You have to love workstations, just for the raw power offered, which makes short work of complex tasks. VARs also love workstations, but more for the high sticker prices and the associated margins. After all, one buys a workstation to run complex (and expensive) software, which sings out the word "profit" to the typical solution provider.
Hewlett-Packard is looking to bring joy to both end users and partners with the xw6600 workstation, a diminutive powerhouse that can run circles around the typical PC. Power is a relative term, and HP aims to make buyers happy by offering a wide selection of Xeon processors, Nvidia Quadro graphics cards and as much as 32GB of DDR2 (double data rate 2) RAM. Maxed out, a xw6600 can cost over $5,000, while an entry-level unit is much more budget-friendly at under $1,400. It all comes down to the old axiom, "If you want to go fast, expect to spend big."
