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This list of computer size categories attempts to list commonly used categories of computer by the physical size of the device and its chassis or case, in descending order of size. One generation's "supercomputer" is the next generation's "mainframe", and a "PDA" does not have the same set of functions as a "laptop", but the list still has ...
The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB). Microcomputers became popular in the 1970s and 1980s and predecessors to these computers were mainframes and minicomputers.
First, they were architecturally more diverse than prior mainframes and minicomputers in hardware and less diverse in software. Second, advances in VLSI made them less expensive (mini-price). These machines were market targeted to be cost-effective and quickly manufactured.
The term supercomputer itself is rather fluid, and the speed of today's supercomputers tends to become typical of tomorrow's ordinary computer. Supercomputer processing speeds are measured in floating-point operations per second, or FLOPS. An example of a floating-point operation is the calculation of mathematical equations in real numbers.
A CDC Cyber 170 Computer room, 1986 A CDC Cyber 70/74 A CDC Cyber 70/74 console. The CDC Cyber range of mainframe-class supercomputers were the primary products of Control Data Corporation (CDC) during the 1970s and 1980s. In their day, they were the computer architecture of choice for scientific and mathematically intensive computing.
A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, [1] is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and large-scale transaction processing.
The VAX 8600 was a successful model and at the time was the best selling high-end VAX. It was succeeded by the VAX 8800 family in 1987. The VAX 8600 has a CPU with an 80 ns cycle time (12.5 MHz) implemented with emitter coupled logic (ECL) macrocell arrays (MCAs).
IBM Mainframe family tree; The Architecture of IBM's Early Computers (PDF) C Gordon Bell, Computer Structures: Readings and Examples, McGraw-Hill, 1971; part 6, section 1, "The IBM 701-7094 II Sequence, a Family by Evolution", ISBN 0-07-004357-4; IBM 705; IBM 7030 Stretch; IBM 7070; IBM 7094; IBM 7090/94 Architecture Archived May 22, 2012, at ...