Computers are classified into 4 different sizes:
- Mini Computers
- Micro Computers
- Super Computers
- Mainframe Computers
Micro Computers are small computers that are usually called PCs, or personal computers. They complete general purpose tasks and can be from $400 home computers to $15000 workstations. These are the most common types of computers, and most people have them in the forms of desktop computers to laptop computers. Even phones and tablets are considered micro computers because they meet the basic criteria of having local storage, a processor, a graphics coprocessor, and a compatible operating system.
Mini Computers are smaller than Micro Computers and are usually thin clients (which are computers that have a neural connection to a server / mainframe). They are usually employed by businesses becuase they are cheap and they have the processing power to tackle word processing, spreadsheet production, and presentation creation. Mainframe computers are in charge of providing this data at extremely high speeds through cloud networking, or through running an ethernet cable for speeds exceeding 50 GBps.
Super Computers are the fastest computer on the planet, and are usually lined up in rows that take up large rooms. These computers are usually stored like servers: on racks where they link up to other servers in order to quantify large amounts of data at extremely high speeds. These have lots of storage, but since storage isn't their primary use case, it isn't as much as a minframe computer, whose sole purpose is in fact storage and data networking.
Mainframe Computers are servers, and they hold data that is utilized by thin clients and and personnel at a business, or they are used to store massive amounts of data. Servers also act as a checkpoint, espeically networking / internet servers, where if you want to access a website, the website's servers need to access the search request for the specific URL and send you the output (the webpage). Mainframe computers do not have as much processing power as Super Computers, but they provide massive data storage options, which is their main purpose.