For anyone looking for a fast workstation that’s also portable and relatively inexpensive, there’s the Nucbox K1 mini PC. At the time of writing (until June 4, 2023), it can be purchased from Amazon for $519.99 after $80 Instant Coupon. I love the fact that all that power and storage is neatly packed into a metal box that’s barely bigger than a DVD set.
(ed: This is definitely a contender for both our best desktop and our best mini PC buying guide)
As you’d expect from any workstation worthy of the label, this one runs Windows 11 Pro: it has a powerful processor, an 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 6800H, plenty of memory (two 16GB DDR5-4800 modules in dual-channel mode) and a large SSD with a capacity of 1 TB (though PCIe 3.0 instead of 4.0).
You should also be able to add an additional 2.5″ SSD. There is no dedicated graphics card, just an integrated AMD Radeon 680M GPU, so any 3D rendering or GPU hardware acceleration workload will likely be slow on the K1; the lack of Thunderbolt ports means you won’t be able to connect an external GPU to compensate.
Speaking of ports, you can connect up to three monitors and even a 2.5GbE LAN connection; also note the presence of a VESA mount, great if you want to turn the monitor into a pseudo-all-in-one PC. The K1 comes with a two-year warranty, but no next business day support. We haven’t reviewed it yet, but we’ll get it soon.
How to choose the right workstation for you?
It’s not always about the best, but always about the right fit for your applications. With that in mind, answering the following three questions will help you narrow down your options.
✅Are you brand agnostic? Being brand agnostic means you can research the entire market, not just a subset of it. There’s no real reason to be brand agnostic these days (unless you’re an Apple user, in which case you’ll probably have to stick with your Mac workstation). On the contrary, big brands are more conservative than others when it comes to component selection; which explains why some smaller vendors have adopted AMD Epyc server processors.
✅ What is your budget? Knowing how much you can spend will let you know what you can choose. In theory, any PC can be a workstation, but some of its features (e.g. Windows 11 Pro, aftermarket support, improved expandability, more powerful components) mean desktop workstations are generally more expensive, although deals can be made. You can get good all-round workstations for around $500, but you’ll have to spend much more (several orders of magnitude) for something like AI development.
✅ What kind of support do you need? The standard warranty does not limit in most cases professionals and companies that respond to their workstations. This is where the big brands, with their extensive aftermarket network, have the upper hand and can offer casual coverage, next business day support, and more.
✅ What apps are you planning to run? Different applications require different types of workstations. 3D rendering requires a powerful GPU, while machine learning and data analysis require as much memory as possible. Your toolkit will determine what kind of workstation will fit the bill.
Here are four questions to ask yourself when choosing the right workstation for the job. Just remember that there are no hard and fast rules about which question comes first.