eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
On the same day that Dell detailed its new “streaming computing” solution for centralized desktop computing, the PC vendor also added to its workstation lineup.
Starting Oct. 11, Dell began taking orders for the new Precision T3400 workstation, which can be configured as either a tower or desktop computer. Dell is offering the new workstation for a starting price of $1,000, according to the companys Web site.
In September, Dell added to its mobile workstation lineup the Precision M6300, which offers a 17-inch display and an SSD (solid state drive) option. Although Dell has been steadily losing market share to rival Hewlett-Packard, workstations are one area in which Dell has managed to outperform HP. An IDC report early in 2007 found that Dell had accounted for 46 percent of worldwide personal workstation shipments in the first quarter of 2007, while HP was second with 33 percent.
The Precision T3400 workstation offers a number of dual- and quad-core Intel Core 2 Duo processors, including the QX6850, which came to market earlier in 2007, offering four processing cores, a clock speed of 3.0GHz, a total of 8MB of Level 2 cache and a 1333MHz front side bus. The workstation also features Intels X38 Express chip set.
For graphics, users can chose from several Nvidia Quadro graphics cards, including the FX 4600, which offers dual monitor support. The workstation also features four DIMM (dual in-line memory module) slots that can support up to 8MB of DDR2 SDRAM (double data rate 2 synchronous dynamic RAM).
Dell is offering a choice of either three or four hard disk drive slots that support both SATA (Serial ATA) and SAS (serial-attached SCSI) hard drives. The SATA disks offer up to 500GB of capacity, while the SAS drives offer 146GB. Other features of the T3400 include 8 USB 2.0 slots and two PCI Express graphics slots.
The Precision T3400 also support the Microsoft Windows XP and Vista operating systems as well as Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Dell has also certified more than 60 different applications developed by third-party software vendors and ISVs.