Classes
of Computers
- Supercomputers
- such as the Cray Supercomputer. These
puppies fill rooms and cost millions. But if you need serious number crunching
and can program, this is your toy. This is what the serious climate and weather modelers use.
- Mainframe computers.
Not seen all that often these days. However, for perspective, most campus
systems used to run on mainframes.
- Workstations
(UNIX). The typical model here is a powerful computer with terminals networked
to it. Similar to a mainframe, only much smaller. They're still around, but not as common. In the GIS world, there are still a few legacy systems out there. However, ESRI has been trying to get everyone onto PCs (one development environment simplifies things greatly). In fact, it looks as though ArcGIS 10.6 and ArcGIS Pro 2.1 both require window systems.
- Personal computers
(PCs). These are your basic Windows/Macintosh computers. They are single user
type systems. And this is where the GIS world has settled. However, do not buy a mac. None of the GIS/Remote Sensing software will run under apple OS. Maybe under emulation or something, but you don't want to go there. Seriously.
- Smartphones: More and more things are headed in this direction given that your phone is fairly powerful and comes with a built-in GPS. Apps such as ArcGIS Collector will run on both apple and android systems. Don't get a phone that runs on a microsoft OS. This is cool: http://mapit-gis.com/