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Home » HP Goes Beyond Entry-level with Z240 Workstation

HP Goes Beyond Entry-level with Z240 Workstation

Since today’s modern laptops have become more potent than ever, ideal for working on location or at your home, why buy a workstation?

Well, ‘big iron’ workstations are, of course, the real workhorses of our industry. Whether you’re editing commercials in 4K or creating visual effects, you turn to a workstation because they are steady and reliable. Besides, unlike the cramped interior of a laptop, you can easily add gobs of memory or multiple graphics cards to a workstation if the job calls for it.

HP Bolsters Entry-Level Lineup

If you’re looking at workstations, you’ll probably want to start with HP, the long time market leader and a company that offers great value for you workstation dollar.

The Palo Alto-based company continues to offer a full range of machines, ranging from its top of the line model, the HP Z840, through to the mid-range Z640 and Z440. Over the past couple of weeks HP rounded out its workstation line with the entry-level Z240 (an update of the Z230) which comes in a tower as well as a small form factor (SFF) — what you’d call a desktop model.

Last week, I met with HP’s Andrew Willard at their Z240 launch event in New York. He’s their global product manager for entry workstation platforms. Andrew gave me a tour of the most interesting features of these compact machines that, solidly built in HP’s typical we’re-still-an-engineering-company-first manner.

Here’s a video about the machine at the event (I forgot my lavaliere mic so the audio suffers a bit):

With a price point that is similar to a standard desktop PC, moving to an HP Z240 will appeal to a broad range of users, including those with a limited budget or facilities and large studios which need a fleet of workstations for their artists. Whether you are doing 3D, video editing or designing interactive media, the Z240 boasts a long list of innovative enhancements and features that is remarkable for an entry-level machine.

Entry Level Doesn’t Mean Skimping on the Latest

One new feature – the M.2 slot – shows that innovative technology can find a place in an entry-level product.

What’s cool about M.2 on the motherboard is that you now have a high-speed slot that replaces the little used 2-channel PCIe slot, which was too small to run a graphics card or anything very useful. Instead you can have a number of expansion cards and connectors that can be installed, including HP’s super-fast Z Turbo Drive G2.

Developed in collaboration with Samsung, The Z Turbo drive delivers a blistering fast read time of 1GBps (gigabytes per second), yet price close to standard SSDs. Editing multiple streams of 4K video on an entry-level workstation is now a reality. (Well, okay, one stocked with these optional drives in any case.)

One design innovation might seem a bit more pedestrian at first: removable dust filters. However, the addition of dust filters are claimed to be able to reduce dust levels up to 47 percent. this is a practical way to keep important system elements from overheating after sitting around in a dusty workspace, and is a welcome addition to any workstation.

The Z240 features removable dust filters. Smart idea.

The Z240 is compact in either the tower or desktop model when compared to its fuller-sized companions. In part that’s due to a reduced-size motherboard on the tower as well as simpler cable layouts. This is something to keep in mind if you’re dealing with tight spaces in a cubicle or dormitory room.

The interior of the Z240 tower. Featuring a redesigned motherboard, simplified cable layout, an M.2 slot, 64 GB of DDR4 ECC memory and ambient thermal sensors for better management of acoustics and thermals.

To make it easier to move it around, the Z240 tower features integrated front and rear handle ledges. This is a nice touch, and is something usually seen on higher end workstations.

An improved airflow design and enhanced acoustic damping are also worth mentioning. While the two Z240s we’re looking at are entry-level models, HP shows it’s not skimping by integrating temperature sensors throughout the motherboard and power supply of both the tower and SFF systems. The result? Better cooling and quieter operation, since you can keep on top of heat buildup that could otherwise cause problems while keeping the machine quiter in cooler environments.

The Z240 Workstation comes in both Tower and Small Form Factor models. The tower, pictured here, has ledges on the front and back for easy maneuvering.

Using the latest Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 CPUs, or the upcoming Xeon E3-1200 v5 series, enables the Z240 to handle up to 64 GB of the latest DDR4 ECC memory. That capability is twice the amount of the previous Z230 generation. That should probably be enough for most ambitious 3D models and simulations – if your budget can handle it. While I prefer a more versatile tower model myself, the small form factor version of the Z240 is only 57 percent the size of the tower, so it can find a place on most desktops.

The Small Form Factor version of the HP Z240 is made for tight spaces.

The HP Z240 Tower and Z240 SFF ship with Windows 7, Windows 10 or Linux (Red Hat and SUSE) installed. Availability is expected in November. Systems start at $879.

The Z240 Series is a significant upgrade to that seems to redefine the definition of “entry-level computing”. Properly tweaked with the right amounts of RAM and SSDs, you can expect to speed your way through the world of increasingly high-res projects.

