If you are looking to gain detailed knowledge about the advantages and disadvantages of the fourth generation of computers than you at the right place as in this piece of writing, we are going to briefly describe and discuss all the major and important advantages and disadvantages that the fourth generation of computers had in them and along with that, we are going to share the reasons with you that what component or upgrade caused which benefits and the drawbacks. Furthermore, we will be discussing all this by comparing the fourth generation of computers to the previous generations of computers in this way it will be easier for you to understand and it would be simple for us to make you understand all this knowledge.
What is the fourth generation of computers?
In the late nineties when the developers upgraded the third generation of computers by using the VLSI innovation then the fourth generation of computers came into existence. This generation of computers maintained to be the latest generation of computers from the year 1971 of the nineteenth century to the year 1980. It was their brilliant technology that made them survive for such a large period of time in the computer industry. The major upgrade that was made in the fourth generation of computers was that here in these computers the use of Very-large-scale integrated circuits which are abbreviated as the VLSI circuits were introduced and utilized.
The use of these innovative components made the fourth generation of computers quite compact in size, and that became the reason why these computers were now being called the microprocessors as the people had never seen a computer so compact and small in size. An American multinational corporation named Intel was behind the manufacturing of the very first microprocessor computer in the history of computers. After the work of Intel, another company named IBM also contributed to the computing field by introducing the very first personal computer abbreviated as PC to the world.
These were the major innovations of the computing field nothing like this was experienced or witnessed before all this because of the hard work of the developers, investment of companies, and the invention of VLSI circuits. A VLSI circuit isn’t just a circuit with some basic circuit elements actually, it is a small size circuit with a huge amount of circuit elements in it. Research tells us that an individual simple chip of a VLSI circuit can contain up to five thousand transistors installed in it and with all this, it works effectively and performance is also brilliant as it can easily perform and execute many high-level tasks and calculations at a time without any difficulty.
Advantages of the fourth generation of computers
Now as we have briefly discussed the details about the fourth generation of computers know we are going to discuss its advantages in commercial and daily life.
⦁ The fourth generation of computers was created for absolutely broadly useful use
All the computers that the world was provided with from the previous generation of computers as compared to the fourth generation of computers were quite different concerning the fact of using this is because all the computers invented, used and modified before this generation of computers were all used for commercial purposes only because the factors like size and other many such factors were present in them that made them so much unsuitable for the personal use because they weren’t affordable by any individual but the fourth generation is very different from them in this matter as it has been made and manufactured in a way that they could be simply and easily used by both the commercial and individual applications.
⦁ The fourth generation of computers had a compact size
Except for the fourth generation of computer either we talk about the first, second or even the third generation of computers we all know that they were unnecessarily huge in structure with very few tasks performed by those machines but in the case of the fourth generation of computers we know that they are very reasonable in their structure as the manufactures have reduced them to the lowest possible limit and technology has raised from fitting a machine in a room to fitting it on a small computer table.
⦁ The fourth generation of the computer is a portable device
Along with the fourth generation of computers came some other devices that were related to its feature of being portable. These other devices were the disks that came into existence. With this innovation storage of data became upgraded and easy for the users along with that the concept of data sharing was practically introduced and performed in these machines of that era. This was one of the greatest and biggest innovations that ever made at that time concerning data storage and sharing purpose.
⦁ The fourth generation of computer was reasonable in price with less repairing expenses
As compared to the computers manufactured in the previous generations the fourth generation of computers without any doubt were many times better in performance and applications but with all this, they were also not much expensive and had a very low impact on the pockets of buyers and their maintenance is also very easy and hence affordable.
⦁ Use of High-Level languages
Almost every and every kind of high-level language were understandable and utilizable by the fourth generation of computers as they were manufactured and functioned in such a way. This advantage and benefit of this generation computer made them very beneficial, helpful and users friendly.
Disadvantages of the fourth generation of computers
The fourth generation of computers had a very less number of drawbacks but the point is that it contained few drawbacks and they are provided below
⦁ The fabrication of ICs for the fourth generation of computer was difficult
As we know that the most advanced technology was a part of the fourth generation of computers hence, their manufacturing was quite difficult and could cause many problems.
⦁ A fan was needed in the fourth generation of computers
Although the fourth generation of computers just emitted a very negligible amount of heat still something for cooling it down was required as it was made to use all day long. So, the developers placed a fan in it that was functioned to cool it down in case it gets warn or heated.
⦁ Highly educated staff was required for microprocessors development
As we had discussed before that the microprocessor technology was the main and most important part of the fourth generation of computers and the problem was its manufacturing because its development needed great knowledge and qualified staff.