying continuously in value, such as
speed, temperature, pressure etc.
Data are represented in an analog computer as voltages, a
very compact but not necessarily robust form of storage.
These are the special purpose computers and can be used for
complex scientific and mathematical calculations.
They have high speed but less accurate than digital
computers
7. Digital Computers
Digital computers are based on two states, logical
“on” and “off,” represented by two voltage levels
They are general purpose computers.
They accept data in the form of digits
They can store large amount of data, compute data
with great accuracy but they have less speed than
analog computers.
They are used in every field of daily life such as;
Business, education and health etc.
9. Hybrid Computers
A computer that contains both digital and analog
circuits is called hybrid computer.
They are special purpose computers
They have speed of analog but accuracy of digital
computers.
They are generally used for digital processing of
data collected in analog form.
they are widely used in hospitals to monitor patient’s
health state.
12. Special purpose Computers
Special purpose computers are designed
to solve special problems like machine
control or process control. Most analog
computers are special purpose. They are
widely used in industrial robotics.
14. General purpose Computers
They are designed to solve a large variety
of problems. Most of them are digital
computers. They are mostly used in
business and commercial data processing.
They are classified as follows
16. Classification of Computers by
capacity or Size
Super Computers
Main Frames Computers
Mini Computers
Micro Computers
17. Super Computers
Supper computer are the biggest, fastest and most
expensive computers Introduced in 1980 to handle
complicated problems.
Typically priced from $500,000 to over & $350
millions.
They are high capacity machines with hundreds of
thousands of processors that can process over
trillion of transactions per second.
Thousands of users can access it simultaneously.
18. Super Computers
They are used for processing enormous volume of
data such as doing the census calculations,
forecasting, designing aircraft, modeling molecules,
breaking codes, and simulating explosion of nuclear
bombs.
Used for scientific simulations, (animated) graphics,
fluid dynamic calculations, nuclear energy research,
electronic design, and analysis of geological data
(e.g. in petrochemical prospecting
19.
20. Main Frames Computers
Introduced in 1975
Its price is $5000 to $5 million.
Mainframes are capable of processing data at very
high speed millions of instructions per second and
have to access to billions of characters of data.
Mainframe computers are used in large
organizations where many users need access to
shared data and programs.
21. Main Frames Computers
User often access to it by means of a terminal,
which has display screen, keyboard and I/O,
They are used in Banks, insurance companies,
manufacturers, large mail-order house, airline with
space companies doing complex aircraft design,
and other like these
It can serve up to 50,000 users simultaneously
23. Mini Computers
They are smaller than mainframes having less
memory and processing capabilities, so they were
cheaper than mainframes and are for medium size
business
Minicomputers usually have multiple terminals
Minicomputers may be used as network servers and
Internet servers
25. Microcomputers/Personal
Computers
Microcomputers are more commonly known as
personal computers. The term "PC" is applied to
IBM-PCs or compatible computers.
A small digital computer based on a microprocessor
and designed to be used by one person at a time
They are called micro because of their size and use
of small micro Chip
Their price is low so they are popular in small
business and homes
26. Microcomputers/Personal
Computers
They are of different sizes and purposes
Towermodel
The term refers to a computer in which the power
supply, motherboard, and mass storage devices are
stacked on top of each other in a cabinet.
narrow and tall
advantage of tower models is that there are fewer
space constraints, which makes installation of
additional storage devices easier.
27. Microcomputers/Personal
Computers
Desktop model
Designed to fit comfortably on top of a desk, typically with
the monitor sitting on top of the computer.
Desktop model computers are broad and low
Because of their shape, limited to three internal mass
storage devices.
Desktop models designed to be very small are sometimes
referred to as slimline models