What to look for in a workstation

An overwhelming amount of information about new technology is flooding the computing community on many fronts. The rate of change in available products and features makes decisions about acquiring computing technology a large and complex task, whether the equipment in question is a supercomputer or a workstation. This discussion is addressed to those shopping for workstations, who often face the particular challenge of combining in one person the roles of user, buyer, and support technician for the machine. To help in these decisions, you can read trade journals, advertisements, and vendor literature; attend shows and conferences; and observe a variety of technologies in action, in colleagues' offices and product demonstrations. However, the messages these sources present are wide-ranging, possibly confusing, and often inconsistent.

The series of questions that follows can help you develop a coherent description of your needs and make useful comparisons among the options for fulfilling them. Few if any users discover a workstation ideal for their purposes in all respects. Generally you must compromise on one factor to get something you need more in another. Weigh the relative importance of the factors in your decision, thinking about long-term satisfaction as well as immediate concerns. You must live with your decision for some time after you make it.

Look for answers to these questions from the consultants available at your institution, users' groups, the vendors of the machines under consideration and their competitors, and anyone else with a stake in your computing environment above all, your colleagues. It is often best to use the same kind of workstation as your colleagues and collaborators, to avoid problems with incompatible programs and data formats. Thus, if your colleagues strongly favor a particular computer, and you do not foresee wanting to perform tasks which that machine cannot handle, your decision process may be quite simple.