<Li> Programmable calculator--Like small handhelds, but specialized on mathematical work . </Li> <Li> Handheld game consoles--The same as game consoles, but small and portable . </Li> <P> Minicomputers (colloquially, minis) are a class of multi-user computers that lie in the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the smallest mainframe computers and the largest single - user systems (microcomputers or personal computers). The term superminicomputer or supermini was used to distinguish more powerful minicomputers that approached mainframes in capability . Superminis (such as the DEC VAX or Data General Eclipse MV / 8000) were usually 32 - bit at a time when most minicomputers (such as the PDP - 11 or Data General Eclipse or IBM Series / 1) were 16 - bit . These traditional minicomputers in the last few decades of the 20th Century, found in small to medium - sized businesses, laboratories and embedded in (for example) hospital CAT scanners, often would be rack - mounted and connect to one or more terminals or tape / card readers, like mainframes and unlike most personal computers, but require less space and electrical power than a typical mainframe . The contemporary term for minicomputer is midrange computer, such as the higher - end SPARC, POWER and Itanium - based systems from Oracle Corporation, IBM and Hewlett - Packard, and the size is now typically smaller, such as a tower case . </P> <P> The term mainframe computer was created to distinguish the traditional, large, institutional computer intended to service multiple users from the smaller, single user machines . These computers are capable of handling and processing very large amounts of data quickly . Mainframe computers are used in large institutions such as government, banks and large corporations . They are measured in MIPS (million instructions per second) and can respond to hundreds of millions of users at a time . </P>

Minicomputers and microcomputers are from which generation of computers