Related:

• iron n. Hardware, especially older and larger hardware of mainframe class with big metal cabinets housing relatively low-density electronics (but the term is also used of modern supercomputers).
  Often in the phrase big iron. Oppose silicon. See also dinosaur....
• dinosaur: n. 1. Any hardware requiring raised flooring and special power.
  Used especially of old minis and mainframes, in contrast with newer microprocessor-based machines....
• big iron: n. Large, expensive, ultra-fast computers.
  Used generally of {number-crunching} supercomputers such as Crays, but can include more conventional big commercial IBMish mainframes....
• ilicon: n. Hardware, esp. ICs or microprocessor-based computer systems (compare {iron}).
  Contrasted with software. See also {sandbender}. -- The AI Hackers Dictionary...
• dinosaur n. 1. Any hardware requiring raised flooring and special power.
  Used especially of old minis and mainframes, in contrast with newer microprocessor-based machines....
• big iron n. [common] Large, expensive, ultra-fast computers.
  Used generally of number-crunching supercomputers such as Crays, but can include more conventional big commercial IBMish mainframes....
• mainframe: n. Term originally referring to the cabinet containing the central processor unit or `main frame' of a room-filling {Stone Age} batch machine.
  After the emergence of smaller `minicomputer' designs in the early 1970s, the traditional {big iron} machines were described as `mainframe computers' and eventually just as mainframes....
• heavy metal: [Cambridge] n. Syn. {big iron}. -- The AI Hackers Dictionary
• ilicon n. Hardware, esp. ICs or microprocessor-based computer systems (compare iron).
  Contrasted with software. See also sandbender....