Computle wants to change how engineering and design firms think about remote workstations, moving away from shared virtual machines toward dedicated physical machines hosted in data centers. Rather than slicing server resources for multiple users, each designer gets a one-to-one workstation, the same kind of hardware they’d expect in a local desktop but accessed remotely, billed as a subscription service. This approach promises predictable performance and easier licensing compared with typical virtualized environments, tells Develop 3D.
In most cloud workstation setups, GPUs and CPUs are shared among users. That can drive up costs because virtual GPU licenses and commercial virtualization platforms add expense, and performance can vary depending on how resources are divided. Computle’s model avoids those costs by assigning a whole workstation to each user and relying on open-source software for management, eliminating the need for additional virtualization layers without noticeably compromising performance.
Hardware choices echo familiar desktop configurations. Standard offerings include Intel Core i7 CPUs, 64 GB of RAM, and up to 2 TB SSD storage, with GPU options ranging from mid-tier Nvidia RTX 5050 cards to high-end RTX 5090 units. Customers can customize machines further, choosing from high-end Intel and AMD CPUs or professional GPUs geared toward CAD workflows. Monthly pricing begins at around £123 on a three-year plan, which can appeal to smaller firms or teams looking to avoid large upfront capital expenditures on workstations.
Computle’s model sits within a larger new wave of 1:1 remote workstations gaining traction in the CAD, BIM, and visualization sectors. Unlike traditional VDI or public cloud setups, where many users share resources, dedicated machines offer consistent clock speeds and graphics throughput, which designers and engineers depend on for complex models and real-time interaction.
For firms that demand performance close to what on-premises desktops provide, but want central management and the option to work from anywhere, this dedicated remote workstation model could simplify IT while preserving familiar workflow expectations.