What are the differences between a "desktop" and "workstation"?

[jaffa]

I?m just interested in the differences between a ?desktop? computer and a ?workstation? computer, since they look the same. I understand that the ?desktop? is normally for home use and the ?workstation? is for professional use, but what may the differences in terms of hardware and software be?

 

[robisc]

answer

 

[IncredibleHutch]

In older days... or maybe I got this wrong... wasn't a workstation a computer with no hard drive etc... as in it was connected to a server to get all of it's data.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: IncredibleHutch
In older days... or maybe I got this wrong... wasn't a workstation a computer with no hard drive etc... as in it was connected to a server to get all of it's data.

No, not really. That would be a "terminal" or, more recently, a "thin client".

What's the difference between a "desktop" and a "workstation"? About 5 grand. <ba-dum, ching!>

These days, there is little effective difference, other than that a "workstation" tends to be a higher-end system designed for professional scientific or engineering applications (or software development).

 

[Zepper]

Workstations are designed to support high-end engineering and/or graphics applications. 15k SCSI drives are not uncommon. Nor are graphics cards that cost as much as a fairly high-end PC. Dual processors with full ECC memory support are also common. Likely to find prodigious amount of RAM to hold large data sets for instantaneous access. Found wherever time really means significant money.

.bh.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Matthias99
What's the difference between a "desktop" and a "workstation"? About 5 grand. <ba-dum, ching!>

These days, there is little effective difference, other than that a "workstation" tends to be a higher-end system designed for professional scientific or engineering applications (or software development).

Ditto.

 

[IncredibleHutch]

Thanks for clarifying mathias