What comes to mind when we say workstation? If you're thinking some big, spaceship-like contraption, you'd traditionally be right. But these days, workstations are sleek and trendy machines that still provide intelligent performance for most applications. They're useful tools for designers, engineers, financial analysts and researchers running more demanding applications, like rendering complex graphics, financial analysis and computations and digital content creation.
But, with so many on the market, what merits do the office "power users" look for when deciding upon which workstation is the best investment for an increase in productivity, limited downtime and improved reliability?
Boasted by Dell as the world's most powerful workstation, the Precision is a capable mid-range workstation, born out of the years of experience from the Austin-based vendor. It is well thought out, expertly designed, sturdy, powerful and reasonably priced for its value proposition to customers. This Dell system sticks to the big box approach, standing large at 438 (h) x 216 (w) x 545mm (d) (16.95 x 8.50 x 20.67 inch) and 14kg (31lb.), unlike Apple Mac Pro's minimalist look-and-feel and HP Z1 G2's all-in-one approach. Despite its size, two integrated aluminum handles, one at the front and one at the back, moving the bulky workstation is deceptively easy and ergonomically sensible.
Within the Dell Precision T7610 lies a full-size Extended ATX motherboard with an Intel C602 chipset. The latter is populated with 16GB of RAM (four 4GB modules) ECC DDR3 RDIMM clocked at 1.866GHz, an integrated LSI 2308 SAS/SATA controller and a 3GB Nvidia Quadro K4000 full-size card with two DP and one DVI-I port.
Expansion capabilities are nothing short of exceptional with one free processor socket as well as 12 other free memory slots (allowing up to 256GB when filled with 16GB memory modules) plus a 1TB hard disk drive from Western Digital, a Caviar Blue model with 64MB cache, along with a slimline optical drive plus a removable 1300W PSU.
Two Intel-powered GbE NICs (82579LM and I210), four front-facing USB ports (one of them USB 3.0), 6 rear ones (half of them USB 3.0), legacy IOs (serial plus a pair of PS/2 ports), up to 5 free PCIe slots of various flavors (when used with two processors) and one PCI, one external 5.25-inch bay, 4 x 3.5-inch or 8 x 2.5-inch front accessible hard drive bays. Four are accessible from an external 5.25-inch bay behind a removable plastic bay.
There are even customization options. Users can choose to add a storage solution from Intel called the Cache Acceleration Software - Workstation ( or CAS-W), which is described as the first enterprise-grade caching acceleration software application for workstations. Although, it is worth noting that should you want more system memory or two processors, you will have to chat with one of Dell's Customer Service Assistants as you won't be able to configure the base until at all online.
You can only tweak the software (McAfee, Microsoft Office or Dell's Data Protection Encryption Software), the peripherals (display, keyboard or mouse) or the services bundled with the machine (data protection, client installation, etc.). The upside - customers get a three-year next business day basic warranty plus a keyboard and mouse.
Why love the T6710? It proves to be a sturdy, capable, dependable and quiet workstation, delivering top-of-the-line firepower and data churning capabilities. Its base unit price starts at approximately $3445 (£2027.40 or AU$3660). Despite its size, it is a brilliant piece of hardware that is surprisingly quiet when in use, even under load.
As far as a desktop kit does, it's pretty awesome. The most delightful aspect is the way the whole thing tilts over on its hefty stand until the chassis is completely horizontal. If you pop a couple of latches, the screen surface rises with precision, laying the innards bare.
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