Hewlett-Packard’s Workhorse of a Workstation

Editors Guild by Joseph Herman

The Z820 is Hewlett-Packard’s top-of-the-line workstation, uniquely qualified for demanding production and post applications, including high-resolution motion picture editing, compositing, visual effects, animation, scoring and audio mixing. With this potent machine, HP has demonstrated that it is listening to and addressing the needs of the professional market by providing a workstation that virtually outperforms every other machine in its class — a machine that serves as a great foundation for your editing suite, color-grading room or production facility. In this article, we’ll look at what makes it such a powerhouse. We’ll also talk about an exciting new flavor of the Z820 called the HP Z820 RED Edition.

The Wonderful World of Workstations
There is a school of thought that says that when it comes to machines, small is good. While ultra-thin laptops and tablets may have a place at home or school, for heavy-duty post-production you need a workstation. But when it comes to workstations, size or weight is not as important as power.

Workstations are also meant to operate around the clock in industrial environments, so they need to be tough enough to withstand punishment on a regular basis while having the horsepower to crunch through complex renders, multiple, real-time, high-resolution video streams, video encoding and other challenges with ease.
Starting on the Outside

The HP Z820 is appointed with handsome and rugged brushed-metal panels on either side, which, besides looking good, provide ample protection against the elements (not to mention blunt-force trauma). In addition, sturdy handles on the top make moving the workstation around easy (see Figure 1). This is important since the Z820 is not exactly light. read more...