Updated April 10, 2023
Difference Between Minicomputer vs Microcomputer
Minicomputer or Microcomputer both sounds the same but both have a good difference between them. Microcomputers are the type of computers that are used by most people for daily usage for example laptops or desktop PCs that have a high processing rate when compared to minicomputers. Minicomputers on other hand were used in the early 90s which have very slow processing and computational strength. Minicomputers are generally larger in size and are quite slow when comes to Microcomputer comparison. The microcomputer has large memory due to which nowadays it is preferred more for daily needs.
Head to Head Comparison between Minicomputer vs Microcomputer (Infographics)
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Key Differences between Minicomputer vs Microcomputer
Some of the key differences between the Minicomputer vs Microcomputer are given below:
There are certain key differences that exist when a minicomputer is compared to a microcomputer. To illustrate a few some of them are as follows:
- Minicomputers are small computers that were introduced in 1960 and are used for various business enterprises and scientific applications work.
- Microcomputers are kind of personal computers that are used for much general-purpose work and are introduced in 1970 to overcome most of the tasks.
- Microcomputers are used for many of the purposes of education, presentations, and entertainment.
- On the other hand, minicomputers are used for none of the above-mentioned purposes but for control of processes to manufacture for these computers.
- Microcomputers support for and are composed of optimization and evaluation of single processing unit.
- Minicomputers are used for support of optimization composed of the double processing unit for any manipulation and evaluation as well.
- Microcomputers are the most cost and user friendly as compared to minicomputers whereas minicomputers are highly complex and costly. It is also difficult to use when compared to a minicomputer.
- Minicomputers are quite bulky and have storage size with respect to Terabytes (TB) whereas microcomputers are lighter in weight and are measured in Gigabytes (GB) when it comes to size and storage respectively.
- Minicomputers are used in process control, lots of administrative tasks, and financial performance all majorly related to industry task which is not the case with Microcomputers where word processing, database management, spreadsheets, graphics, and general office applications are the main emphasizing task and can be performed seamlessly without much hustle.
- Minicomputers are more powerful when compared to microcomputers and vice-versa.
- Microcomputers make use of tapes and disks to frame the entire storage devices whereas minicomputers make use of magnetic disks and tapes for storage in secondary devices especially for any write or read activity to be performed on it.
- Microcomputers are very slower in speed and in terms of performance also when compared to minicomputers which are quite faster in terms of speed and performance because of the multiple users handling capacity due to the presence of multiprocessing system which has all these capacity especially for handling different users simultaneously.
- Some of the examples of Minicomputers include AS/400 computers, MV 1500, Motorola 68040.
- Some of the examples of Microcomputers include IBM-PC, desktop, laptop, etc.
- Some of the early models including DEC PDP-8 alternatively called Straight-8 minicomputer was introduced and manufactured by Digitial Equipment Corporation and that PDP-8 was considered one of the best and known minicomputers used which was affordable also in terms of price and was priced at nearly $20000.
- Consequent to that it got introduced with Intel 4004 in 1971 which was the first microprocessor that was used for reading and writing various instructions having various CPUs, memory, and control on silicon chips.
- Then came into picture desktop as Microcomputers whose working is almost known to every individual now.
- Desktop to laptops that evolutionary transformation has also bought many changes in the usage and processing factor of systems when compared to mini-computers although the processing for mini-computers is quite powerful but because of its slobby and bulky size it is less preferred.
- Big organizations do deal with these minicomputers especially those that have some legacy systems and existing projects to deal with this are only using this apart from this fact it is not even convenient to use mainframe computers when microcomputers already exist.
Minicomputer vs Microcomputer Comparison Table
Comparison between Minicomputer vs Microcomputer are given below:
|
Minicomputer |
Microcomputer |
| Minicomputers were developed in the early 90s and were supposed to be midrange computers that have relatively high processing speed, a little smaller in size and price than supercomputers but the story is not true. They were still huge in size and weighed in pounds. | Microcomputers on the other hand were completely opposite and didn’t enter or dominated the market yet. However to overcome the challenge faced by minicomputers these easy to handle, affordable in size and other flexibility came into the picture. |
| Minicomputers are bulky in nature due to which they are less preferred over microcomputers. | Microcomputers are quite light and easy to handle because of their small size and feather-like weight. |
| Minicomputers never had microchip embedded facility within them neither the supercomputers nor mainframe computers of its time had that. | Microcomputers on the other hand replaced all the disadvantages introduced by minicomputers by incorporating these microchips embedded into it. |
| Minicomputers on the other hand have completely opposite behavior in terms of processing speed where the CPU is not that much transformed and enhanced. Since there is no presence of microchips in it. | Microchips introduced within the system have totally transformed the computing speed of the ccentral processing unit by making up the interconnected circuits and thus enhancing the entire network for streamlined processing. |
| Minicomputers are less complex when compared with the mainframes but provide multiple users with multiple terminals which is not the case with Microcomputers. | Microcomputers are not that complex as mainframes but contain everything into one place means it is aggregated into one space which is a little difficult to the users who are more certainly using Minicomputer not now earlier when these systems came into the picture in the early 1970s. |
Conclusion
Most of the users are now tech-savvy and technological advancement with the evolution of microcomputers from minicomputers have taken many folds from the 1960s till date. Much advancement in terms of efficiency and processing rates has been improvised in Microcomputers and have been tried to made portable and light in weight also.
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