For years the question did not exist: design work needed a powerful machine under the desk and that was that. GPU-accelerated virtual desktop platforms, including Inevidesk, which WIT’s founders co-founded, have made it a genuine choice. Neither answer is universally right.
Where physical workstations still win
A fixed team, working from one studio, on stable long-term workloads remains well served by physical machines: maximum performance per pound at the desk, no dependency on connectivity and a hardware lifecycle the practice already understands.
Where VDI changes the game
Virtual desktops earn their keep when work is distributed orfluctuating: hybrid teams needing full Revit capability from home, freelancers and contractors who must be productive on day one, international project teams and practices that scale up and down with project cycles.
Centralising data also simplifies security and backup: models never leave the data centre, which removes an entire category of endpoint risk.
The honest trade-offs
VDI depends on decent connectivity and the platform choice matters enormously, general-purpose cloud VDI has historically disappointed AEC firms on GPU performance and cost. Sector-specific platforms exist precisely because of that gap.
Many practices land on a hybrid estate: physical workstations for anchor desks, virtual desks for flexibility. The right mix is a design exercise and it starts with how your people actually work.