It's hard to imagine that it wasn't so long ago that computers used to just about squeeze into a decent sized room but these days they can be tucked away under a desk or perched on the palm of our hand. Computers have come a long way and as they have so too has the number of uses and applications there now are.
It used to be considered a luxury if a household had a computer, often stored in a study or spare bedroom the typical home computer used to be used by the children doing their homework, parents working out a family budget on a spreadsheet and the occasional computer game for fun. These days it isn't just one computer in most households but actually multiple instances, it isn't uncommon for two, three - even four computers to be in the average household and yet again the number of uses has also increased.
The introduction of laptop computers and in more recent years ultra portables like netbooks and tablet PCs means that people can have computers in any room of the house, even the garden and be able to send emails, chat to friends online and even do the weekly shopping all from their computers. With smaller computers available you can now hide your PC away when it is not in use and not need a room of its own.
Many people are using their PCs to store a record shop's worth of music and videos and playing these through their main TV set in their lounge, a special division of desktop PCs known as Media Centre PCs have sprung up allowing a PC into the living room and being able to easily access photos, videos and music along with being able to use the internet from the couch as well.
So computers have certainly come a long way in recent years and ingrained themselves in to our everyday lives to the point where not only are computers available in many different shapes and sizes but at much more accessible prices too. Computers are no longer considered a luxury device that people can only dream of owning and are now fully a part of most people's lives.