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Posts with tag workstation

Dell lets loose Precision M6400 Covet mobile workstation


Hmmph. And we thought the Precision M6400 was hardcore. Check out the unapologetically named Precision M6400 Covet Mobile Workstation, a hotly colored beast that can't be procured direct from Dell for less than $3,859 (stackable coupons notwithstanding). Aside from the sweet orange paint job, this one also comes packing a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo T9400, Vista Business, a dual-layer DVD writer, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, 160GB 7,200 RPM hard drive, NVIDIA's 1GB Quadro FX 3700M GPU, a 2-megapixel webcam, WiFi, 9-cell battery and a 17-inch WUXGA (1,920 x 1,200) LED-backlit display. Those who don't mind throwing in a few extra hundies can spring for an optional SSD, WWAN, a Core 2 Quad CPU and 16GB of RAM. You're due for a new lappie at work anyway, right?

[Thanks, dualboot]

Lenovo intros the monstrous ThinkPad W700, and we get our hands all over it (updated with Wacom video demo)


Like your laptops to be over-achievers? Like, the really annoyingly stacked variety of over-achiever? Enter Lenovo's newest outrage -- the ThinkPad W700. Containing enough computational artillery to level a small village, this for-creatives-only behemoth is designed for sheer pixel pushing... and little else. The system packs in two features aimed at graphic artists and photographers which are fairly unique to a laptop: a built in Wacom digitizer just to the right of the trackpad, and an on-board color calibrator. But what's happening under the hood you ask? Well for starters the 17-incher sports the first ever Intel Quad Core Extreme CPU in a laptop (no word on speeds at this point) as well as the first showing of NVIDIA's Quadro FX 3700 graphics chipset (with a hefty 1GB of memory on-board). The workstation also serves up dual hard drive bays configurable as RAID 0 or 1 (SSD or traditional disk, naturally), up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and an optional Blu-ray burner. Of course, that's fully kitted out -- the W700 starts at $2,978 and moves skyward from there. Take a look at our hands-on below and see the beast for yourself.

Update: The kids over at Notebooks dropped in some videos of the W700 including a brief look at the Wacom digitizer in action with Photoshop. Check it after the break.

HP lets loose $599 xw4550 Opteron-based workstation


It looks like those wanting to add a workstation to their computing arsenal now have a relatively inexpensive option to consider from HP, which has just rolled out some new additions to its xw4550 series that start at a mere $599. That'll get you a 2.0GHz AMD Opteron 1212 processor, along with 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, a DVD burner, and NVIDIA Quadro FX 290 graphics with 256 MB of RAM. If you've got a bit more cash to throw around, you can max that out to a 2.8GHz Opteron 1220, 4GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and NVIDIA Quadro FX 570 graphics for $1,349, with a couple of options available in between, all of which come with Vista Business as standard with XP Professional pre-installed.

[Via Electronista]

EasyChair WorkStation solves that whole "get out of bed" dilemma


It's time to take a long, hard look at where we're headed as a society. No, really -- we've got office chairs coming to kill comradeship, specially designed lapboards made to keep you sedentary for as long as humanly possible, and now we're looking at the perfect device for keeping Earthlings in bed for days on end. The EasyChair WorkStation line of products essentially puts your laptop on wheels, and the adjustable boom arm ensures that you can reach the keys / trackpad regardless of which side you wake up on. We're hearing a bedpan attachment is in the works as well, but we're feeling entirely too lazy to actually check.

[Via TechDigest]

AMD's new quad-core Opteron processors for one-socket workstations and gaming gods

AMD quad-core opteron
Okay gamers, power-modders, and IT dudes (and dudettes), pay attention: AMD has set sail to three new quad-core Opteron processors for one-socket servers and workstations. The new 1352, 1354, and 1356 clock in at 2.1GHz, 2.2GHz, and 2.3GHz, respectively, and meet the same socket and thermal requirements as previous AMD Opteron 1000 Series processors. They also utilize AMD's Enhanced PowerNow! tech and Rapid Virtualization Indexing. Pricing is currently set at $209, $255, and $377.

HP bumps xw8600 and xw9400 workstations to the latest Intel and AMD chips


We're smack dab in the middle of NAB week, which means a steady progression of high-end product launches for things that we can't really afford but sure wouldn't mind cluttering up the HQ gadget stash. Like these here workstations from HP, the xw8600 and the xw9400. The former sports up to two Quad-Core Intel Xeon X5482 processors, while the latter runs on Quad-Core AMD Opteron 2300 procs. No word on price for either of these insanely fast configurations, but with the other niceties HP is tossing in, you're looking at a starting price above four grand.

AMD brings DisplayPort to pros with ATI FireGL V7700

Hot on the heels of AMD's Radeon HD 3000 graphics card receiving its oh-so-coveted DisplayPort certification badge comes the firm's first DisplayPort-equipped card for the professionals in attendance. Hailed as the "first commercially available 3D workstation graphics card with DisplayPort support," the ATI FireGL V7700 sports a PCI Express 2.0 interface, 10-bit display engine, 512MB of onboard memory, dual-link DVI connector and a promise to handle CAD / DCC projects with ease. 'Course, we don't see you picking this one up just for kicks at $1,099, but those actually in need can place a gaping hole in their wallet in exchange for one next month.

