 The abbreviation "micro" was common during the 1970s and 1980s, but has now fallen out of common usage.The term "microcomputer" came into popular use after the introduction of the minicomputer, although Isaac Asimov used the term in his short story "The Dying Night" as early as 1956 (published in "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction" in July that year).Most notably, the microcomputer replaced the many separate components that made up the minicomputer's CPU with one integrated microprocessor chip.