Types of computer systems

Question 1

What is a pc/desktop?

Answer 1

• general purpose computer made up of separate monitor, keyboard and mouse and processing unit (Base)

Question 2

Advantages and Disadvantages of pc/desktop?

Answer 2

Adv:
- Spare parts and connections tend to be standard so prices are low
- better specification (e.g. faster processor) for a given price (often due to size and construction restraints of a laptop)​
- The large case allows for heat dissipation.
Disadv:
- not portable made up of separate components.​
- All components need to be hooked up with wiring, can be quite complex and takes desk space.​
- copy files when you want to do work elsewhere as not portable.

Question 3

What is a mainframe computers?

Give some uses for a mainframe computer?

Answer 3

• Large, very powerful, computer systems.
• Name comes from the days when the individual components were housed in large (room sized) frames.​
  Uses:
• Run commercial applications, such as banking and insurance, where large amount of data needs to be processed each day.

Question 4

What are the main features of a mainframe computer?

Answer 4

• Several CPU’s each and huge amounts of storage capacity.​
• very fast processor speeds and huge internal memory.​
• support multiple operating systems.​
• operate using time sharing or batch processing

Question 5

Advantages and Disadvantages of a mainframe computer?

Answer 5

Adv:
- can do very large jobs which require large memories and very fast processing time.​
- capable of very large number crunching and deal with complex mathematical functions which are very time consuming
Disadv:
- need to be ​permanently housed in large rooms so they cannot ​be moved around.​
- very expensive to operate and maintain.

Question 6

What is a quantum computer?

Answer 6

• A machine, that performs calculations based on the behaviour of particles at the sub-atomic level.
• A qubit is the data unit in a quantum computer,
• A qubit is essentially a bit (binary digit) that can take on several, or many, values simultaneously.

Question 7

Advantages and Disadvantages of a quantum computer?

Answer 7

Adv: 
- powerful 
- fast 
- makes improvement to science 
- small
Disadv:
- expensive 
- difficult to build 
- lots of heat 
- hard to control quantum particles