Types of Computer Systems

Desktop

Designed to be used at a fixed desk location because of its size and associated components, such as the system unit and essential peripheral devices (e.g. keyboard, mouse, speaker). Due to its larger processing unit, it tends to be more powerful and so is often used for more memory-intensive applications.

Mobile

Designed to be portable and fit in your hand, so they will rarely require any peripheral devices. Everything needed to interact with the device is built in (e.g. touchscreen, virtual keyboard, speakers, wireless access to the internet). Despite being smaller in size and subsequently having less room for processing and battery components, many mobile devices are evolving to be powerful enough to handle the same tasks as some computers. 

Server

Its primary function is to serve information to connected computers in the network. Therefore, it prioritises reliability and often has powerful processing capabilities, including large amounts of RAM and multiple CPUs.

While there are many types of servers, most of them operate by accepting a request from a computer (client) and returning the appropriate response. One of the most common types of servers is the web server, which retrieves the HTTP web address entered by the client on their web browser and returns the requested webpage.

A file server also follows the same request-response procedure by storing data in a centralised location that can be accessed by all authorised clients in the network upon request, making it easy for everyone in an office, for example, to have access to any necessary company files.