Sun unveiled a new line of workstations.

Sun Microsystems’ computer workstations start at about $40,000 and are intended for number-crunching jobs such as computer-aided design and engineering. The company, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., is locked in a battle with Apollo Computer, Digital Equipment, Hewlett-Packard and others for the burgeoning workstation market. Sun said its model 4-260, the first member of the new line, offers the same performance as Digital’s big VAX 8800 system at one-tenth the price.