Rain Computers Inc. Stratus Video Editing Workstation

The Rain Computers Inc. Stratus Video Editing Workstation is built to successfully support a power-hungry video editing application, such as Adobe Premiere or Avid Media Composer. If you're interested in keeping multiple such programs open, Stratus is upgradeable from its 8GB of RAM to 32GB, and from its 500GB hard drive to 12TB, and these components install easily by sliding and connecting into assigned internal slots. At the core of the computer is a powerful 3.6 GHz Sandy Bridge-E Xeon Quad-Core Intel processor. 3.6 GHz is a very fast speed at which the processor pushes data through associated components. The installed graphics card is NVIDIA's Quadro K600, a 1GB card that will run your application smoothly on up to two monitors. On any computer, monitors connect into the graphics card's outputs, and the K600 features a DVI output that accepts monitors with up to a 2560 x 1600 resolution, and a DisplayPort output that supports up to a 3840 x 2160 monitor. Both of these outputs are also compatible with HDMI monitors via optional HDMI adapters.

The above components are complemented by additional components and configurations that enable stability and maximum performance with creative applications. A fan regulator keeps the entire system running cool and quiet, and the main processor supports the addition of an optional liquid cooling pump for even more regulation. The installed Windows 7 is fine-tuned in the registry and BIOS settings to provide more system resources and processor efficiency for creative applications. Services unnecessary for such applications are disabled to maximize memory and hence bandwidth.

For reading and writing media, Stratus has a dual layer -- meaning fast -- CD/DVD player and burner, and a rear card slot for SD, SDHC, SDXC, CF1, CF2, SM, MS, and MS Pro memory cards. For input/output, Stratus is equipped with numerous ports -- eight USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports, two 6 Gb/s eSATA 3.0 ports, six PCI-Express 3.0 slots, one PCI slot, an Ethernet port, and two S/PDIF audio outputs, one coaxial and one optical, that support up to 7.1 channels of surround sound audio. In addition, Stratus has slots for installing two FireWire 400 ports for outputting video and audio.

Rain Computers is very support-oriented. Along with a one year warranty, you get a year of phone support, 24/7 help desk support, and remote login tech support. You have the option of extending your warranty along with tech support to a full 3 years. Stratus also comes with one Rain Ensemble Plug & Play session, which offers help with installing, testing and ensuring proper operation of 3rd party hardware and software, like sound cards and editing programs.