Desktop PCs are the best they’ve ever been. You can get a lot more processing power for your money than before, and most people will be able to get by with a standard build for editing documents, surfing the web and light gaming.
But what if you need to use your PC for serious work, and you need it to be as fast as possible? If you’re a graphics professional, like a CAD designer or a 3D artist, or if you work with massive data sets, you’ll need more power — and that’s when you can look at getting a workstation.
Workstations differ from PCs in a few key ways, with a focus on performance and reliability. These machines must be able to perform demanding tasks, and they must be able to do it for long periods of time.
For example, you need to be able to set a workstation to render overnight and depend on it to complete the job successfully. The reliability is one key difference that sets workstations apart from ordinary desktop PCs, or even gaming PCs.
That’s why workstations are usually built to last, with more durable parts, have optimized GPUs, CPUs with multiple cores, and SSDs for faster as well as more dependable performance.
One problem with traditional workstations is that they’re massive towers that take up a lot of desk space. They can also run hot and loud when the workload gets heavy. That’s where the HP Z2 Mini G3 comes in.
HP has been on a roll with exciting new PC designs lately, like the Pavilion Wave, which looks like a fabric-clad speaker, and the Elite Slice, with expandable snap-on modules. And now, the Z2 Mini, a workstation that literally fits in the palm of your hand.
The HP Z2 Mini G3 may be small, but this workstation packs a punch and is certified for real work
The Z2 Mini was specifically designed for professionals in mind, from designers to 3D artists to engineers, who will appreciate its specifications and thoughtful design. The Z2 Mini may be small, but it’s proven for work. 368,000 hours of testing have gone into this machine, and the Z2 Mini is certified for use with over 20 professional applications, including AutoCAD, Solidworks and Vectorworks. It’s the world’s first mini workstation designed for CAD users.
The Z2 Mini can be outfitted with NVIDIA’s Quadro M620 GPU with 2GB of GDDR5 memory for demanding 3D modeling and rendering. The workstation can be configured with current and next generation Intel Core and Intel Xeon CPUs for workstation performance. You can equip the Z2 Mini with up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM, more than enough for most professionals, and a 1.5TB HP Z Turbo Drive SSD for rapid boot up, file loading and app response times.
The Z2 Mini supports up to six displays for the ultimate work desk, four native and two additional with daisy chaining. The top lid can be detached and the internals easily upgraded. There are multiple outputs for DisplayPort, two USB 3.1 Type-C ports, and four USB 3.0 Type-A ports, so you won’t be reaching for dongles with this workstation.
The Z2 Mini is 90 percent smaller than a traditional business-class tower, at 216 x 216 x 58mm that means it’s shorter than a standard cup of coffee! Its small size means it can be mounted almost anywhere, from under your desk, to the back of a monitor, or even on a VESA arm. The uniquely shaped octagonal chassis comes with custom designed fans and cooling system for quiet performance. The heat vents on the corners of the machine are designed to withstand blockage caused by loose papers, so the machine always runs cool.
Imagine if you can shave ten minutes off a day on a faster machine, from a combination of faster boot up, app loading, rendering and file handling tasks, would you? After all, that ten minutes a day can add up to 2,500 minutes saved in a working year.
If you earn a living using your PC doing graphics or data intensive work, then perhaps upgrading your PC from a desktop to a workstation is for you. If you value both performance and design in a minimal chassis that saves space, then check out the new HP Z2 Mini G3.
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