Modern laptops have enough processing power and storage capacity to be used for all office work, website designing, software development and even audio/video editing. After laptops computers were further miniaturized to develop machines that have processing power of a desktop but are small enough to be held in one’s palm. The operating system can be observed from the point of view of the user or the system. This is known as the user view and the system view respectively. More details about these are given as follows − User View. The user view depends on the system interface that is used by the users.

• Basics of Computers Tutorial

Point Of View Laptops & Desktops Driver Download For Windows 10 Windows 7

• Basics of Computers Resources

• Selected Reading

Historically computers were classified according to processor types because development in processor and processing speeds were the developmental benchmarks. Earliest computers used vacuum tubes for processing, were huge and broke down frequently. However, as vacuum tubes were replaced by transistors and then chips, their size decreased and processing speeds increased manifold.

All modern computers and computing devices use microprocessors whose speeds and storage capacities are skyrocketing day by day. The developmental benchmark for computers is now their size. Computers are now classified on the basis of their use or size −

• Desktop
• Laptop
• Tablet
• Server
• Mainframe
• Supercomputer

Let us look at all these types of computers in detail.

Desktop

Desktop computers are personal computers (PCs) designed for use by an individual at a fixed location. IBM was the first computer to introduce and popularize use of desktops. A desktop unit typically has a CPU (Central Processing Unit), monitor, keyboard and mouse. Introduction of desktops popularized use of computers among common people as it was compact and affordable.

Riding on the wave of desktop’s popularity many software and hardware devices were developed specially for the home or office user. The foremost design consideration here was user friendliness.

Laptop

Point Of View Laptops & Desktops Driver Download For Windows 10 Laptop

Despite its huge popularity, desktops gave way to a more compact and portable personal computer called laptop in 2000s. Laptops are also called notebook computers or simply notebooks. Laptops run using batteries and connect to networks using Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) chips. They also have chips for energy efficiency so that they can conserve power whenever possible and have a longer life.

Modern laptops have enough processing power and storage capacity to be used for all office work, website designing, software development and even audio/video editing.

Tablet

After laptops computers were further miniaturized to develop machines that have processing power of a desktop but are small enough to be held in one’s palm. Tablets have touch sensitive screen of typically 5 to 10 inches where one finger is used to touch icons and invoke applications.

Keyboard is also displayed virtually whenever required and used with touch strokes. Applications that run on tablets are called apps. They use operating systems by Microsoft (Windows 8 and later versions) or Google (Android). Apple computers have developed their own tablet called iPad which uses a proprietary OS called iOS.

Server

Servers are computers with high processing speeds that provide one or more services to other systems on the network. They may or may not have screens attached to them. A group of computers or digital devices connected together to share resources is called a network.

Servers have high processing powers and can handle multiple requests simultaneously. Most commonly found servers on networks include −

• File or storage server
• Game server
• Application server
• Database server
• Mail server
• Print server

Mainframe

Mainframes are computers used by organizations like banks, airlines and railways to handle millions and trillions of online transactions per second. Important features of mainframes are −

• Big in size
• Hundreds times Faster than servers, typically hundred megabytes per second
• Very expensive
• Use proprietary OS provided by the manufacturers
• In-built hardware, software and firmware security features

Supercomputer

Supercomputers are the fastest computers on Earth. They are used for carrying out complex, fast and time intensive calculations for scientific and engineering applications. Supercomputer speed or performance is measured in teraflops, i.e. 1012 floating point operations per second.

Chinese supercomputer Sunway TaihuLight is the world’s fastest supercomputer with a rating of 93 petaflops per second, i.e. 93 quadrillion floating point operations per second.

Most common uses of supercomputers include −

• Molecular mapping and research
• Weather forecasting
• Environmental research
• Oil and gas exploration

• Related Questions & Answers

• Selected Reading

Point Of View Laptops & Desktops Driver Download For Windows 10 64-bit

An operating system is a construct that allows the user application programs to interact with the system hardware. Download scanner driver lide 110. Operating system by itself does not provide any function but it provides an atmosphere in which different applications and programs can do useful work.

The operating system can be observed from the point of view of the user or the system. This is known as the user view and the system view respectively. More details about these are given as follows −

User View

The user view depends on the system interface that is used by the users. The different types of user view experiences can be explained as follows −

• If the user is using a personal computer, the operating system is largely designed to make the interaction easy. Some attention is also paid to the performance of the system, but there is no need for the operating system to worry about resource utilization. This is because the personal computer uses all the resources available and there is no sharing.
• If the user is using a system connected to a mainframe or a minicomputer, the operating system is largely concerned with resource utilization. This is because there may be multiple terminals connected to the mainframe and the operating system makes sure that all the resources such as CPU,memory, I/O devices etc. are divided uniformly between them.
• If the user is sitting on a workstation connected to other workstations through networks, then the operating system needs to focus on both individual usage of resources and sharing though the network. This happens because the workstation exclusively uses its own resources but it also needs to share files etc. with other workstations across the network.
• If the user is using a handheld computer such as a mobile, then the operating system handles the usability of the device including a few remote operations. The battery level of the device is also taken into account.

There are some devices that contain very less or no user view because there is no interaction with the users. Examples are embedded computers in home devices, automobiles etc.

System View

According to the computer system, the operating system is the bridge between applications and hardware. It is most intimate with the hardware and is used to control it as required.

The different types of system view for operating system can be explained as follows:

• The system views the operating system as a resource allocator. There are many resources such as CPU time, memory space, file storage space, I/O devices etc. that are required by processes for execution. It is the duty of the operating system to allocate these resources judiciously to the processes so that the computer system can run as smoothly as possible.
• The operating system can also work as a control program. It manages all the processes and I/O devices so that the computer system works smoothly and there are no errors. It makes sure that the I/O devices work in a proper manner without creating problems.
• Operating systems can also be viewed as a way to make using hardware easier.
• Computers were required to easily solve user problems. However it is not easy to work directly with the computer hardware. So, operating systems were developed to easily communicate with the hardware.
• An operating system can also be considered as a program running at all times in the background of a computer system (known as the kernel) and handling all the application programs. This is the definition of the operating system that is generally followed.