About Joe Herman

Joe Herman is a filmmaker, artist and post production specialist and writes often about the industry. You can reach him at joe[at]legendmultimedia[dot]com. Or reach and follow him on Twitter @JoeHermanTweets.

Community & Partner Links

How Sony’s New Virtual Sound Technology Can Change How We Hear Films

Kami Asgar and Jessica Parks are post-production heavyweights who work with major studios, namely Sony. As a sound designer (Asgar) and as a post executive (Parks), their collective resume touches on everything from Apocalypto to Grandma’s Boy to Venom.

Parks has recently shifted her focus from supervisor to hands-on sound design, and we talk about how it’s never too late to pivot on your career path and find the thing you love doing wherever you are in life.

Click on this link to read the rest of the article on No Film School’s site.

NJ – Governor Murphy signs $14B Incentive Program Bill – the NJ Economic Recovery Act of 2020

 Film tax credits — amending existing programs to include provisions for so-called New Jersey film partners and New Jersey film-lease partners and allowing an additional $200 million of tax credits annually over 13 years.

Click this link if you want to read the full article on the Lexology site. http://bit.ly/35NtDx6

Film Commish announces date for production restart

In her December 18, 2020 news update, MOME Commissioner Anne del Castillo announced that the Film Office is now accepting permit applications for production activity that begins on July 27th.

She also announced awards now (Awkwafina) and more. To read all of the Film Commish’s bloggy sort of news column, click here.

Stimulus Offers $15 Billion in Relief for Struggling Arts Venues

The coronavirus relief package that Congressional leaders agreed to this week includes grant money that many small proprietors described as a last hope for survival.

For the music venue owners, theater producers and cultural institutions that have suffered through the pandemic with no business, the coronavirus relief package that Congress passed on Monday night offers the prospect of aid at last.

To read the full article on The New York Times’ site, click here.

If you want to start production, here’s the latest news from the Mayor’s Office

Phase 4 production guidance is available on the Film Permit website. All production activity, whether it requires a Film Permit or not, must comply with New York Forward Industry Guidance.

For more information see, please refer to the State Department of Health’s Interim Guidance for Media Production During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Please review the guidelines and FAQ before submitting permit applications. The Film Office is operating remotely, so please allow additional time for Film Permit processing.

The above paragraphs contain links to the various FAQ – just mouse over the relevant words.

Nikon to Stop Making Cameras in Japan

Nikon has fallen on hard times as of late as its camera sales have cratered, and now there’s a new indicator of how dire its financial situation is: the company is reportedly pulling the plug on making cameras in Japan after over 70 years of doing so.

To read the full article on Petapixel’s site, click here.

NVIDIA Uses AI to Slash Bandwidth on Video Calls

NVIDIA Research has invented a way to use AI to dramatically reduce video call bandwidth while simultaneously improving quality

What the researchers have achieved has remarkable results: by replacing the traditional h.264 video codec with a neural network, they have managed to reduce the required bandwidth for a video call by an order of magnitude. In one example, the required data rate fell from 97.28 KB/frame to a measly 0.1165 KB/frame – a reduction to 0.1% of required bandwidth.

To read the rest of this article on Petapixel, click this link.

 

 

 

Union Health Plan Dodges Film Workers’ Suit Over Virus Relief

Law360 (October 9, 2020, 5:22 PM EDT) — The Motion Picture Industry Health Plan’s board can’t be sued under ERISA for allegedly flouting its duties when it relaxed plan rules in response to COVID-19, a California federal judge has ruled, nixing a proposed class action filed by two cinematographers who still couldn’t qualify for benefits.

In an order entered Thursday, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner granted the board of directors’ motion to dismiss Greg Endries and Dee Nichols’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit accusing board members of breaching their duty to treat all plan participants fairly.

Endries and Nichols, members of Local 600 of the International Cinematographers Guild, said in July that the board left them and others “out in the cold” in its attempts to address the problems COVID-19 caused for plan participants.

But Judge Klausner agreed with the board’s contention that the case, which alleged a fiduciary breach, should be tossed because plan administrators don’t act as fiduciaries when they amend health care plans.

Read the full article on the Law360 site by clicking here.

Russo Brothers Received Close to $50 Million From Saudi Bank

Anthony Russo and Joseph Russo photographed at the PMC Studio in Los Angeles for the Variety Playback Podcast.

The Russo brothers, directors of the all-time top grossing film “Avengers: Endgame,” quietly secured a roughly $50 million cash infusion for their production company AGBO from Saudi Arabia earlier this year, multiple sources tell Variety.

In a deal brokered and closed at the beginning of the pandemic, the Russos received the investment from an undisclosed Saudi bank in exchange for a minority stake in the brothers’ Los Angeles-based shop.

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