Computer hardware: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:40, 8 March 2025

Revision as of 00:00, 17 March 2025

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[[File:Front Z9 2094.jpg|thumb|upright|An [[IBM System z9]] mainframe]]

*A [[mainframe computer]] is a much larger computer that typically fills a room and may cost many hundreds or thousands of times as much as a personal computer. They are designed to perform large numbers of calculations for governments and large enterprises.

*In the 1960s and 1970s, more and more departments started to use cheaper and dedicated systems for specific purposes like [[process control]] and [[laboratory automation]]. A [[minicomputer]], or colloquially '''mini''', is a class of smaller [[computer]]s that was developed in the mid-1960s<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Henderson|editor-first1=Rebecca M.|editor-last2=Newell|editor-first2=Richard G.|title=Accelerating energy innovation : insights from multiple sectors|date=2011|publisher=University of Chicago Press|___location=Chicago|isbn=978-0226326832|page=180}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Huang |first1=Han-Way |title=The atmeAtmel AVR microcontroller : MEGA and XMEGA in assembly and C |date=2014 |publisher=Delmar Cengage Learning |isbn=978-1133607298 |___location=Australia; United Kingdom|isbn=978-1133607298 |page=4}}</ref> and sold for much less than [[Mainframe computer|mainframe]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Estabrooks|first1=Maurice|title=Electronic technology, corporate strategy, and world transformation |url=https://archive.org/details/electronictechno0000esta |url-access=registration|date=1995|publisher=Quorum Books|___location=Westport, Conn.|isbn=0899309690|page=[https://archive.org/details/electronictechno0000esta/page/53 53]}}</ref> and mid-size computers from [[IBM]] and its direct competitors.

*[[Supercomputer]]s can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. They are intended to maximize performance with [[floating-point arithmetic]] and running batch programs that take a very long time (such as weeks) to complete. As a result of the need for communication between parallel programs, the speed of the internal network must be prioritized.{{sfn|Hennessy |Patterson|2011|p=8}}

*[[Warehouse scale computer]]s are larger versions of [[cluster computer]]s that came into fashion with [[software as a service]] provided via [[the internet]]. Their design is intended to minimize cost per operation and power usage, as they can cost over $100 million for a warehouse and the computers which go inside (the computers must be replaced every few years). Although availability is crucial for SaaS products, the software is designed to compensate for availability failures—unlike supercomputers.{{sfn|Hennessy |Patterson|2011|p=8}}