Computer Work Station

A computer work station is different class of computer system that provides drastically high performance than regular desktops and even certain range of servers. Usually, a computer work station comprises components found in regular desktops or servers except that most of these perform at much faster pace or offer radically greater storage capacities. The first computers considered to be a workstation was the IBM 1620.

A computer work station is required to perform certain tasks or computations as per the requirements, far beyond the capacity of generic desktop computers. Unix workstation, RISC workstation or engineering workstation are high-end desktop computer systems that are specifically designed for executing technical applications such as animation, audio/video editing, visual effect (VFX) processors and engineering computations. Typical computer work stations promise and truly deliver higher performance by sporting faster graphics, one or more extremely fast processors (CPUs), faster memory in large capacities and superior multitasking ability.

Most graphics workstations are customised for displaying and manipulating complex graphics/video data such as 3D mechanical design, engineering simulation results and mathematical plots. Similarly, various other computer work stations are optimised for delivering higher performance and save time and cost. Most of the times, office or home computer workstations may be used by multiple users, albeit not simultaneously. Notably, office workstation computers require to be assembled on specialised workstation furniture units.