But why? To some extent, the explanation is probably nothing more than good old nostalgia. My Sinclair ZX81 never ran very well, but it dates from a time when I ran a whole lot better. Many of us like to be surrounded by the trappings or our youth, however little we may have regarded them at the time.

A general-purpose computer is one that, given the application and required time, should be able to perform the most common computing tasks. Desktops, notebooks, smartphones and tablets, are all examples of general-purpose computers.