What happens to system performance as the number of users on a minicomputer increases?

• A. There is an increase in performance
• B. There is no change in performance
• C. There would be a decrease in the speed of the system
• D. The system will shut down

Answer: (C)

As the number of users on a minicomputer increases, there is typically a decrease in the speed of the system. This occurs because a minicomputer has limited resources such as processing power, memory, and input/output capabilities. When more users access the system simultaneously, these shared resources become strained, leading to contention for CPU time and memory. As a result, individual tasks take longer to complete, and the overall responsiveness of the system diminishes. Additionally, the more users logged in, the greater the likelihood that the system is handling multiple processes at once, which can slow down performance even further. Hence, a decrease in system speed is a direct outcome of increased user demand on limited system resources.