Dell Precision at Computex – How Innovation Enables Business Evolution

By Charles King, Pund-IT, Inc.  June 12, 2019

A common view of evolutionary process imagines continual upward motion—graphics of “the ascent of man” depicting the development of early hominids into modern humans is a classic example. But in the IT industry, computational evolution or at least the spark of evolution can be said to move both upward and downward.

That’s due in large part to the ongoing efforts among PC, workstation and server vendors to improve their products with the latest, greatest CPUs, GPUs, memory, storage, networking and display technologies. Those enhancements result in high-end solutions designed for enterprises and other well-funded organizations. But at the same time, they can also be used to develop products suitable for individuals and companies with more modest budgets, enabling them to continue their own evolutionary journeys.

The mobile, desktop and rack-enabled Precision workstations recently introduced by Dell Technologies at Computex offer great examples of this process and its potential benefits. Let’s dig into the details.

Precision on the go

For customers that prefer being untethered, Dell noted that its three new 5000 and 7000 series mobile workstations offer the “extreme battery life (over 21 hours for some configurations), powerful processors and large storage options” they need to be productive, stay connected and deliver mission-critical projects wherever they are located. The new solutions are:

  • Dell Precision 5540 – Features up to Intel Xeon E or 9th Gen Intel Core 8-core processors and graphics powered with up to an NVIDIA Quadro T2000 (4GB) graphics card. While the Precision 5540 is thin on the outside (packing a 15.6-inch display into a 14-inch chassis), it offers to 4TB of storage and up to 64GB of memory, enough to quickly access and transfer and easily store large 3D, video and multimedia files quickly and easily. Touch-enabled display options include a UHD, 100% Adobe color gamut display or a new OLED display with 100% DCI-P3 color gamut. Priced starting at $1,339.00.
  • Dell Precision 7540 – Described as Dell’s “most powerful 15-inch mobile workstation” the 7540 is the company’s smallest Ready for Virtual Reality (VR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) mobile workstation, delivering the performance required for demanding workloads. It features Intel Xeon E or 9th Gen Intel Core 8-core processors and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000 graphic cards. Users with significant data and content processing requirements can choose optional up to 128GB of 2666MHz memory or up to 64GB of 3200MHz super speed memory. Display options include UHD HDR 400 solutions, and the system will support up to 8K resolution and playback of HDR content via DisplayPort 1.4. Priced starting at $1,149.00.
  • Dell Precision 7740 – For workstation customers requiring an immersive experience, the 17.3-inch 7740 is designed to support data-heavy, graphics-intensive design processes, workloads and business applications. According to Dell, the 7740’s performance is similar to a fixed workstation and features the latest Intel Xeon E or 9th Gen Intel Core 8-core processors, up to 128GB of ECC memory and large PCIe SSD storage capacity (up to 8TB). Graphics options include NVIDIA Quadro RTX or next-generation AMD Radeon Pro. The 7740 is available with a range of display options including a new 17.3-inch UltraSharp UHD IGZO display featuring 100% Adobe color gamut. Priced starting at $1,409.00.

All three of the new Precision mobile workstations will be available on dell.com beginning in early July.

Precision in the workplace

How about fixed workstations for budget-minded customers? At Computex, Dell unveiled two new tower systems and an updated rack-enabled solution:

  • Dell Precision 3431 and 3630 – These Precision towers are designed to cost-effectively maximize workplace efficiency without sacrificing features. The two single-processor systems support Intel Xeon E or 9th Gen Intel Core options, and up to 64GB or 128GB or of 2666Mhz ECC or non-ECC memory (respectively). Both include scalable storage options designed to support growing business requirements. The 3630 delivers up to 16GB video memory with Nvidia Quadro P5000 graphics, and optional AMD Radeon Pro WX7100 graphics are also available. The towers feature Dell’s Reliable Memory Technology (RMT) and ISV certifications which are designed to enhance system performance and reliability. The Precision 3630 and 3631 are both priced starting at $609.00. The former will be available from June and the latter will be available from mid-July.
  • Precision 3930 – A solution that Dell calls the world’s “most powerful 1U rack workstation.” Designed for customers who prefer deploying workstations in their data centers, the 3930 can support complex application environments, including interactive design and analysis of large datasets. Both affordable and scalable, the 3930 has been updated with Intel Xeon E or 9th Gen Intel Core processor options, offers up to 128GB of memory and supports up to one double-width 295W of NVIDIA Quadro or AMD Radeon Pro graphics. Priced starting at $879.00. Available on dell.com from mid-July.

Final analysis

To my earlier point, Dell’s new mobile and fixed Precision workstations are designed to make the most out of new and next gen components from Intel, Nvidia, AMD and other vendors. The resulting solutions are available at price points that make them available to and affordable for companies of virtually any size and kind. In other words, Dell’s new Precision solutions are designed to provide just the sort of creative computational sparks businesses require to continue their evolutionary and competitive journeys.

But Dell is also delivering far more than simple cost-effectiveness. Along with coming in compelling mobile, tower and rack form factors, the new solutions’ flexible configuration options mean that Precision customers can order systems appropriate for supporting nearly any business application, workload or process.

Understanding and responding to customers’ core needs and requirements is what sets successful IT vendors, like Dell, apart from the crowd. Supporting those core needs and requirements is what successful solutions, like Dell Precision, do wherever work and workers reside.

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