7 ms·

I know its not fashionable, but HP really still is the tech leader when it comes to workstations: http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/workstations/z620_fe

I know its not fashionable, but HP really still is the tech leader when it comes to workstations: http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/workstations/z620_features.html#.UcWE9ev7Bbs http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/workstations/z620_... When the next gen Xeons come along with the release of the new macpro, it'll be literally twice as fast. in side by side comparisons* *there maybe some apple GPU special sauce for inter GPU communications The other awesome thing about the z series is that they have a three year next day engineer on site warranty.

RexRollman 13y ago
Too bad you can't run Mac OS X on it.
- everyone 13y ago
  Why do you want OS X? I'm really genuinely curious and flabbergasted by people wanting apple stuff . What is it that you cannot get cheaper with more flexibility and choice on linux or windows?
  - Kerrick 13y ago
    Adobe Creative Suite + Unix without dual-booting or virtualization. Not to mention a multitude of rather nice indie apps for creative and technical professionals.
  - KaiserPro 13y ago
    Final cut, and quicktime. although there are work arounds for quicktime.
  - peteretep 13y ago
    It's like Linux, only, it: * Runs Office, which means it runs Excel (and Word). Gotta love Excel. I'm sure there are unholy combinations of calendering software that mean I can interact sort-of sometimes with the Exchange server in the office, but Outlook Just Works too, on a Mac. * I never ever ever ever have to interact with XF86Config. Literally days of my life wasted on that. * Runs Omni(Outliner|Graffle|Plan|Focus). I guess I could cobble together something from org-mode, some terrible Visio clone, etc. * It does sleeping properly when I close my laptop. Always. Reliably. I just don't have time to run Linux on my laptop.
    - jhasse 13y ago
      What's wrong with Windows then?
      - anko 13y ago
        Have you used windows 8? I love developing in ubuntu, but ubuntu and windows seem to have gone crazy with their user interfaces lately. Ubuntu switched to unity, an interface designed for netbooks. Who has a netbook these days? And wants to run linux on it? Canonical should be targeting their main userbase, developers or advanced users. They should concentrate on making gnome as stable and simple as possible, and include vmware/virtualbox drivers out of the box. If developers have a simple, stable platform then the platform will grow organically. Windows 8 can't make its mind up about if it should be used with a mouse or a touchscreen. Discoverability is hard, it's really hard to work out that you drag an app to the bottom of the screen to close it, because their are no visual clues. I like the look of metro, but it's really a polished turd.
        jhasse 13y ago
        I totally agree with you about Ubuntu! But Im using Windows 8 and Im in the desktop mode 99÷ of the time (I have 0 metro apps installed).
    - qb45 13y ago
      Your hardware support experience is exactly opposite to mine. My laptop runs Linux just fine and all hardware works correctly, but OSX doesn't even want to boot on it. Weird.
      - Samuel_Michon 13y ago
        Grandparent wrote “Just Works too, on a Mac”, he didn’t state OS X Just Works™ on any random Acer thriftbook. OS X works better on Macs than Linux distros and Windows do. OS X rarely works well on computers other than Macs.
      - ginsong 13y ago
  - depr 13y ago
    Unix + it just works + good-looking and usable UI, only OS X has all three.
  - RexRollman 13y ago
    Don't be obtuse. I didn't say that I want to run Mac OS X, I am just pointing out that it doesn't. Lots people people like Mac OS X.
- PommeDeTerre 13y ago
  That limitation is due to Apple's licensing of OS X, and their unwillingness to support (or to even let others support) non-Apple hardware. It's not due to problems with the HP workstations.
jjcr 13y ago
We have both z620s and Dell T7600s (http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-t7600/fs http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-t7600/fs) at work. Apart form the badge you'd be hard pressed to tell them apart. Certainly neither one is better than the other.
seanmcdirmid 13y ago
No, there is nothing really special here with respect to performance. It just makes me think back to the SGI O2, Next Cube, the iCube, the Amiga 2000...when computers were more works of art than they are now and not just built from a boring specifications. I'm being a bit sentimental here. If you want the best bang for the buck, or even the best bang, it still makes sense to go with a boring HP box and not a Mac Pro. Honestly, the only ones who will probably go with the Mac Pro is the high-end photoshop/toaster crowd, or those who want big bangs in small spaces (e.g. Japan), as well as those with too much money and some amount of sentiment, but this is not even mainstream for the workstation market.
- rdouble 13y ago
  FCP users will be into it. Very small niche but I used to work in media and event installations, and this will be great for that. Especially the tri 4k display output.
  - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
    I was including FCP users in the toaster market, maybe they don't call them toasters anymore :)

