Buy it on eBay
Selling workstations on eBay may seem odd for a company that bases at least part of its reputation on corporate sales and service, but the advantage in terms of marketing directly to users is obvious. After several weeks of watching the systems sell on eBay, the best deal I’ve seen was the W2100z with dual 246 (2.0GHz) Opterons, 2GB of RAM, a 73GB Ultra SCSI hard drive and a 2D graphics card, that sold for $2,125. (The average final eBay price for this system is closer to $2,500.) By contrast, this same system sells for $4,695 on Sun’s Web site, which is closer to what similar machines sell for on its competitor’s online retail stores. (The NVIDIA FX3000 card alone goes for anywhere from $450 to $900 on eBay auctions, so a full 3D-ready system could be put together for well under $3,000.)

However, I was disappointed to find that Sun’s eBay auctions don’t include the W2100z, with its 2.4GHz Opterons, standard 4GB of RAM, or the Quadro FX3000 card, that my test system came with. On Sun’s retail site, this system dubbed the “Large” sells for $8,695 — more than three times the average price of the “Small” base configuration available on eBay. But Sun said it would consider listing the “large” system online given sufficient consumer demand.

Overall, I’m very impressed with Sun’s new machines. They represent a great upwardly mobile alternative to high-performance 32-bit workstations, and I appreciate the ability to buy the hardware and OS separately, since in practice, nearly every studio will require a customized OS installation. Sun’s foray into eBay auction selling is nearly daring and may yield some spectacular bargains for shoppers, although buyers needing top-end performance will have to make some noise if they want the see the top-of-the-line machines on the auction block. Still, these systems are a compelling alternative to other offerings and Sun’s workstations have a bright future.

Sean Wagstaff (www.wagstaff.info) is a technical director and visual effects artist who recently completed work on Hellboy, The Day After Tomorow and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. He is now the technical artist for Double Fine Prods., spinning vfx for the asylum-adventure game, Psychonauts.