What is a Computer System?

There are five basic types of computer systems. While these are not all the types of computer systems but these are the five most commonly used today. When we talk about types, we are talking not just about how there are made but what they can and cannot do. Example - vehicles are a general classification, but trucks, pickups, cars and motorcycle are different types of vehicles. We will discuss briefly each of the five basic types of computers and the applications they are used in.

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Tower/Desktop

The tower computer, also known as the desktop computer, is one of the most common computers on the market today. This is also called personal computer due to the fact it is usually bought for one or two people and used for the own personal information and pleasure. Personal computers come in many different shapes and sizes. They have different levels of powers and options and can be used for everything from e-mail to designing buildings or playing video games. Most personal computers built today are up right tower configurations and not desktops as they take up too much space. In other articles we will talk more detail about the pros and cons of desktop or tower computers.

Laptops

Laptop computers are also called notebook computers. Laptops come in several sizes and different ranges of power capabilities. There is a new type of laptop out called a netbook and we will classify them under laptops for now even though they have some major differences. Laptops are used all over because of their small size and portability. They can run a battery anywhere from 2 to 8 hours which makes it convenient when you're in a place with no electricity. Being small portable however has a lot of disadvantages and we will discuss this in our pro and con article for laptops.

Servers

Servers are found mostly in the business environments. Server's store and process information that is used by several people on a network or an office. The word server needs to "serve up" or make available information and make it accessible to anybody who is authorized on its network. Within the server category there are many other types of servers both big and small. Just a few of these are web servers, data servers, e-mail servers and servers used for home media storage. The industry of servers is changing currently to what we call a cloud system. Cloud computing is a group of servers that store information in several places so can be accessed anywhere in the world. This is a new technology that will be coming in the future and we will talk more about it as is becomes more main stream.

Tablet PC's

Tablet PCs are becoming more popular as the Internet grows. Being able to access the Internet, games and apps almost anywhere is very appealing to most people. Tablets come in different sizes and shapes, powers and capabilities. They are light weight, small and hold a charge up to 10 to 12 hours on some models. They require no power cord, no mouse no keyboard and some can even access the Internet anywhere due to their built in cell phone technology. With more businesses, homes, hotels and hotels having free wireless, having a tablet PC is more appealing than ever. Learn more about tablet PCs in their own section on this website.

Mobile

Mobile computers are are found in almost every cell phone built today, they are also called smart phones. This combination of cell phone and portable computer has much appeal due to a small compact size and dual capabilities. Many people find however that the high cost of mobile computing and the small screens make it difficult to get much real work done. Thus we see above the insurgents and growth of the Tablet PC's that may one day take a lot of the cell phone market away. We will just have to wait and see if they both work together or one conquers all. The other biggest advantage to these computers is that they are too small and very costly. Check out our article on the pros and cons of using your cell phone as your mobile computer.

There you have it the basic five types of computer systems. We will discuss the pros and cons of each these types computer systems as well is more detailed information as on each type of computer systems and other articles from our website please look around and learn more about these different types of computers.