RexRollman 13y ago

Too bad you can't run Mac OS X on it.

everyone 13y ago
Why do you want OS X? I'm really genuinely curious and flabbergasted by people wanting apple stuff . What is it that you cannot get cheaper with more flexibility and choice on linux or windows?
- Kerrick 13y ago
  Adobe Creative Suite + Unix without dual-booting or virtualization. Not to mention a multitude of rather nice indie apps for creative and technical professionals.
- KaiserPro 13y ago
  Final cut, and quicktime. although there are work arounds for quicktime.
- peteretep 13y ago
  It's like Linux, only, it: * Runs Office, which means it runs Excel (and Word). Gotta love Excel. I'm sure there are unholy combinations of calendering software that mean I can interact sort-of sometimes with the Exchange server in the office, but Outlook Just Works too, on a Mac. * I never ever ever ever have to interact with XF86Config. Literally days of my life wasted on that. * Runs Omni(Outliner|Graffle|Plan|Focus). I guess I could cobble together something from org-mode, some terrible Visio clone, etc. * It does sleeping properly when I close my laptop. Always. Reliably. I just don't have time to run Linux on my laptop.
  - jhasse 13y ago
    What's wrong with Windows then?
    - anko 13y ago
      Have you used windows 8? I love developing in ubuntu, but ubuntu and windows seem to have gone crazy with their user interfaces lately. Ubuntu switched to unity, an interface designed for netbooks. Who has a netbook these days? And wants to run linux on it? Canonical should be targeting their main userbase, developers or advanced users. They should concentrate on making gnome as stable and simple as possible, and include vmware/virtualbox drivers out of the box. If developers have a simple, stable platform then the platform will grow organically. Windows 8 can't make its mind up about if it should be used with a mouse or a touchscreen. Discoverability is hard, it's really hard to work out that you drag an app to the bottom of the screen to close it, because their are no visual clues. I like the look of metro, but it's really a polished turd.
      - jhasse 13y ago
        I totally agree with you about Ubuntu! But Im using Windows 8 and Im in the desktop mode 99÷ of the time (I have 0 metro apps installed).
  - qb45 13y ago
    Your hardware support experience is exactly opposite to mine. My laptop runs Linux just fine and all hardware works correctly, but OSX doesn't even want to boot on it. Weird.
    - Samuel_Michon 13y ago
      Grandparent wrote “Just Works too, on a Mac”, he didn’t state OS X Just Works™ on any random Acer thriftbook. OS X works better on Macs than Linux distros and Windows do. OS X rarely works well on computers other than Macs.
    - ginsong 13y ago
- depr 13y ago
  Unix + it just works + good-looking and usable UI, only OS X has all three.
- RexRollman 13y ago
  Don't be obtuse. I didn't say that I want to run Mac OS X, I am just pointing out that it doesn't. Lots people people like Mac OS X.
PommeDeTerre 13y ago
That limitation is due to Apple's licensing of OS X, and their unwillingness to support (or to even let others support) non-Apple hardware. It's not due to problems with the HP workstations.

jjcr 13y ago

We have both z620s and Dell T7600s (http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-t7600/fs http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-t7600/fs) at work. Apart form the badge you'd be hard pressed to tell them apart. Certainly neither one is better than the other.

seanmcdirmid 13y ago

No, there is nothing really special here with respect to performance. It just makes me think back to the SGI O2, Next Cube, the iCube, the Amiga 2000...when computers were more works of art than they are now and not just built from a boring specifications. I'm being a bit sentimental here. If you want the best bang for the buck, or even the best bang, it still makes sense to go with a boring HP box and not a Mac Pro. Honestly, the only ones who will probably go with the Mac Pro is the high-end photoshop/toaster crowd, or those who want big bangs in small spaces (e.g. Japan), as well as those with too much money and some amount of sentiment, but this is not even mainstream for the workstation market.

rdouble 13y ago
FCP users will be into it. Very small niche but I used to work in media and event installations, and this will be great for that. Especially the tri 4k display output.
- seanmcdirmid 13y ago
  I was including FCP users in the toaster market, maybe they don't call them toasters anymore :)