A workstation, such as a Unix workstation, RISC workstation or
engineering workstation, is a high-end desktop or deskside microcomputer designed
for technical applications. Workstations are intended primarily to be used by one person at
a time, although they can usually also be accessed remotely by other users when necessary.
Workstations usually offer higher performance than is normally seen on a personal computer,
especially with respect to graphics, processing power, memory capacity and multitasking ability.
Workstations are often optimized for displaying and manipulating complex data such as 3D mechanical
design, engineering simulation results, and mathematical plots. Consoles usually consist of a high
resolution display, a
keyboard and a
mouse at a minimum,
but often support multiple displays and may often utilize a
server level processor.
For design and advanced visualization tasks, specialized input hardware such as graphics tablets
or a SpaceBall can be used. Workstations have classically been the first part of the computer market
to offer advanced accessories and collaboration tools such as videoconferencing capability.
Following the performance trends of computers in general, today's average personal computer is more
powerful than the top-of-the-line workstations of one generation before. As a result, the workstation
market is becoming increasingly specialized, since many complex operations that formerly required
high-end systems can now be handled by general-purpose PCs. However, workstations are designed and
optimized for situations requiring considerable computing power, where they tend to remain usable
while traditional personal computers quickly become unresponsive.
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