Hmm; for a workstation like the one I'm using now with 32Gb of RAM and 8 cores, EC2 has an m4.2xlarge as an equivalent. $0.4/hour * 24 hours * 365 days = $3,50

Hmm; for a workstation like the one I'm using now with 32Gb of RAM and 8 cores, EC2 has an m4.2xlarge as an equivalent. $0.4/hour * 24 hours * 365 days = $3,504 per year. You can build the same machine for a fraction of that cost and you'll get more than a year's use out of it. Reserved instances would bring the price to rent down a bit further, but I still don't think you can beat the economics of owning a workstation if you're going to be using it most of the time.