Holiday 2012 Workstation Buyer's Guide

Though mobile devices continue to consume more computing marketshare at the expense of traditional desktop PCs, phones and tablets, and to an extent even laptops, simply cannot compete with desktops for getting work done. Workstation productivity systems aren't particularly sexy like powerful gaming computers or svelte small form factors HTPCs, but very few people earn a living playing games or watching movies.

The systems outlined in this guide are built to produce, not to consume. Whether you're interested in producing and editing HD video content, prosumer-grade photography work, financial data analysis, scientific computing, or something else, you need a desktop computer. In this guide we outline three productivity machines at a range of prices, featuring the latest CPUs from both Intel and AMD.