Hp’s Z210 entry level Workstation is a powerful film editing system with an affordable price tag.
To learn more about Z210, we interviewed Renganathan Subramanyam (Renga) who is responsible for worldwide product marketing of HP’s entry-level personal workstation product line. Renga has over 25 years of experience in diverse roles in the computing and networking industry, in service and support, pre-sales consultancy and product marketing. Prior to moving to the U.S., Renga was the regional product manager for HP Workstations for Asia Pacific, based out of HPs regional headquarters in Singapore.
Cinema Without Borders: What is the difference from this generation of HP products like the Z210 and the previous generation that was released two years ago?
Renganathan Subramanyam: The HP Z210 Workstations, available in a convertible mini-tower (CMT) or a highly compact small form factor (SFF), were launched in April and replace the HP Z200 and Z200 SFF, which were launched in early 2010. The HP Z210 is our entry-level workstation, offering the choice of high-performance, enterprise-class Intel® Xeon® E3 and second-generation Intel Core™ i3/i5/i7 processors, surpassing PC offerings and increasing overall performance by 20 to 67 percent over previous-generation processors, for various workstation applications. These workstations also add more differentiation over desktop PCs than in previous generations, with a choice of higher performance Intel Xeon processors and professional integrated graphics options.
CWB: Do these workstations still allow for video editing and video processing?
RS: Yes, absolutely! The HP Z210, is certified for professional applications such as Adobe Premiere Pro, and offer fully certified graphics for these professional applications, making them a great choice for entry level video work and independent professionals. For example, professional videographers, typically use PCs but now with the HP Z210 workstations it is much more affordable and productive for them to use a workstation.
CWB: What are the advantages to working with the Z210 over other workstations?
RS: All HP Z Workstations are engineered for performance and reliability. The HP Z210 Workstations are no exception yet are very affordable and start at prices that rival traditional desktops. The HP Z210 Workstations are designed for ease of use, and both form factors feature a tool-free chassis that make them easy to service. The Z210 CMT is one of the most expandable entry workstations in the market, with a total of 7 I/O slots and three hard drive and three optical bays. The Z210 SFF on the other hand is very compact and is ideal for space constrained environments that need to power and reliability of a workstation. Like all HP Workstations, they were engineered with customers in mind and went through rigorous testing and certification with the key professional applications and software vendors that are critical to customer work.
CWB: Do the graphics card update along with the workstations?
RS: Yes, definitely on all of our workstations we have component refreshes keeping pace with technology advancements, including graphics cardswe offer time–to-market solutions from both NVIDIA and ATI.
CWB: With the modifications that you make, is the systems updated as well or are the modifications only made to the CPU and the graphics cards?
RS: The changes include other technology components as well; for example, compared to the Z200 we added one more PCIe x4 slot on the Z210 CMT so the workstation now has 2x PCIe x4 slots in addition to the PCIe x16 slot, this makes it ideal for professional video editing when multiple add-in cards are used, for example a video capture card and an audio capture card. Also, with the Z210 CMT we added a larger power supply to cater to richer configurations, which also has increased efficiency – 90% copared to the previous Z200. l Another example, when USB 3.0 came onto the market we added that option to our workstations.
CWB: Is HP working with the software developers such as Adobe and AVID to make sure that their software runs smoothly on HP systems?
RS: Yes, HP works closely with several ISVs, including Adobe and AVID to certify and optimize their software on our workstations. With the HP Z210, in the Digital Media and Entertainment space, we worked with Adobe for Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Encore and After Effects CS3; to ensure that their software is optimized for this workstation.
CWB: What do you see in the future for these workstations?
RS: As you pointed out, today’s workstations have differentiators beyond the components. HP Workstations really distinguish themselves in terms of reliability and performance. Our customers benefit from the work we do with numerous software vendors and customers – we look at the most demanding applications and use scenarios and then engineer our workstations to work in those environments. HP will continue to work closely with these partners and customers to bring more innovations to future generations of HP Workstations.
CWB: What has been done in terms of the acoustics of the system?
RS: We put in a lot of effort to ensure that our systems are quiet. Optimized air flow and cooling within the system helps to ensure that the fans run quietly; . As a result you will find that the HP Z210 is one of the quietest in the industry. HP also offers innovative options such as liquid cooling on the HP Z800 and Z400, to make the systems whisper quiet, even at peak performance workloads.
CWB: Should we be expecting new technology in the future?
RS: Yes, of course! HP is committed to solving the challenges that our customers will face in the future with new and innovative workstation offerings. Stay tuned!.