The best workstations, according to hackers
9 workstations were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 1 earns the Hacker Approved badge.
Top pick
The most recommended workstation with the badge. Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Widely used Solaris workstation
Recommended as a compact Solaris workstation with a good keyboard and display; critics call it slow, unreliable and prone to overheating.
We may earn a commission. It never changes the order.
We may earn a commission. It never changes the order.
All 9 workstations, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
| Rank | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mac Pro | 49 | 92 | 35% | 11 | 16 yrs10 owners | — |
| 2 | Tinybox by tinygrad | 25 | 31 | 45% | 4 | — | — |
| 3 | Dell Precision | 23 | 12 | 66% | 9 | 10 yrs6 owners | — |
| 4 | Sun SPARCstation IPX | 12 | 5 | 71% | 4 | — | Approved |
| Tied 5 | SGI Indy | 9 | 2 | 82% | 6 | — | — |
| Tied 5 | Puget Systems workstation | 9 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| 7 | SGI O2 | 8 | 4 | 67% | 6 | — | — |
| Tied 8 | NVIDIA DGX Station | 6 | 1 | 86% | 5 | — | — |
| Tied 8 | System76 Thelio Mira AI Linux Workstation | 6 | 14 | 30% | 1 | — | — |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same workstation in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to workstations that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
Rankings are never for sale. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. It never changes the order.