Minicomputer

In the early years, many scientists learned about using computers by sitting at them and programming them directly. Chafing at the bureaucratic and physical barriers being erected around mainframe systems, these users developed small, specialized laboratory computers which, although not cheap by current standards, were far less expensive than the mainframes that often cost in excess of a million dollars. These small machines, or minicomputers, were cheap enough so that a person sitting and working at one could afford to use it at less than optimum efficiency. The loss of machine efficiency was offset by the increase in human efficiency.