Small desktop or portable
computer, typically designed to be used by one person at a time, although individual computers can be linked in a network so that users can share data and programs.
Its central processing unit is a
microprocessor, contained on a single integrated circuit.
Microcomputers are the smallest of the four classes of computer (the others are
supercomputer,
mainframe, and
minicomputer). Since the appearance in 1975 of the first commercially available microcomputer, the Altair 8800, micros have become ubiquitous in commerce, industry, and education.
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