A technological breakthrough in the early 1970s made it possible to produce an entire CPU on a single silicon chip smaller than a dime. These “computers-on-a-chip,” or microprocessors, could be mass produced at very low cost.
Microprocessors were quickly integrated into all types of products, making possible powerful hand-held calculators, digital watches, a variety of electronic toys, and sophisticated controls for household appliances such as microwave ovens and automatic coffee makers.
Microprocessors also made it possible to build inexpensive computer systems. These are small enough to fit on a desktop or even in a briefcase. These small computer systems have informally come to be called microcomputers (or micros).
Image Source:image.slidesharecdn.com
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Because they are inexpensive and small enough for one person to use at home or work for personal needs, they are also commonly called personal computers, or PCs.
Microcomputers appear in homes, classrooms, and offices. At home they help families keep track of their finances, help students write term papers, regulate heating systems to lower fuel bills, and challenge players of games like PAK-MAN and chess.
Universities, high schools, and elementary schools, attracted by these machines’ low cost and ease of mastery and use relative to larger computers, frequently purchase micros for courses in computing.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
In fact, several universities now require incoming students to buy or rent their own microcomputers. Micros are also widely used in businesses, both small and large. Small businesses use them to keep track of merchandise, prepare correspondence, bill customers, and do routine accounting.
Large businesses use them for purposes such as word processing and filing systems for secretaries and analysis tools for decision makers, to name just two important applications.
Also, salespeople often tote briefcase-sized micros to make presentations at client sites. Microcomputers are increasingly being networked into large communications systems, where they are used as data- entry devices or as general-purpose workstations.