SGI Indy
Shares rank 5 of 9 workstations by recommenders
People recommend it for its reliable hardware, graphical desktop, and popularity for early web work and N64 development. The most common caveat is that used prices are now high for what it offers.
People recommend it for its reliable hardware, graphical desktop, and popularity for early web work and N64 development. The most common caveat is that used prices are now high for what it offers.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 82%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Popular for early web presence
“The Indy was a very popular platform for building an early web presence.”
Comment from 15 Jul 2026 in “Jurassic Park computers in excruciating detail” “the Indy was very popular for this purpose”
Comment from 9 Aug 2026 in “The Alpha 21264 CPU: NT's Greatest RISC (1998)”
Other workstations people recommend
The four most recommended other workstations, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mac Pro | 49 | 92 | 35% | 11 | 16 yrs10 owners | — |
| Tinybox by tinygrad | 25 | 31 | 45% | 4 | — | — |
| Dell Precision | 23 | 12 | 66% | 9 | 10 yrs6 owners | — |
| Sun SPARCstation IPX | 12 | 5 | 71% | 4 | — | Approved |
| SGI IndyThis page | 9 | 2 | 82% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
10 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the Indy was very popular for this purpose”
“The Indy had poor graphics capabilities, compared to the other desktop machines SGI was making at the time”
“We had brand new Indy's delivered... and .. it rocked .. until it didn't.”
“The Indy was a very popular platform for building an early web presence.”
“SGI machines are extremely cool, but I don't quite grasp if collectors of old UNIX workstation use their machines regularly”
“Now they are overpriced and it really doesn't make much sense to own one”
“I don't really miss having an Indy though it was a fantastic system in its time.”
“Hardware was reliable, graphical desktop better than MacOS today, and very low support burden.”
“it's your only option for N64 devkit”
“easily the worst machine that SGI ever shipped”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.