A computer processor is one of the most advanced technologies available in the market today. It is also one of the most defining inventions by mankind, along with television and automobiles. Computer processors grow by leaps and bounds every year, with processors getting faster year in and year out. Processor speeds are increasing all the time and their sophistication is growing with every innovation.

Processors are found everywhere, in many applications such as cars, cameras, and cell phones. A processor is the brain of the computer and it controls other parts of the computer such as the memory, the hard drive and the video card. The processor is found in most high-tech gadgets such as game consoles, digital audio players, and GPS devices. Processors have complicated circuitry and their architecture gets more complex with every improvement in their design.

The first processor was made by Intel in 1971. It was called the Intel 4004 and was made possible because of integrated circuit technology. An integrated circuit means that the entire CPU (central processing unit) is on a single chip. The 4004 was a 4-bit processor which had a speed of 740 kHz. In 1976, Intel introduced the 16-bit 8086 processor which had a speed of 5 MHz. A later version of the 8086 was used to build the first personal computer by IBM. This was followed by the Intel 486, which was a 32-bit processor which had a speed of 16 MHz. During this time, several improvements in technology were made. For instance, processors could run in both real mode and protected mode, which introduced the concept of multitasking. Power-saving features, such as the System Management Mode (SMM), meant that the computer could power down various components. Computers finally went from command-line interaction to WIMP (Window, Icon, Menu, Pointing device) interaction. Read the rest of this entry »