ARM development for the office: unboxing an Ampere eMag workstation

One of the key elements I've always found frustrating with basic software development is that it can often be quite difficult to actually get the hardware in hand you want to optimize for, and get a physical interaction that isn't delayed by networking or logging in or anything else. Having a development platform on the desk guarantees that direct access, and for the non-x86 vendors, I've been asking for these for some time. Thankfully we're now starting to see some appear, and Avantek, one of the Arm server retailers, have built an Ampere eMag workstation out of a server board, with some interesting trickery to get it to fit. They sent us one to have a look at.

This is only the unboxing and short first impressions, but I am unreasonably excited about what are effectively bog-standard PCs, but with an ARM processor. I can't wait for these machines to come down in price, because this is the first time in a long, long time that we've seen what could become a serious challenge to x86 in its traditional space: desktops and laptops.

Once AnandTech publishes its actual review, I'll be on top of that, too.