Computer
Hardware Question 8: What is a mainframe?
Answer: The largest, most expensive computers are known
as mainframes (see computer hardware questions 8 through 12 for information about the different types of computers).
They generally cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars and they
usually are used as central data processing and storage devices by large
businesses or government agencies. The computer users can usually access the
mainframes from many different offices that can be in different buildings or
even in different cities. Many people can be in contact with the mainframe at
the same time and, at any one moment, the mainframe can be processing several
different programs for several different users. For that reason, mainframes are
often referred to as host computers in that they are host
to many users in many different locations. Many printers and a variety of
storage devices may be attached to the mainframe computer.