Dell releases Precision T5400 and T7400 powerhouse workstations

When a regular consumer desktop just won't serve your demanding computing needs, it's time to go workstation, and Dell's got a pair of new quad-core-packin' models that are spec'ed to be some of the fastest on the planet. Both the Precision T7400 and T5400 are available with either one or two of Intel's newest 45-nanometer Xeon Processors (up to a 3.20GHz X5482 on the 7400), as many as two 1.5GB nVIDIA Quadro FX5600 graphics cards (capable of driving four 30-inch monitors), up to 4GB of RAM (with a whopping 128GB promised using a memory riser card chassis when 8GB DIMMs become available) and either three (5400) or five (7400) hard drives for up to 3TB of storage -- all topped off with a little Blu-ray action. Available immediately, the new rigs start at just $1,600 and $1,850, but for a configuration that meets your ridiculous specifications, expect to shell out well north of ten grand.

HP stuffing Penryn chips into xw8600 / xw6600 workstations


Although HP's beastly xw8600 / xw6600 machines don't yet have a definitive ship date, it's looking like the duo will indeed be sporting a couple of Intel's forthcoming Penryn chips. Judging by the specifications list on HP's website, each workstation can be equipped with two of many Xeon 5200 (dual-core) or Xeon 5400 (quad-core) processors ranging from 1.86GHz to 3.33GHz. Additionally, the xw6600 features up to 32GB of DDR2 RAM, an internal DVD burner, a number of PCI / PCIe slots, seven USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, audio in / out, gigabit Ethernet, your choice of NVIDIA Quadro / ATI FireGL graphics cards and a 650-watt power supply to boot. As for the xw8600, it steps things up by supporting as much as 128GB of DDR2 RAM, making room for a few more 3.5- / 5.25-inch drives and PCI cards, and throwing in a more robust PSU. Not surprisingly, there are no pricing details available at the moment, but if we were bent over a barrel and forced to guess when we'd know more, we'd shoot for November 12th.

[Via Electronista]
Read - HP's xw6600
Read - HP's xw8600

Diamond planning HD 2900 XT-based 2GB VFX 2000 pro GPU?


Diamond is no stranger to packin' an awful lot of RAM onto graphics cards, and apparently, the forthcoming VFX 2000 Series Professional Workstation GPU will keep the legacy alive. According to Hot Hardware, Diamond is readying a 2GB (of GDDR4 memory, no less) professional card based on the R600 (now known as the HD 2900 XT), and reportedly, "the card's PCB has been modified from the standard HD 2900 XT reference design to support the workstation-class features inherent to the FireGL line of professional graphics cards." Still, there's no word yet on what frequencies the GPU and RAM will hum along at, but word on the street has this beast launching "in the coming weeks." Click on for another glimpse.

Sony intros VAIO RM1N HD editing workstation


Sony looks to have heeded the calls of those bemoaning the single Core 2 Duo processor powering its otherwise top-end VAIO RM HD editing workstation, as its now taken things all the way up to a Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor in its latest RM1N model. As before, this one boasts a dual-box design, with the main PC components housed in one box, and the optical drives (including a Blu-ray one), hard drives, and memory card reader stuffed in the other. In addition to that new quad-core processor, the RM1N also gets a new NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS graphics card, along with the same 2GB of DDR2 memory and dual 500GB 7200rpm SATA hard drives as before. Also getting a boost is the price, with it now running just shy of $5,000.

[Via Reg Hardware]

AMD shows off their "Barcelona" quad-core chip designs

If you're not super excited by technical chip jargon like "advanced branch prediction" and "sideband stack optimizer," you might want to skip this one over, but for you chipheads out there, AMD has just unveiled the nitty gritty specs behind their forthcoming Barcelona quad-core processors. Built on a 65nm SOI process, the new chips will take the place of AMD's Opteron line, and will power workstations and servers sometime mid-2007 before the technology trickles down to consumer versions of the chips. AMD couldn't help but take a little pot-shot at Intel for their quad-core systems, which they claim are just two dual-core CPUs packed together, but we're pretty sure most consumers are going to be more concerned with performance, price and performance per watt than semantics. AMD hasn't provided any benchmarks yet, but we'll all be watching closely, since they're currently playing catchup to Intel on most of those fronts.

[Via Slashdot]

HP Japan outs Core 2 Duo xw4400/CT Workstation

We've seen enough Core 2 Duo desktops by now to have the genre fairly well represented, but another workstation can't hurt anybody, right? This new model from HP Japan, the xw4400/CT, is available today for a reasonable 137,550 Yen ($1199 US) and will be on sale for a mere 99,750 Yen ($870 US) between August 21st and September 27th. The base model is pretty bare, and comes with a 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo E6300 CPU, Intel 975X Express integrated graphics, 512MB of RAM, an 80GB HDD, CD-ROM drive (youch!) and gigabit Ethernet. Luckily, things are pretty extendable from there, with dual PCI Express slots (one of them 16x), three PCI slots, and plenty of drive bays (5), USB 2.0 ports (8), and Firewire jacks (3) to keep you busy. You can also pump the specs with a build-to-order box if that's your style, with options for a Quadro FX or NVIDIA 4500 card.

[Via Impress]

Dell Precision 390 workstation goes Core 2, too

Dell's giving that sweet Core 2 love to more than just the XPS 410 and XPS 700 desktops; even workstations are getting into the game. As part of the continuing onslaught of spec-bumped machines, the company announced that its Precision 390 tower is now available with four Core 2 Duo options (1.86GHz E6300, 2.13GHz E6400, 2.40GHz E6660, or 2.66GHz E6700) or even the blazing 2.93GHz Core 2 Extreme X6800, along with a seemingly-ancient 3.0GHz Pentium 4. The new rig can handle up to 8GB of DDR2 RAM, up to a 7,200RPM, 500GB hard drive, and comes with a number of graphics options from either nVIDIA (the Quadro series) or ATI (either a FireGL V7200 or V3400). If you act now, you can pick up a base configuration (which includes the E6300) for just $800, though going high-end will cost significantly more: a Core 2 Extreme--equipped setup more than doubles the price to $1,790.

[Thanks, Michael]



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