Editing Workstation (section)

===Market position===
[[File:Sun Ultra 20 Workstation (2005).jpeg|thumb|[[Sun Ultra series|Sun Ultra 20]] with [[AMD]] [[Opteron]] processor and [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris 10]]]]
Since the late 1990s, the workstation and consumer markets have further merged. Many low-end workstation components are now the same as the consumer market, and the price differential narrowed. For example, most [[Macintosh Quadra]] computers were originally intended for scientific or design work, all with the [[Motorola 68040]] CPU, backward compatible with [[Motorola 68000 series|68000]] Macintoshes. The consumer [[Macintosh IIcx]] and [[Macintosh IIci]] models can be upgraded to the [[Macintosh Quadra 700|Quadra 700]]. "In an era when many professionals preferred Silicon Graphics workstations, the Quadra 700 was an intriguing option at a fraction of the cost" as resource-intensive software such as [[Infini-D]] brought "studio-quality 3D rendering and animations to the home desktop". The Quadra 700 can run [[A/UX]] 3.0, making it a [[Unix]] workstation.<ref>{{cite web|date=11 December 2020|first=Chris|last=Wilkinson|title=Working from home at 25MHz: You could do worse than a Quadra 700 (even in 2020)|url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/12/it-still-runs-on-your-imagination-passing-2020-time-with-a-macintosh-quadra-700/|work=Ars Technica}}</ref> Another example is the [[Nvidia]] [[GeForce 256]] consumer graphics card, which spawned the [[Quadro]] workstation card, which has the same GPU but different driver support and certifications for CAD applications and a much higher price.

Workstations have typically driven advancements in CPU technology. All computers benefit from multi-processor and multicore designs (essentially, multiple processors on a [[die (integrated circuit)|die]]). The multicore design was pioneered by IBM's [[POWER4]]; it and Intel Xeon have multiple CPUs, more on-die cache, and ECC memory.

Some workstations are designed or certified for use with only one specific application such as [[AutoCAD]], [[Avid Technology|Avid]] Xpress Studio HD, or [[3D Studio Max]]. The certification process increases workstation prices.