A personal computer (PC) is any general-purpose computer A computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator. This is in contrast to the batch processing or time-sharing Time-sharing is sharing a computing resource among many users by means of multiprogramming and multi-tasking. Its introduction in the 1960s, and emergence as the prominent model of computing in the 1970s, represents a major technological shift in the history of computing. By allowing a large number of users to interact concurrently with a single models which allowed large expensive mainframe Mainframes are computers used mainly by large organizations for critical applications, typically bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing systems to be used by many people, usually at the same time, or large data processing systems which required a full-time staff to operate efficiently.
A personal computer may be a desktop computer A desktop computer is a personal computer in a form intended for regular use at a single location, as opposed to a mobile laptop or portable computer. Prior to the wide spread of microprocessors, a computer that could fit on a desk was considered remarkably small. Desktop computers come in a variety of types ranging from large vertical tower cases, a laptop A laptop is a personal computer designed for mobile use and small and light enough to sit on a person's lap while in use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device , speakers, and often including a battery, into a single small and light unit. The rechargeable, tablet PC In general terms, tablet PC refers to a slate shaped mobile computer device, equipped with a touchscreen or stylus to operate the computer or a handheld PC A Handheld PC, or H/PC for short, is a term for a computer built around a form factor which is smaller than any standard laptop computer. It is sometimes referred to as a Palmtop. The first handheld device compatible with desktop IBM personal computers of the time was the Atari Portfolio of 1989. Another early model was the Poqet PC of 1989 and (also called palmtop). The most common microprocessors in personal computers are x86 The term x86 refers to a family of instruction set architectures based on the Intel 8086. The term is derived from the fact that many early processors that are backward compatible with the 8086 also had names ending in "86". Many additions and extensions have been added to the x86 instruction set over the years, almost consistently with-compatible CPUs. Software applications for personal computers include word processing Word processing is the creation of documents using a word processor. It can also refer to advanced shorthand techniques, sometimes used in specialized contexts with a specially modified typewriter, spreadsheets A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper, accounting worksheet. It displays multiple cells that together make up a grid consisting of rows and columns, each cell containing either alphanumeric text or numeric values. A spreadsheet cell may alternatively contain a formula that defines how the content of that cell is to be, databases A database is an integrated collection of logically-related records or files consolidated into a common pool that provides data for one or more multiple uses. One way of classifying databases involves the type of content, for example: bibliographic, full-text, numeric, image. Other classification methods start from examining database models or, Web browsers A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content. Hyperlinks present in resources enable users to easily navigate their browsers to and e-mail Electronic mail, most commonly abbreviated email and e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages. E-mail systems are based on a store-and-forward model in which e-mail computer server systems accept, forward, deliver and store messages on behalf of users, who only need to connect to the e-mail infrastructure, typically an e-mail server, clients, games A personal computer game is a game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine. Computer games have evolved from the simple graphics and gameplay of early titles like Spacewar!, to a wide range of more visually advanced titles, and myriad personal productivity and special-purpose software. Modern personal computers often have high-speed or dial-up connections to the Internet, allowing access to the World Wide Web The World Wide Web, abbreviated as WWW and W3 and commonly known as The Web, is a system of interlinked hypertext documents contained on the Internet. With a web browser, one can view web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia and navigate between them by using hyperlinks. Using concepts from earlier hypertext systems, and a wide range of other resources.
A PC may be used at home, or may be found in an office. Personal computers can be connected to a local area network A local area network is a computer network covering a small physical area, like a home, office, or small group of buildings, such as a school, or an airport. The defining characteristics of LANs, in contrast to wide-area networks (WANs), include their usually higher data-transfer rates, smaller geographic area, and lack of a need for leased (LAN) either by a cable or wirelessly.
While early PC owners usually had to write their own programs to do anything useful with the machines, today's users have access to a wide range of commercial and non-commercial software which is provided in ready-to-run form. Since the 1980s, Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices. Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, its most profitable products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity and Intel Intel Corporation is the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. The company is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most personal computers. Intel was founded on July 18, 1968, as Integrated Electronics Corporation (though a common misconception is that "Intel" is from the word have dominated much of the personal computer market with the Wintel Wintel is portmanteau of Windows and Intel. It usually means a computer based on an Intel x86 compatible processor and running the Microsoft Windows operating system platform.
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Cade Smith
Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:09:52 GM
In this age of machinery we all are well aware of the magnitude of . personal computers. . We all ind these types of technologies just about anywhere. A lot of people use computers for business whether big or small companies and even for ...
