What is a workstation exactly?

[Simply_AR]

I was trying to look around to see what a workstation is but I am still lost on what it is and what it is mainly used for. As it is practically guaranteed at this point that I am going to major in Marketing whenever I go study at whatever college I choose, I was wondering if I would ever need a workstation. Of course this is dependent on what it is primarily used for but it never hurts to ask and know what it is.

(I've had this profile picture since Middle School haha. One of these days I gotta do a cleanup on all my accounts Ive had since middle school)

 

[minibois]

A workstation is a name you can give to a system meant for a specific 'work' scenario. Usually people use this term when referring to a PC meant for video/photo editing, 3D modeling, etc. A quite specific work scenario.

Of course it's just kind of a nickname for a PC, because a general PC could be your workstation too..

 

So asking if you need a workstation is really an open question. Do you need a PC for what you are doing? Or would it at least speed up your work? If so, get a PC meant for your purpose (e.g. pick parts that work best for the program(s) you'll be using.

[Sprawlie]

when people today refer to "Workstations" they tend to generally refer to a computer that is somewhere between a desktop, and a server. They will often have server like robust components such as Xeons, ECC RAM (but not required too), and tend to be aimed at doing heavier processing, like you'd want from a server, but on a more local desktop solution.

 

however really anything you sit and work at that is designed for specific work task is a workstation. 

 

 

 

[paddy-stone]

It's pretty much just marketing. So the work stations either will/won't come with discrete GPU dependent on what the buyer wants.

There is really no difference between a workstation or gaming machine, except some internals are configured differently in some cases.

[kokakolia]

You don’t need a workstation for your studies. Most people don’t require a workstation.

[YourCrush1234]

A workstation pc is for people that do very demanding work on their pc, like animation, rendering, etc, stuff that needs REAL power to do.

[GoldenLag]

A "Workstation PC" is just a PC more oriented towards profesional tasks usually involving powerful hardware to complete it.

 

You can get quite far today without investing in more expencive HEDT hardware. 

[Simply_AR]

Well thanks to everyone that replied!

 

[poochyena]

"xeon", "threadripper", and "quadro" are all chips that intel, AMD, and Nvidia produce designed for workstations.

[Radium_Angel]

Just now, poochyena said:

"xeon", "threadripper", and "quadro" are all chips that intel, AMD, and Nvidia produce designed for workstations.

Don't forget the associated pricetags to match...

[Billy Pilgrim]

Correct me if I am wrong, however I think this term was more relevant when there was a larger difference between gaming and editing systems