The appearance of a microprocessor allowed the fourth generation of computers to appear. Microprocessor is a device that has thousands of integrated circuits (millions of transistors) built in one silicon chip. The fourth generation was started by Intel 4004 chip that was developed in 1971. In 1981 IBM introduced the first computer that was dedicated to a home user. Three years later Apple introduced Macintosh. The era of mass usage of computers began. The use of microprocessors has expanded and in our days mostly all electronic devices use microprocessors or micro-controllers.
In the fourth generation the development of computer networks began. This led to invention of the Internet. Many other great things were developed during these years. Now it is very hard to imagine using computer without a mouse, GUI or other features.