From AMD Opteron to Intel Core2 Duo and lightweight notebook to desktop replacement, this month's workstation reviews offers something for everyone.

Sun Ultra 40 M2

Like all of Sun's AMD Opteron-based workstations, the Ultra 40 M2 comes preloaded with Solaris or Linux. While these Operating Systems will be of interest to a niche section of CAD/CAM/CAE users, Microsoft Windows continues to have the lion's share of this market, and while Sun does not ship its machines with XP, it does provide full support for anyone who wants to run Windows on its Opteron-based workstation. This can be pre-installed by selected Sun's resellers and dual boot Windows Linux/Solaris systems are also an option.

The Ultra 40 M2 is Sun's 'power' workstation offering, and as such features two AMD Opteron 2000 series dual core processors. Our Windows-based test machine boasted two Opteron 2218 chips, which run at 2.6GHz. These were supported by 4 x 1GB of DDR2-667 buffered ECC memory, a mid-range Nvidia Quadro FX 1500 graphics card, and a standard 250GB 7,200RPM SATA-II hard drive.

On paper, this level of specification looks certain to appeal to typical high-end CAE users, who may typically require multiple cores to carry out analysis jobs in parallel - or spread a single compute intensive task across all four cores. Our multithreaded 3ds Max render test would normally demonstrate the full utilization of all of this available power but the results were far below those expected - in fact on par with a typical dual core system. On further investigation, the 'Performance Tab' in Windows Task Manager recognised that there were four cores in use, but the CPU loads on the third and fourth cores were much lower than the first and second, which were maxed out throughout the test.

Elsewhere, under our single threaded Inventor and SolidWorks graphics tests, the machine performed well, but we were surprised by the relatively slow results under the SolidWorks STEP import test.

As a functional piece of design, the Ultra 40 M2 is a near perfect example of how to build a workstation. Two quick release catches mean the side can be off the chassis in seconds, revealing a secondary clear plastic panel, which again can be removed in a flash. There's no messing about with screws and there's no need to force panels into alignment.

Once inside everything is laid out with easy access in mind. The Ultra 40 M2 supports up to seven hard drives, with a simple clip used to lever each cradle out of the casing. Drives can be slotted back in with ease with power and data automatically re-connected. The entire cooling system uses three low duty fans to channel air through efficiently from front to back. This can be pulled out and replaced in less than 10 seconds and there are no wires to worry about as the unit simply slots into a power supply on the motherboard. Individual fans, which are used to cool the machine's two memory banks, clip off and are hinged at one end for easy access to the DIMMS.

An incredible amount of thought has gone into engineering the Ultra 40 M2 - it really is a wonderful piece of design and certainly the most impressive chassis I have ever seen in a workstation. However, this was let down by a number of problems we encountered with our test machine. After our initial round of testing, several applications became corrupted along with the graphics driver and while a replacement hard drive pre-configured with Windows remedied this, the main Windows user profile on this installation soon became corrupt.

In conclusion, it's a shame that a workstation that impressed so greatly in terms of its functional design was let down in its execution. The problems with corruption, plus the anomalies in our test results we encountered, would suggest that our Ultra 40 M2 was not at all well. We would hope that this was an isolated problem and, in relation to this, it's worth pointing out that Sun offers a 60-day try before you buy program, giving you ample time to give the machine a full going over before committing financially.

Fujitsu Siemens Celsius M450

We don't often see such a high-end graphics card in a single socket workstation, but Nvidia's Quadro FX 4500 actually sits quite comfortably inside Fujitsu Siemens' Intel Core2 Duo-based Celsius M450. While the average user won't see much benefit from the Quadro FX 4500 under most mid-range CAD software, it is under graphics intensive applications such as 3ds Max that the 512MB graphics card really starts to shine. Here, Nvidia has recently tuned its DirectX driver for Max, albeit at the expense of its OpenGL, and is now closing the gap on ATI, who still delivers the best performance in Max.

Despite only being a single socket workstation, the M450's Intel Core2 Duo E6700 chip still gives users two processor cores to play with. However, Design Viz specialists who demand a maximum core count for high-speed rendering might find Fujitsu -Siemens' R Series, which features dual CPU sockets, a more desirable option. In addition, with models and applications continuing to grow some might see 2GB memory a little light on the ground, but this can be easily remedied for a small premium.

For a single socket workstation the M450 is actually a fairly hefty machine and this seems to be primarily so it can accommodate, power and cool high-performance cards such as the FX 4500. Fujitsu Siemens' single socket W Series is certainly more compact, but you'll be much more restricted in your choice of graphics. Finally, if you're simply looking for a mid-range workstation to run CAD on, and the FX 4500 is a little bit of overkill, then the FX 1500 is also available as an option with the equivalent machine coming in at a very reasonable £1,129.

Like all of the major workstation vendors Fujitsu-Siemens offers pretty much something for everyone and with an increasingly competitive workstation market, is now putting forward its renowned build quality at very aggressive prices. And certainly £1,599 for a high-performance 3D workstation is a very interesting proposition.

