What do we know? (1 of 2)

Before looking at mainframes specifically, let us contemplate what we know about computers generally.

Any computer, Laptop, Mainframe, Tablet or PC relies on three principal components;

Processor - to execute the instructions
Memory - to hold active programs and data
Peripherals - to allow input, output and longer term data storage.

All of these affect the performance, that is the responsiveness or speed at which the computer services any request.