with the Z2 systems starting at prices just shy of $800.
Well, that's waaay less than a comparable mobile workstation, so why not?
Demonstrating that there is still life in the old dog, HP Inc has ripped the covers off a line-up of workstations aimed squarely at users seeking a lot more oomph from a smaller form-factor. Rocking austere cases not usually associated with machines boasting serious GPU credentials, the additions to HP's Z range are designed …
<Why would you want to jam 56 PCs into a rack?
You'd never fit people's desks around it for a start.</i>
Maybe it's the new Hot-Deskting.
Sort of musical chairs Hot Desking, didn't manage to login for long this week, ticks list for next to be shown the door.
Must be a new IBM strategy.
You cram them in a rack because they will likely to be accessed remotely.
OK, these ones are said to be quiet. But powerful workstations, as the article says, are noisy and produce heat.
So you use Teradici PCOIP terminals or Citrix to access them
https://www.amulethotkey.com/
These guys are good at this, and I have worked with them.
Advantages are:
Low power, silent terminal on your desktop, can be on the back of your monitor.
Secure encryption for spooky sites.
Workstations are secure in the data centre, your data never leaves there.
Workstations are on a fast network near the data.
If a workstation fails, you just connect another one in the rack up to the desktop, No crawlin about under desks ad the engineer gets up and running faster.
... there you typically have a rack nearby where all the noisy stuff is. From there you use long cables to your desk. Plus there are situations where "switching" your desktop to another place can be usefull. For example radio newsreaders can prepare their texts on their desktop and when they join the main host in the studio they can just switch their desktop in there to read it. In short there are many special applications where that can be useful.
Also considering that actual workstations are rather expensive devices, you need to look into the future. Having something you can buy a rackmount kit for, can give you new options for secondary use.