Mainframe, Mini and Micro

Abstract

Just as in the world of air transport, where the size and performance of aircraft can range from single-engined microplanes to jumbo-sized, multi-engined cargo planes, and as in the world of road transport, where the size and performance of vehicles ranges from very small saloon cars through to huge ‘juggernaut’ lorries, so do we find that the size and performance of computers vary across a spectrum of size and processing power. In computers, as in air and road transport, the class of computer used will depend on the money available, the job that needs doing and the current state of the technology. Most computers can usefully be grouped into one of the following three classes: mainframe computers, mini computers and microcomputers.