Rock XtremeCTXPro

In terms of specification, Rock's XtremeCTXPro features the fastest components you can expect to find in any mobile workstation today. Built around Intel's Core 2 Duo T7600 chip, the system features two processor cores running at a lightening fast 2.33GHz. This is supplemented by Nvidia's Quadro FX 3500M graphics chip which delivers the kind of 3D power you'd typically associate with a high-end desktop machine. 2GB of DDR-2 RAM rounds off the specification, but for those with particularly complex datasets this is upgradeable to 4GB, though you'll need a 64-bit OS to make use of this.

All of these cutting edge components are housed inside quite a substantial chassis, which weighs in at 3.8kg. While this is quite heavy for a notebook, it is justified by the inclusion of a full size keyboard complete with numeric keypad and 17-inch widescreen TFT. The display has a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,200 (WUXGA+), which means you can see a lot of detail inside your CAD designs, but some might find the icons and toolbars are too small. The screen's X-Black finish gives brighter colours, but it's easy to get distracted by your reflection in brightly lit environments.

A 100GB 7,200RPM S-ATA drive provides ample storage inside the machine, but if you want to boost either the capacity or performance, you can add another at the expense of the DVD drive. As you'd expect in a high-end notebook, the system includes integrated Intel 802.11 A/B/G, Bluetooth, USB 2.0, Firewire, Gigabit LAN, 56K modem, serial, IrDA & PCMIA. It also features a 4-in-1 digital memory/smart card reader, a 1.3 Mega Pixel digital camera and a handy DVI output to connect to external TFTs or digital projectors. There's also a 3G Internet Option, which slots inside the internal mini-PCI socket. It's not exactly short on features!

The XtremeCTXPro's keyboard is excellent and typing is a joy, but the touchpad on our test machine was poor and did not always respond correctly to the movement of our fingers. As a result it was incredibly hard to point accurately. In response to our findings, Rock was keen to point out that it had not come across problems of this type before but should any arise the system includes a three year collect and return pan European warranty. A peace of mind guarantee is also included so customers can return their notebook within seven days and get their money back.

Rock's XtremeCTXPro is an extremely powerful mobile workstation - both in terms of raw processing power and 3D graphics - you only need to look at the benchmark figures to see that. However, this level of performance comes at a premium - that of mobility. Like so many 17-inch notebooks you wouldn't want to carry this beast around with you all day, but if mobility means the back seat of the car, then it's certainly an interesting proposition and trackpad problems aside, a worthy candidate for desktop replacement. What's more at £1,899 it's not much more than your average desktop machine.

Lenovo ThinkPad T60p

At a time when mobile workstations seem to be getting bigger and bigger it's refreshing to see a manufacturer still concentrating on traditional form factor notebooks. Lenovo's ThinkPad T60p is just that, a typical 14.1 inch machine with a 329 x 268 x 31mm slim line chassis and weighing in at a modest 2.5kg. Our review machine was kitted out with an Intel Core Duo T2600 2.16 GHz processor and an ATI Mobility FireGL V5200 (256 MB) graphics chip. These, however, are not latest generation technologies and Intel's Core 2 Duo processor and ATI's Mobility FireGL V5250 are now available inside the T60p. A 100GB Serial ATA hard drive and 1GB of RAM complete the core specifications, but for serious CAD users a £102 upgrade to 2GB will be money well spent.

The T60p's 14.1" TFT delivers a resolution of 1,400 x 1,050 (SXGA+) which should provide just about the right pixel density for most users. The screen features a classic non-reflective matt finish, as opposed to high gloss commonly found in widescreen mobile workstations. Colour and brightness are excellent and consistent when viewed from virtually any angle, which is great for presentations, but not so good for confidentially on the plane.

The T60p is kitted out with virtually everything you could wish for in a notebook. DVD multicorder, modem, infrared, Intel 3945 A/B/G wireless, Bluetooth, USB 2.0 and gigabit Ethernet - the only notable omission is Firewire. There are also some neat additions that make the machine stand out from the crowd - mouse buttons above and below the trackpad and the signature red point stick offer input flexibility, while a fingerprint scanner boosts security and a light located at the top of the screen which illuminates the keyboard is just plain handy. For those constantly on the road the T60p is also available with an optional 3G module, which can be made live through a partnership with Vodafone.

In terms of grunt, the T60p gave a good account of itself in all of our benchmarks, despite our test machine featuring what are essentially older generation technologies. We would expect a marginal improvement in performance with the Intel Core 2 Duo T7400 processor (2.16GHz) and ATI Mobility FireGL V5250 graphics. An Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 (2.33GHz) processor, as featured in Rock's XTreme CTXPro, would boost this further.

When it comes to 3D graphics performance, while the T60p won't be setting the world on fire, it's adequate for most mid-range CAD applications. High end CAD or design visualisation software users may find it a little lacking though.

When considering a mobile workstation you have to ask yourself "what exactly do I want to get out of my machine?" If you're looking to invest in a single workstation, which will satisfy all of your requirements, home and away, then the T60p is probably not for you. Here, your average widescreen 17" or 19" mobile workstations with high end graphics cards are more worthy of the 'desktop replacement' moniker, but size can be a burden for those constantly on the road. Where the ThinkPad T60p excels is as a complementary solution to a standard desktop workstation and with Lenovo's attention to detail and exemplary build quality is certainly worth closer attention. Also, expect to pay less than the £2,240 list price, even with a Core 2 Duo chip.