Work Station

A type of computer used for engineering applications (CAD/CAM), desktop publishing , software development and other types of application that require a moderate amount of computing power and relatively high quality capabilities.

Workstations generally come with a large, high-resolution graphics screen, at least 64 MB (megabytes) of RAM, built- in network support and a graphical user interface. Most workstations also have a mass storage device such as a disk drive, but a special type of workstation, called a diskless workstation, comes without a disk drive. The most common operating systems for workstations are UNIX and Windos NT.

In terms of computing power, workstations lie between personal computers and minicomputers, although the line is fuzzy on both ends. High-end personal computers are equivalent to low-end workstations, and high-end workstations are equivalent to minicomputers.