In computing terms the difference between supercomputer and minisupercomputer

is that supercomputer is any computer that has a far greater processing power than others of its day; typically they use more than one core and are housed in large clean rooms with high air flow to permit cooling. Typical uses are weather forecasting, nuclear simulations and animations while minisupercomputer is a computer capable of vector processing and small-scale multiprocessing, a cheaper alternative to a full supercomputer in the 1980s.