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A microprocessor is a computer processor that incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit (CPU) on a single integrated circuit (IC) or at most a few integrated circuits. The microprocessor is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and provides results as output. It is an example of sequential digital logic, as it has internal memory. Microprocessors operate on numbers and symbols represented in the binary numeral system.
The integration of a whole CPU onto a single chip or on a few chips greatly reduced the cost of processing power. Integrated circuit processors are produced in large numbers by highly automated processes resulting in a low per unit cost. Single-chip processors increase reliability as there are many fewer electrical connections to fail. As microprocessor designs get faster, the cost of manufacturing a chip (with smaller components built on a semiconductor chip the same size) generally stays the same.
Before microprocessors, small computers had been implemented using racks of circuit boards with many medium- and small-scale integrated circuits. Microprocessors integrated this into one or a few large-scale ICs. Continued increases in microprocessor capacity have since rendered other forms of computers almost completely obsolete, with one or more microprocessors used in everything from the smallest embedded systems and handheld devices to the largest mainframes and supercomputers.
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