With traditional PC unit sales starting to falter in the face of competition from tablet devices, solution providers are wondering where to focus their efforts.

The folks at Hewlett-Packard suggest that when it comes to corporate accounts, workstations are now one of the best-selling propositions around.

In response to rapidly increasing workstation demand, HP has rolled out additions to its workstation lineup that includes a new desktop system and three mobile workstations.

The entry level HP Z210 workstation is based on the new Intel Xeon processor E3 1200 offerings, while the rest of the desktop lineup is based on second-generation Intel Core processors.

The top of the line for the mobile workstations is an  HP EliteBook 8760w that offers a 17.3-in, screen and a choice of AMD FirePro( or NVIDIA Quadro graphics and up to 4 gigabytes (GB) of video memory. The EliteBook 8760w also can be configured with three hard drives and RAID 5 support.

The HP EliteBook 8560w features a15.6-inch screen and supports AMD FirePro graphics for 1 GB of video memory or NVIDIA Quadro graphics for 2 GB of video memory. The optional HP DreamColor display on the EliteBook 8560w and 8760w(5) also allows for more than 1 billion active color possibilities.

The smallest and lightest unit is the HP EliteBook 8460w, which wright 4.9 pounds and includes a 14-in screen It supports AMD FirePro 1 GB video memory graphics card .

The gun-metal colored HP EliteBook 8760w, 8560w and 8460w also include precision aluminum-alloy hinges and cast titanium-alloy display latches for durability.

The HP Z210 desktop unit, meanwhile have graphics options include 2-D choices from AMD and NVIDIA that incorporate dual graphics card capabilities that support up to four 2-D displays. 3-D options include next-generation processor-integrated Intel high-definition graphics and entry and midrange graphics from NVIDIA and AMD.

The HP Z210 Workstations also offer ENERGY STAR v5 qualified configurations.

The new HP Z210 Workstations are expected to be available this spring. U.S. pricing starts at $659 for the HP Z210 CMT Workstation and $569 for the HP Z210 SFF Workstation.

The HP EliteBook 8760w, 8560w and 8460w start at $1,899, $1,349 and $1,299 respectively.

In many cases, IT organizations are starting to look well beyond Windows 7 because they know that whatever machines they buy today will be with them well into the rest of this decade, which means many of them will be running Windows 8 and future variants of Internet Explorer that will require the power of today’s workstation-class systems to support.