I am not the owner of any Apple systems product. For the last 15 years my primary systems have all been Windows based. I mostly run Windows 7 and Windows XP but also use various versions of Ubuntu Linux and OpenBSD. I was a programmer for 35 years. I worked on many different systems. I have owned a Radio Shack Color Computer III, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Commodore Amiga 500, dual processor Intel Pentium, Intel Pentium III, AMD Athlon, i7-3370M, and currently i7-4790K. I have used virtually every line of Intel processor starting with the 8088. I have over the years worked on DEC, Burroughs, Sperry, Sperry-Univac, GE, Honeywell, Bull, and IBM systems. I think I know what a computer is and is not.
Most of you seem to think a computer is a only a computer if it runs a Windows operating system. There are many other operating systems out there. Large businesses use Windows machines for data display, word processing, and preparation of information for presentation. They are not used for critical data storage or processing. Effectively a Windows Workstation is a dumb terminal, an IBM Selectric typewriter (with backstroke key that actually erases), and very very fancy calculator. Small businesses may use a Windows based computer for all business automation including pay, inventory, records keeping, word processing, and calculations. Medium business use for Windows based computers will fall somewhere in between depending on costs. Personal computers regardless of type within homes are primarily toys and communication devices.
Windows is designed for MICRO computers. Windows can only support a maximum of 256 cores (2 physical processors with up to 128 cores each). There are computers that can support thousands of processors. Windows is made primarily for 1 user per computer though it can support more. There are systems that are designed to support 1000's of uses concurrently. Without special very high speed disks (RAM disks, Solid State Disks, and drives on a card like the Intel 750 series) and software. Most 7200 RPM drives have a little over 9ms per single read (reading of sequential data can often be cached to allow reading large blocks at a time but random reads cannot do this). This gives a best case scenario of 110 reads per second. Random access of data usually requires more than 2 reads for each request unless the file structure uses relative addressing and the first read returns the relative address for the data. For random reads the maximum possible data access is 55 per second per spindle with most random access closer to 10 or 20 per second. Allowing 1000 people to issue requests for data would cause a input output bottleneck that would effectively shutdown a microcomputer. Until recently Microsoft did not even include many functions used on minicomputers to super computers in there operating system as Windows computers were not meant to have multiple users accessing them concurrently.
Super computers are able to run over 4 MILLION times faster than the i7-6950X, the latest Intel extreme edition processor. Transaction processing computers are designed for thousands of users at the same time. Personal computers are designed for single user or at best only a few users concurrently. Almost every game written for cell phones is more complicated and longer than the code used by the entire NASA during the Apollo mission period of the 1960's when men walked on the moon.
@Kibaruk, "To me a computer is something I can use as a... computer, not a phone with premium capabilities.". By your definition most systems are not computers as I doubt you know how to use most of them. I doubt you have the slightest idea how to even turn on, let alone boot/start them, or dream on actually using doing real work with them. To be honest, no body in my shop knew how to power the system on we worked on, we had contracted service people that did that. We took over once the systems were powered on. Booting the system was about a 10 minute process as long as no changes were needed. With changes it could take a couple of hours to a few days depending how extensive the changes were.
@Kibaruk, "If I can run x86 software as stated already, that's a computer to me." If I can run x86 software as stated already, that's a computer to me.". By this definition, a Microsoft Surface Pro is not a computer. I have lots of old x86 software that does not work on Windows anymore, including in compatibility mode. x86 software is the software written for the 16 bit and 32 bit version of Windows. My old Windows 95/Windows98 games Axis and Allies, Sim City, Magic the Gathering, and SSI Advanced Dungeon and Dragons games were ALL x86 and only Axis and Allies runs at all (frequent crashes). To declare a system is not a computer because it does not run the software you want to run is beyond ignorant. You may as well declare a Model T Ford is not a car because it does not have an air conditioner, automatic transmission, or sound system in it.
@MonsterZero, "Have you heard of backwards compatibility?" when referring to external ports. Denying a system computer status because it is not hardware backwards compatible is ridiculous. I have been complaining about this since I first started with computers. I had to convert IBM 7 track tapes from 100 characters per inch to 200 characters per inch to 800 characters per inch to 9 track 1600 characters per inch to 6540 characters per inch, to ... I had to convert from paper tape to magnetic tape. I had to convert from using card read to using disk files. On a personal level, I had to convert from cassette tape to floppy disk to floppy disk to hard disk to cd to dvd. Wow, by declaring a computer that is not backward compatible is not a computer you have just eliminated every piece of computer hardware since the Eniac and it is only allowed to be a computer because there was nothing it was expected to be compatible with since it was the first.
Calling a Microsoft Surface Pro 4 a computer and not calling Ipad Pro a computer just displays complete ignorance.
Definition - Computer: "a programmable electronic device designed to accept data, perform prescribed mathematical and logical operations at high speed, and display the results of these operations. Mainframes, desktop and laptop computers, tablets, and smartphones are some of the different types of computers." from dictionary.com. Please note, there is NO mention of Windows. Please note there is no mention of even a visual display. A computer may accept as input signals on wires such as the computer in most cars and only provide results FOR PEOPLE when connected to special equipment for diagnostics, the rest of the time the results are controlling gas flow, possibly connecting to Onstar, possibly connecting to GPS systems, possibly handling lighting, steering (many cars now use steer by wire instead of an actual steering column connected to a steering linkage), car climate, ... Depending on how recent you television, alarm clock, refrigerator, home climate system, or even washing machine is, it contains a computer.
To me the only difference between most cell phones today, tablets, microcomputers, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and supercomputers is the software available for them, the number of concurrent users supported, and the processing speed. I think at least for a few more years, I will still call my washer a washer.
