In a world where cloud computing is increasingly important, software often takes centre stage. But when it comes to producing 3D animation, the big money is still in the hardware space.

A decent workstation is an expensive piece of gear, so it's not surprising that in times of economic austerity sales tend to drop off. However, it appears that trend may finally be at an end.

In a hot desking environment, you grab the first available desk and either plug in your own laptop or log in on a standardised desktop. Can that approach be used if you need to use a more powerful workstation computer?