13. Act out the dialogue.

14. Make up your own dialogue. Imagine that you are meeting foreign students and introduce them to your group-mates and the teacher of computer sciences.

Get real

Look at new computers on the Internet or in magazines. Find one you like. Make a note of its specifications. Bring your notes to your group and say why you like it. Build a class file of computers with information about them.

Types of computers

Task 1. Match these names to the different types of computer.

1. mainframe 3. notebook 5. PC

2. laptop 4. handheld 6. Minicomputer

Task 2. Who uses these types of computer? Where do they use them? Make a list.

Task 3. Listen to Part 1 of the conversation between a shop assistant and a customer. Tick (V) the correct answers to these questions.

1. The customer wants a computer for:

writing Internetgraphics

video games

2. A multimedia computer provides:

sound telephone

graphics videoanimation

Task 4. Listen to Part 2 of the conversation. In column A, tick the hardware items

named.

А	В	Device	A	B	Device
		multimedia computer			handheld
		multimedia notebook			printer
		subnotebook			monitor
		laptop			modem

Task 5. Listen again to the conversation. In Column B, tick the items the assistant recommends.

Task 6. Study these details of different types of computer. Find the answers to these questions. Which type of computer is:

1. the most common?

2. small enough for a pocket?

3. the most common portable?

4. used by many people at the same time?

5. used like mainframes?

6. also called a handheld computer?

7. the most powerful?

8. not suitable for a lot of typing?

Types of computer	Notes
Mainframes	Large, powerful, expensive.
	Multi-user systems - used by many people at the same time.
	Used for processing very large amounts of data.
	The most powerful mainframes are called
	supercomputers.
Minicomputers	Used like mainframes.
	Not as big, powerful, or expensive as mainframes.
	Less common now because microcomputers have improved.
Microcomputers or	The most common type of computer.
Personal computers	Smaller, cheaper, and less powerful than mainframes and minicomputers.

Types of portable	Notes
Laptop	About the size of a small typewriter.
	Less common now because smaller and lighter portables are available.
Notebook	About the size of a piece of writing paper.
	The most common type of portable.
Subnotebook	Not quite as big as notebooks. Can fit into a
	jacket pocket.
Handheld or	Small enough to fit into the palm of one hand.
Palmtop	Not easy to type with because of their size.
	Specialized handheld computers known as PDAs are used as personal organizers.

Language work: Comparison

Study this comparison of three types of computer.

	Mainframes	Minicomputers	Microcomputers
Size	+++	++	+
Power	+++	++	+
Cost	+++	++	+

We compare things using adjectives in two ways.

1. We can compare one type of computer with another.

Minicomputers are bigger than microcomputers.

Mainframes are more expensive than microcomputers.

For negative comparisons, we can say:

Microcomputers are not as big as minicomputers.

Microcomputers are not as powerful as mainframes.

2. We can compare mainframes to all other types of computer.

Mainframes are the biggest computers.

Mainframes are the most powerful computers.

Mainframes are the most expensive computers.

With short adjectives (big, small, fast), we add -er and -est (faster, fastest).

With longer adjectives (powerful, expensive), we use more/less and the most/the least before the adjective (more powerful, the most powerful).

Task 7. Choose the correct adjective. Then fill in the gaps with the correct form of the

adjective.

1. light/heavy Laptops are _______than desktop computers, but ______ than notebooks.

2. large/small The mainframe is the _________type of computer.

A minicomputer is ________than a microcomputer.

3. common/good Personal computers are _________than mainframes but mainframes are ___________than personal computers at processing very large amounts of data.

4. powerful/expensive Minicomputers are ________than mainframes but they are also __________.

5. fast/cheap New computers are _______and sometimes _______than older machines.

6. powerful/expensive Laptops are often _________than PCs but they are not as ___________.

Task 8. In pairs, decide what sort of computer is best for each of these users.

1. John Wilmott is a salesperson and he spends a lot of time visiting customers. He wants a computer to carry with him so he can access data about his customers and record his sales.

2. Pat Nye is a personnel officer. She needs a computer to keep staff records and to keep a diary of appointments. She also needs a computer for writing letters.

3. The University of the North needs a computer to look after its accounts, its network, the records of all students and staff, and to help with scientific research.

4. The James family want a computer for entertainment, writing letters, the Internet, and for calculating tax.

Task 9. Put the words in brackets into the correct form to make an accurate description of sizes of computers.

There are different types of computer. The (large) _________and (powerful) _________are mainframe computers. Minicomputers are (small)___________than mainframes but are still very powerful.

Microcomputers are small enough to sit on a desk. They are the (common)

__________type of computer. They are usually (powerful)_________than minicomputers.

Portable computers are (small) than desktops. The (large)________portable is a laptop. (Small) _________portables, about the size of a piece of writing paper, are called notebook computers. Subnotebooks are (small) _________than notebooks.

You can hold the (small) ________computers in one hand. They are called handheld computers or palmtop computers.

Task 10. Speak about computer and its types. You may also use information from the text below.

Computers are available in different shapes, sizes and weights, due to these different shapes and sizes they perform different sorts of jobs from one another.

They can also be classified in different ways. All the computers are designed by the qualified computer architectures that design these machines as their requirements. A computer that is used in a home differs in size and shape from the computer being used in a hospital. Computers act as a server in large buildings, while the computer also differs in size and shape performing its job as a weather forecaster.

A student carrying a laptop with him to his college is different in shape and size from all the computers mentioned above.

Here we are going to introduce different classifications of computers one by one. We will discuss what are in classifications and what job they perform.

Super computer

The biggest in size, the most expensive in price than any other is classified and known as super computer. It can process trillions of instructions in seconds. This computer is not used as a PC in a home neither by a student in a college.

Governments specially use this type of computer for their different calculations and heavy jobs. Different industries also use this huge computer for designing their products.

In most of the Hollywood’s movies it is used for animation purposes. This kind of computer is also helpful for forecasting weather reports worldwide.

Mainframes

Another giant in computers after the super computer is Mainframe, which can also process millions of instruction per second and capable of accessing billions of data.

This computer is commonly used in big hospitals, air line reservations companies, and many other huge companies prefer mainframe because of its capability of retrieving data on a huge basis.

This is normally too expensive and out of reach from a salary-based person who wants a computer for his home.

This kind of computer can cost up to thousands of dollars.

Minicomputer

This computer is next in the line but less offers less than mainframe in work and performance. These are the computers, which are mostly preferred by the small type of business personals, colleges, etc.

Personal computers

Almost all the computer users are familiar with the personal computers. They normally know what the personal computer is and what are its functions.

This is the computer mostly preferred by the home users. These computers are lesser in cost than the computers given above and also, small in size; they are also called PCs in short for Personal computers.

This computer is small in size and you can easily arrange it to fit in your single bedroom with its all accommodation. Today this is thought to be the most popular computer in all.

Notebook computers

Having a small size and low weight the notebook is easy to carry to anywhere. A student can take it with him/her to his/her school in his/her bag with his/her book.

This is easy to carry around and preferred by students and business people to meet their assignments and other necessary tasks.

The approach of this computer is also the same as the Personal computer. It can store the same amount of data and having a memory of the same size as that of a personal computer. One can say that it is the replacement of personal desktop computer.