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Personal computer

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A personal computer (PC) is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator.

A personal computer may be a desktop computer, a laptop computer or a tablet computer. The most common current operating systems for personal computers are Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, while the most common microprocessors are x86-compatible CPUs, ARM architecture CPUs and PowerPC CPUs. Software applications for personal computers include word processing, spreadsheets, databases, Web browsers and e-mail clients, games, and myriad personal productivity and special-purpose software. Modern personal computers often have high-speed or dial-up connections to the Internet, allowing access to the World Wide Web and a wide range of other resources.

A PC may be used at home, or may be found in an office, often connected to a local area network (LAN). This is in contrast to the batch processing or time-sharing models which allowed large expensive systems to be used by many people, usually at the same time, or large data processing systems which required a full-time staff to operate efficiently.

While early PC owners usually had to write their own programs to do anything useful with the machines, today's users have access to a wide range of commercial and non-commercial software which is provided in ready-to-run form. Since the 1980s, Microsoft and Intel have been dominating much of the personal computer market with the Wintel platform.

For more information about Personal computer, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with personal computer

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China's Lenovo to build research centre in Taiwan: report

Technology / Business

created 8 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Chinese high-tech giant Lenovo plans to set up a research and development centre in Taiwan as the firm tries to take advantage of warming cross-strait ties, a report said Tuesday.


Intel faces antitrust lawsuit from FTC (AP)

Intel hit with more antitrust charges in FTC suit

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created Dec 16, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

(AP) -- The Federal Trade Commission piled on new antitrust charges against Intel Corp. on Wednesday, seeking to end what it described as a decade of illegal sales tactics that have crippled rivals and kept ...


Microsoft unleashes lawsuits, raids in piracy crackdown

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created Dec 04, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it has unleashed a series of lawsuits and is cooperating in criminal prosecutions worldwide in an effort to stem piracy of its software.


Nvidia, AMD shares jump after Intel scraps chip

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created Dec 07, 2009 | popularity 1 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(AP) -- Shares of Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. jumped Monday after rival Intel Corp. scrapped plans to make a new graphics chip that would have challenged both companies.


Lenovo buying back mobile phone business

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created Nov 27, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- Personal computer maker Lenovo Group said Friday it is joining the race to develop products that link phones and PCs by buying back a mobile phone business that it sold last year.


HP's profit up 14 pct despite sales drop (AP)

HP profit jumps on cost cuts, new market expansion

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created Nov 23, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- Hewlett-Packard Co.'s cost-cutting and push into new markets is helping soften the blow from weakness in the company's mainstay businesses.


A visitor looks at laptops at a computer fair

Gartner forecasts 2.8 percent growth in PC sales in 2009

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created Nov 23, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Worldwide sales of personal computers, which had been forecast to decline this year, will instead post modest gains, Gartner research group said Monday.