Workstations for the New Year

Dear Desktop Engineering Reader:

It's that time of the year for making New Year's resolutions. Some of you vow that 2016 will be the year you set up shop and work for yourself. Others pledge to get some modern engineering workstations around your work or home office. The problem is moola. Engineering workstations can be pretty dear and freighted with a lot of stuff you don’t need. If that sounds like your annual rendition of “Auld Lang Syne,” today's Check It Out offering could have you singing a different tune this New Year.

The skinny is that Dell has a nifty line of entry-level, Windows-running engineering workstations called the Dell Precision Tower 3000 series. The series comprises SFF (small form factor) and mini-tower versions. The cool-factor is three-fold: configurability, ISV (independent software vendor) certification and affordability. Let's look at each.

First, here are some base unit specs: a quad-core 6th Generation Intel Core i5 processor running at 3.2GHz (3.6GHz Turbo), 6MB cache and integrated graphics; 4GB of memory; and 500GB of storage. Both systems have lots of expansion slots and ports.

You have a ton of configurability options to mold these workstations for your work style. For example, get one with a quad-core Intel Xeon CPU, up to 64GB of RAM and NVIDIA Quadro or AMD FirePro graphics. Pile on storage. You get the idea.

Dell does ISV certification big time. On the Dell Precision Tower 3000 series’ landing page, you’ll find a 238-page [sic] document outlining hardware certifications by application. Dell Precision workstations also come with something called the Dell Precision Optimizer software. This software automatically adjusts system settings for optimized software application performance.

Affordability means a base price of $829 for the mini-tower and $779 for the SSF. Yeah, you can pay more after configuring your Dell Precision Tower 3000 to your needs. But therein lies the beauty. See, you’re building a workstation configured for your modeling, rendering and number-crunching needs and not some pricey off-the-shelf business computer with a lot of electronics you don’t need.

The upshot is that if you need an affordable, yet powerful engineering workstation to follow a dream or upgrade your engineering workspace, the Dell Precision Tower 3000 series could be what you’re looking for. Hit today’s Check It Out link and get acquainted with the Dell Precision Tower 3000 series. The landing page has the specs, videos and info you need.

Thanks, Pal. – Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood

Editor at Large, Desktop Engineering

Learn about the Dell Precision 3000 series here.