difference between workstation and personal computer

[ubiatch]

My IT department just got around to ordering a new pc for me at work. Company is stingy on cost so they want to spend as little as possible. I know workstations (e.g. dell precision) cost more than the personal desktops (e.g. dell dimension), but you can get a lot more for your buck with a desktop. So what is the difference between a workstation and the personal computer? ... I'm asking cuz the workstation I'm getting comes with shiite! ... dvd-rom... why not a dvd-rom /cd writer

 

[Matthias99]

So what is the difference between a workstation and the personal computer?

About two grand. <ba-dum, ching!>

Seriously, the line between a 'workstation' and a 'desktop computer' (and 'low-end server') is pretty tenuous these days. You can buy 'desktop' systems today that have far better specs than a 'workstation' from a year ago.

Workstations *tend* to include more RAM, beefier (and/or multiple) processors, and (for 3D rendering work) professional-class OpenGL graphics cards (the Quadro or FireGL lines from NVIDIA and ATI, respectively). They may have SCSI drives and/or RAID, but are unlikely to have lots of drive space (unless you are building a video editing workstation or something else that needs it). They may also have specialized hardware like video capture boards. They generally won't have the niceties of a 'desktop' system (such as big hard drives, a CDRW drive, fancy cases, etc.), and use parts that are geared towards stability rather than performance.

 

[Spikesoldier]

i would have to say that in the PC marketing world that:

a workstation is more content creation - CAD, graphics programs, things like that.

and PC is something for reading email, internet, games, and normal things like that

the terms are really interchangeable though.

i personally have a precision 650 at work, with RAID0'ed 15K 36GB SCSI drives, DVD burner+ROM, along 3.06GHz xeons, 1GB of ECC ram, and an ATi fireGL X1 128 video card with dual DVI on a dell 1900FP 19" LCD.

also we have adobe suite (photoshop, acrobat, illustrator) along with corel suite v11 and of course ms office pro.

and what do they give us for input devices? a dell keyboard (not so bad, standard issue smart card USB keyboard, i dont have a problem with it) and (get this) A DELL BALL MOUSE. the damn thing doesnt even have a scroll button on it.

im considering buying an MX1000 for its precision.

 

[ubiatch]

Sounds interesting that workstations are supposed to be for high content type work... But I have an old PC at home that I run lots of demainding software.. like SOlidworks (a CAD program) and Adobe suite. I just had to bump up the video card and RAM. Ultimatelty, seems like I can still get more for each dollar spent. Also, Dell has tons of promotions with their regular pcs. I'm just not convinved that my IT department is making the best choice. Thanks for your feedback guys.

 

[Edward Lee]

"Work Station" = A place where someone works, Depending on the type of job could have many different types of setups
"Personal computer" = Someone's personal Computer, Could have many different types of setups depending on the indivudual.

The terms were created by marketers to try to differentiate their products. There is no difference if you look at it.

 

[boshuter]

Originally posted by: Edward Lee
"Work Station" = A place where someone works, Depending on the type of job could have many different types of setups
"Personal computer" = Someone's personal Computer, Could have many different types of setups depending on the indivudual.

The terms were created by marketers to try to differentiate their products. There is no difference if you look at it.

I agree..... a workstation and personal pc are the same thing. There is only a difference in workstation/server... IE; you can buy server motherboards or workstation boards. Of course you could build a server and use it for a workstation.... but we won't even go there

 

[Viper96720]

Sometimes it's just a dummy terminal hooked up to a main server.

 

[ubiatch]

Thanks for all the input.... now if only I can convince upper management the dell contract sucks and I need a Sony laptop instead of the workstation, so i can take my work home

 

[halfadder]

Defining a workstation today is about as hard as defining a supercomputer.

A huge cluster can be a supercomputer, but not all supercomputers a clusters.
A big rig PC can be a workstation, but not all workstations are PCs.

My definition of Workstation is based on price and use. If it's "expensive" and you're using it for work, it's a workstation.

And of course there are also gobs of Unix workstations out there from IBM, Sun, HP and SiliconGraphics.

 

[Regs]

The performance on Desk tops these days is powerful. Enough to consider anything less than a dual opteron with 10 SCSI's in RAID 1+0 on a workstation is considered not worth it compared to the cheaper desk top.