A computer built around a single-chip microprocessor. Less powerful than minicomputers and mainframes, microcomputers have nevertheless evolved into very powerful machines capable of complex tasks. Technology has progressed so quickly that state-of-the-art microcomputers—essentially, in today’s terms, a desktop PC—are as powerful as mainframe computers of only a few years ago, at a fraction of the cost. See also computer.
Or micro or personal computer; 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 widely accepted in commerce, industry, and education.