How big are you?
When we try to define the term computer we usually say:
A computer is a machine or device that performs processes, calculations and operations based on instructions provided by a software or hardware program. It is designed to execute applications and provides a variety of solutions by combining integrated hardware and software components.
But are all computers the same? You'd be surprised!
The answer is simply no, computers come in different shapes and sizes, take a look at this photo:
At first glance, you may think this is a factory or possible even a space machine, but infact this is one type of computers that we usually refer to as "Super computers".
Summit, the supercomputer — which fills a server room the size of two tennis courts — can spit out answers to 200 quadrillion (or 200 with 15 zeros) calculations per second, or 200 petaflops, according to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where the supercomputer resides.
"If every person on Earth completed one calculation per second, it would take the world population 305 days to do what Summit can do in 1 second," according to an ORNL statement.
On the other hand look at this photo:
In the photo we can see the "Apple mac mini".
Even though it's miniscule as far as desktops are concerned, it's still something of a behemoth compared to the other systems here, at 7.7 inches square and 1.4 inches thick. With that size, however, comes a great deal of power - its specs blow the other systems out of the water. It's equipped with a 2.5 GHz dual-core Intel i5, an Intel HD Graphics 4000 graphics card, a hard drive with up to 1 TB of space, and 4 GB of DDR3 memory.
What I have mentioned is two types of computers that not only vary in function, but also in size. The following chart shows a classification that summarizes this post:
A computer is a machine or device that performs processes, calculations and operations based on instructions provided by a software or hardware program. It is designed to execute applications and provides a variety of solutions by combining integrated hardware and software components.
But are all computers the same? You'd be surprised!
The answer is simply no, computers come in different shapes and sizes, take a look at this photo:
At first glance, you may think this is a factory or possible even a space machine, but infact this is one type of computers that we usually refer to as "Super computers".
Summit, the supercomputer — which fills a server room the size of two tennis courts — can spit out answers to 200 quadrillion (or 200 with 15 zeros) calculations per second, or 200 petaflops, according to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where the supercomputer resides.
"If every person on Earth completed one calculation per second, it would take the world population 305 days to do what Summit can do in 1 second," according to an ORNL statement.
On the other hand look at this photo:
In the photo we can see the "Apple mac mini".
Even though it's miniscule as far as desktops are concerned, it's still something of a behemoth compared to the other systems here, at 7.7 inches square and 1.4 inches thick. With that size, however, comes a great deal of power - its specs blow the other systems out of the water. It's equipped with a 2.5 GHz dual-core Intel i5, an Intel HD Graphics 4000 graphics card, a hard drive with up to 1 TB of space, and 4 GB of DDR3 memory.
What I have mentioned is two types of computers that not only vary in function, but also in size. The following chart shows a classification that summarizes this post:
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