What is "power user"

n. 1 (context computing English) A person who makes heavy use of computers, running many applications and doing complex work (as opposed to an ordinary user who tends to just run one application at a time and do simple work). 2 (context computing English) A user of a personal computer who can utilize advanced and complex functions and programs which are outside the reach of normal users 3 (context computing English) A computer user who seeks and uses products having the most features and the fastest performance.

n. (computing) a computer user who needs the fastest and most powerful computers available

A power user or experienced user is a computer user who uses advanced features of computer hardware, operating systems, programs, or web sites which are not used by the average user. A power user may not have extensive technical knowledge of the systems they use and is not necessarily capable of computer programming and system administration, but is rather characterised by the competence to make the broadest or most general use of computer programs or systems. In enterprise software systems, "Power User" may be a formal role given to an individual who is not a programmer, but who is a specialist in business software. Often these are people who retain their normal user job role, but also function in testing, training, and first-tier support of the enterprise software. Users may erroneously label themselves as power users when they are less than fully competent.

Some software applications are often regarded as being particularly suited for power users, and may even be designed as such, due to their inclusion of sophisticated function and feature sets not typically found in other comparable applications. Examples include VLC media player, a multimedia framework/player/server, which includes a complex, feature-rich, and highly customisable interface (and multiple interfaces moreover, beyond simple skinning) with numerous built-in capabilities not typically deemed useful or even understandable to users in the context of other media player suites such as Windows Media Player or iTunes