Differences Between Personal Computers And Workstations

In computing a workstation (in English workstation) is a microcomputer designed for high performance technical or scientific work. In a computer network is a computer that provides user’s access to servers and peripherals on the network. Unlike an isolated computer has a network card and is physically connected by wires or other unguided with the servers. The components for servers and workstations reach new levels of computing performance, while offering reliability, compatibility, scalability and advanced architecture ideal for environments multithreaded.

The computers in general, the average computer of today are more powerful than the best seasons of work of a generation ago. As a result, the market for workstations is becoming increasingly specialized, since many complex operations that formerly required high-performance systems can now be directed at computers for general purpose. However, the hardware of the workstations are optimized for situations that require high performance and reliability, which usually remain operational in situations in which any traditional personal computer would quickly respond.

Currently workstations are often sold by large computer manufacturers like HP or Dell and use CPUs x86-64 and Intel Xeon or AMD Opteron running Microsoft Windows or GNU / Linux. Apple Inc. and Sun Microsystems also market its own operating system type UNIX for their workstations.

Differences Between Personal Computers And Workstations

The workstations were a popular type of computer engineering, science and graphics for the 1980 and 1990. Recently, the CPUs associated with RISC, but initially were based almost exclusively on the number of processors Motorola 68000.

The workstations have followed an evolutionary path different from personal computers or PC. They were low-cost versions of minicomputers such as the line VAX, which was designed to pull data from smaller computational tasks of expensive mainframe computer time. It quickly adopted a single chip 32-bit microprocessor, as opposed to more expensive multi-chip processors prevailing at the time. Later generations of workstations used RISC 32-bit and 64-bit, offering higher performance processors CISC used in personal computers.

The workstations also running the same operating system used multi-usuario/multi-tarea that microcomputers, usually Unix. They also used to connect networks to more powerful computers for engineering analysis and design visualization. The relatively low cost minicomputers and mainframes allow greater overall productivity to many companies using powerful computers to work technical computing because each individual user now had a machine for small and medium-sized tasks, thus freeing up larger computers for batch jobs.

Personal computers, in contrast to the workstations, were not designed to bring the performance of the minicomputer to the desktop of an engineer, but were originally planned for use in home or office productivity, price sensitivity was aspect of primary consideration. The first used a personal computer processor chip 8-bit processors especially MOS Technology 6502 and Zilog Z80, in the days of Apple II, Atari 800, Commodore 64 and TRS-80. The introduction of the IBM PC in 1981, based on the design of Intel x86 eventually changed the industry.

The first PC operating systems were designed to be a single task (MS DOS), then included a limited cooperative multitasking (Windows 3.1) and lately have included priority multitasking (Windows 95, Windows XP, GNU / Linux). Each of these different types of operating systems varies in the ability to use the full power inherent in the hardware to perform multiple tasks simultaneously.

History Of Workstations

Perhaps the first computer that could be described as a workstation was the IBM 1620, a small scientific computer designed to be used interactively by a single person sitting at the console. It was introduced in 1959. A distinctive feature of the machine was that it lacked any real arithmetic circuit. To make the addition required a table stored in main memory with rules decimal addition. What cost savings enabled logic circuits, allowing IBM to make it more economical. The codename of the machine was CADET, which some people said it meant “Can not Add Does not Even Try – You can not add, does not even try.” However, it initially rented for about $ 1000 per month.

Later came the IBM 1130 (successor to the 1620 in 1965), and the minicomputer PDP-8 from Digital Equipment Corporation.

The first microcomputer-based workstations for use by a single user were Lisp machine from MIT in the early 70′s, followed by the Xerox Alto (1973), PERQ (1979) and Xerox Star (1981).

In the 80 workstations were used CPU based on Motorola 68000 sold by new companies such as Apollo Computer, Sun Microsystems and SGI. Then come NeXT and others.

The RISC

Since the ends of the 80 were replaced by teams usually CPU RISC designed by the computer manufacturer, with its proprietary operating system, usually a variant of UNIX (with exceptions based on UNIX, and OpenVMS or versions of Windows NT for RISC platforms). There were workstations with Intel x86 CPU running Windows NT as Intergraph Vizual Workstation Zx and several models Compaq and Dell.

Today we have moved from the RISC architectures IBM POWER , MIPS, SPARC , PA-RISC or DEC Alpha platform to the x86-64 CPUs with Intel and AMD . After being recalled in the Sun Ultra 25 / 45 July 2008 and the IBM IntelliStation Power in January 2009, no longer marketed RISC CPU models that were so common in the 90s.

So now commonly used CPU Intel Xeon or AMD Opteron, x86 CPUs may use other common-64 (like Intel Core 2 or Core i5) in more affordable models. Common professional GPUs NVIDIA Quadro FX and ATI FireGL.

List of some current models and manufacturers:

• Apple Inc. : Mac Pro
• BOXX Technologies
• Dell : Dell Precision
• Fujitsu Siemens : CELSIUS
• Hewlett-Packard : Series Z
• Lenovo : ThinkStation
• Silicon Graphics , Octane III
• Sun Microsystems : Ultra 27
• Workstation Specialists