The SmallBizWindows HP z800 Personal Workstation Review
Now that that piece of housekeeping is taken care of, I can tell you about the HP z800 Personal Workstation Review by SmallBizWindows for AbsolutelyWindows.
In 2008, we reviewed the then flagship system in the HP personal workstation line, the xw8600. It was the most powerful, expandable, and affordable system we had ever tested, or even used.
The performance was so off-the-charts for the price point that it won the SmallBizWindows Absolute Best Award.
Last year, we had the opportunity to attend the launch of the next generation of HP workstations, the z-series, equipped with a brand new design, and the new Intel 5500 ‘Nehalem’ CPUs.
The systems embodied what was obviously the state of the art in workstations.
I reviewed the entry-level z400 unit here, and found it to be almost as powerful as the old flagship xw8600.
Again, the entry-level z400 was almost as powerful as the old top-of-the-line xw8600!
For one, the system, even in a base configuration for 2009, was speedy, and powerful.
After that review, Mike Diehl and the Personal Workstation Team at HP decided to build me, for review, another HP Personal Workstation, John Obeto Special, their internal moniker for the top-of-the-line technological tour de force workstations that I greedily get to review.
I hope you realize and appreciate the way I dedicate myself to this review art: I review these systems so you wouldn’t have to. My
pleasurepain, your <<insert personally-appropriate phrase>>!
I give my body to science for you. And you!
To say that I couldn’t wait to get this system would be an understatement, and obviously a lie.
The HP z800 Personal Workstation
The z800 arrived in a sturdy, retail box – yeah, like you could go into mega-mart to pick up one of these behemoths!
Unboxing was a snap: remove monster from box, attach power cord to APC backup device, attach system to triple monitors – one via DisplayPort, attach HIDs (Human Interface Devices, Microsoft’s acronym for mice, keyboards, and whatnot), and off you go.
O, Sweetness!
Scenario 1: Digital Content Creation
One of the fields where the HP workstations generally shine is in digital content creation, as evidenced by the success enjoyed by one of HP’s flagship clients, DreamWorks Animation SKG.
Not having access to their (DreamWorks’s) tools, I decided to use my trusty HD Canon HD camcorder with Adobe Premiere Pro to become the next movie producer extraordinaire – after Z.Z. von Schnerk, of course.
It breezed through.
Next, I used (Microsoft’s) Caligari trueSpace to create a series of animated movies.
No sweat
I then used Microsoft Expression Encoder 3 to convert the movies to 1080p and encode for Silverlight Streaming VBR.
Again, easy!
Scenario 2: Architectural Design
I had architect friend who was visiting the East Coast – from the UK – to come over to The Orbiting O’Odua and give the z800 a whirl, using Autodesk AutoCAD.
I just enjoy the look of – in order: envy (when they see the system(s) for the first time), joy (when allowed to actually use the systems), bliss (when whatever task thy throw at it is concluded in a snap, and the potentiality of tasks completions if they had the system hits them. As if!!!), and pain (when they realize that apart from the fact that they would probably never use the system again without signing a purchase order, I had just tantalized, and punk’d them.) – on my friends’ faces when I subject them to the use of these HP Personal Workstations, The John Obeto Specials! Thank you, Mike Diehl.
Pulling down the house plans I had gone through before deciding on the final for the O’Odua, he was able to make changes virtually on the fly. The system was “the most responsive I have ever used”, was his comment, in breathless adoration.
Good guy I am, I let him spend his entire weekend with us on the z800, actually working on work files transferred from his studio in Eastbourne, England. We fed him, though, considering that if we left him alone, he might have stayed in my office and joyfully starved. A situation which could be construed as unlawful.
Scenario 3: Oilfield Services & Geological Analysis
At Logikworx, we manage some West African client desktop operations for few oilfield services firms, and as with the xw8600, we wanted to see if the z800 would provide an impact in that sector.
Consequently, we asked our intrepid geophysicist to reprise the tests he performed on the xw8600, including performing decision analysis using stochastic modeling uncertainty, graphically determining casing setting depth, project management, casing design, and a trial of his company’s oil well control software and tell me if the needle had moved.
It had moved a lot, was his conclusion.
Nice!
Scenario 4: Remote Operations Center Console & Megatasking
The versatility of the z800 is more pronounced when you remember that I used it throughout this entire review regimen as the global operations console for all Logikworx operations. As a dashboard, it really shone. It allowed us to use Microsoft Excel’s BI functionality to drill down into every nook of our operations, bringing up graphs speedily.
Our CRM and SQL reporting were just as fast, and I don’t see any reason why I should use anything inferior.
The system was also an out-of-the-ballpark megatasker. I found myself needing more screen space and finally opted to use the HP Video Dock to add two more monitors to the mix, a configuration frowned upon by She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, despite the fact that it is, after all, my office!!! (She prefers that I use a mount for the monitors.)
Conclusions 
Well, the HP z800 will allow most companies to not only do the above, but to do it with a much greater boost in productivity compared to the previous award-winning line of workstations, and a logarithmic improvement over workstations from other vendors, for whom workstation design seems to be plunking a chip unto a motherboard.
The incredible amount of engineering that has gone into these workstations is evident in the speedy rates at which tasks are completed, and the incredible responsiveness of the system.
In every test we threw at the HP z800, it performed beyond our wildest expectations, and we were able to see immediate productivity gains.
That, exactly, is what you want from any upgrade to your computing infrastructure.
We are bestowing the SmallBizWindows Absolute Best Award on the HP z800 Personal Workstation.
We started out this review stating that this is the best workstation in the known universe.
It is, and we stand by that.
One hundred percent.
Since you asked, I am in Stage 4: Pain, as well, since this baby has to go back today. No need to send flowers of condolence.
Finally, there are NO truths to the vicious rumors that this fine unit was sometimes used as a über-powerful gaming rig. No truths whatsoever!
System Specs
Resources
