HP announces new graphics workstations

Hewlett-Packard today unveiled a new line of high-performance graphics workstations based on the latest generation of its microprocessors, a development that will probably put workstation rivals Sun Microsystems and Silicon Graphics on notice.

Although the HP Visualize workstations are the first to be powered by the company's new 64-bit PA-8000 chips, the company isn't putting all of its eggs in its own basket. Less than a week ago, it delivered a new line of servers based on rival chip maker Intel's 200-MHz Pentium Pro processors.

The PA-8000 systems are workstations aimed at computer-aided design (CAD), engineering, and technical software development markets. The company said the HP Visualize workstations will give comparable offerings from Sun and SGI a run for their money, providing 3D graphics performance two and three times faster, respectively, than systems from those companies.

The HP systems will range from $24,000 to $112,245. All of the HP Visualize workstations can be ordered now and will be available by next month.

Separately, HP also cut the price on its Model C110 workstation, with 64MB of memory, 2GB disk, and 20-inch monitor, from $23,500 to $19,000.

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