Celebrating 25 Years of Precision Workstations Pushing the Boundaries

As we celebrate a quarter-century of Dell Precision innovations this year, we’ve unveiled some of the industry’s most powerful workstations. Since our first Precision workstation in 1997, Dell engineers have stepped up time and again, providing solutions for some of the most innovative minds in some of the most complex, ever-evolving professions. Driving many industry firsts, we introduced the world’s first mobile workstation in 2001 and the world’s first rackmount workstation in 2008.

One of this year’s firsts was featured in the launch of the Precision 7670 & 7770—the 7670 is the first 16” Precision mobile workstation and also the first to feature two chassis options, allowing professionals more options to scale according to their power needs. When our engineers identified impending transfer speed limitations in the current memory technology, SoDIMMs, we developed and presented an all-new Dell-patented innovation called CAMM (Compression Attached Memory Module). We are in discussions with the industry standards committee to help make CAMM a new standard, providing modularity and supporting repairability.

This banner year also saw Precision unveil the world’s most powerful 14” mobile workstation¹, for truly portable performance, and Precision’s first-ever AMD-powered fixed workstation featuring the AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ Pro, bringing new levels of multi-threaded performance for the increasing workload demands.

These elite workstations help power creators across a multitude of industries including architects, engineers, AI and ML workloads, graphical processors, the medical community, media and entertainment industry creatives and many more that are using cutting-edge technologies to shape their work and its impact on the world. And we’re not stopping here.

Precision At Work: Now and to Come

Core to Precision’s DNA is the ability to anticipate our customers’ needs  and how technological advancements can revolutionize their work. Through the years, we’ve adapted our systems so the medical community can prepare high-resolution renderings that guide surgical plans. We’re empowering robotic technology that helps first responders detect people in danger and visualize a fire before they enter a building. As the concept of digital twins crystalizes and takes root in multiple industries, we’ll be there to help those at the forefront.

One such vanguard is fashion designer Lui Iarocheski, 3D fashion design and innovation director at VALACLAVA, an online apparel brand. Iarocheski uses his Precision 7760 workstation to create digital twins of fabric and garment samples, then incorporates 3D software to visualize, tailor and perfect the designs. The company can then create on-demand garments, reducing time-to-market, expenses and waste from samples and unsold products.

VALACLAVA digital design of apparel.
VALACLAVA digital design. Image courtesy of Lui Iarocheski.

“With digital twins, fabric and patterns can be manipulated in the virtual space to fit an avatar rather than on the body,” Iarocheski explained. “Cloth simulation is super demanding, and the Precision handles this task in a speedy manner without the software crashing. This power helped us to reduce our design process (for one digital garment) by 67%. It also gives me the portability that I need for visiting factories and meeting with the team, while the 17” screen means I can still share projects clearly without a separate monitor.”

Iarocheski says the 3D design process has implications for the larger fashion and retail industries. “Using digital twins, retailers can incorporate AR to allow customers to interact first with hyper-realistic products before purchase, and fashion brands can sell designs in digital channels and only start production when an order is placed. Such on-demand operations will help lead fashion toward more sustainable practices in the future.”

We’re continually inspired by the groundbreaking work we see from Precision users and strive to support the future of what can be achieved in their numerous fields of expertise.

What Other Experts are Saying

Drew Geraci, leading photographer and cinematographer who produced the closing title/credits for Steven Spielberg’s award-winning film West Side Story using his Precision 7920 said, “The new Precision 5770 expertly delivers a professional-level platform that mirrors the latest in technology advancements while being as lightweight as it is powerful – which is incredibly important to me as a cinematographer and editor. I was able to throw incredibly complex high-resolution content, view it all back in real-time and on a true 8k timeline with absolutely no stuttering or playback issues. I was also able to view those files back on the desktop natively without having playback issues in 8k, which I’ve never seen from any laptop I’ve ever used.”

Tim McLaughlin, head of the Department of Visualization at Texas A&M University said, “When the program began in the late 80s, it was grounded in design and computer science with most students using 3D graphics in entertainment media such as feature animation, visual effects and games. But as the power of computer graphics has grown, our students’ interests have evolved into areas like AR/VR in healthcare applications, real-time collaborative design in engineering, data-driven design for urban planning and simulation training. Having Dell Precision workstations has helped our students work with a variety of applications needed to bring their ideas to life, and their work output is on par with professionals already working in the field.”

Celebrate With Us

From award-winning filmmakers and animators to architects and engineers, Precision has been at the core of some incredible work over the last quarter century and to celebrate, we have commissioned a one-of-a-kind exhibition of bespoke digital artwork created using Precision workstations. Industry-leading creatives from around the globe will pull back the curtain on both their creative and technical processes, culminating in a digital gallery including 3D sculptures, animated videos, still illustrations and more. Meet the creators and check out the full gallery below.

Additionally, the Precision team heads to SIGGRAPH 2022 from August 8-11, to showcase some of the newest systems and how they handle complex, demanding workflows and applications with ease and reliability. We’ll also provide a peek at the new Precision 7865 Tower, which will be available later this summer. At SIGGRAPH, we’re inviting attendees to join us for the wrap of Precision’s 25th anniversary celebrations on August 9: register here.

Our Precision teams around the globe will also be celebrating this milestone, with events planned in Asia, Europe and Latin America. Reach out to a local Dell sales representative for events in your region!

Final Words

As professional compute solutions and workstreams continue to evolve, so will Precision. We thank you for 25 years of being your trusted partner and we look forward to all that’s left to accomplish in the next 25.

For more on the history of Precision and a message from our leadership, watch this video on Precision’s 25th anniversary.

Check out our official press kit for more information. Follow and stay connected with us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

1 Based on comparison of 45W CPU in the 5470 vs. competitor 14″ workstations, March 2022.