Lenovo has refreshed a trio of its ThinkPad P series mobile workstations with Intel’s latest seventh-generation processors, and one of these models packs the chops to be fully VR-ready.
That’s the ThinkPad P71 which can be equipped with an Intel Xeon E3-v6 CPU (or seventh-generation Core processor) twinned with up to a Quadro P5000M on the graphics front. You can also specify up to 64GB of 2400MHz DDR4 memory, and on the storage side of the equation, up to 4 different drives including a PCIe SSD and traditional spinning disks.
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As mentioned, this laptop is certified VR-ready by Nvidia, and is also tough enough to pass muster for the MIL-SPEC standard. A dual-fan cooling system is present to guard against any danger of overheating.
When it comes to the 17-inch screen, you can go for a 3840 x 2160 (4K) resolution IPS panel with a brightness of 300 nits, featuring X-Rite Pantone colour calibration to ensure colour accuracy. Or there’s a slightly more pedestrian Full HD screen.
Connectivity includes a pair of Thunderbolt 3 ports plus four USB 3.0 connectors, and you also get a DVD writer with this workstation.
Touchscreen option
Lenovo also revealed the refreshed ThinkPad P51 which is ‘engineered for engineers’, as the PC maker puts it, and comes with a 15-inch 4K IPS display – or plain Full HD, and there’s a touchscreen Full HD option as well – which also benefits from X-Rite Pantone colour calibration.
And once again, it’s MIL-SPEC certified, offering the same choice of processors (Intel Xeon E3-v6 CPU or seventh-generation Core) and memory as the above machine, except in this case the GPU only runs up to a Quadro M2200M.
Finally, there’s the ThinkPad P51s (pictured above) which boasts a redesigned chassis along with a slim and light build – in fact, Lenovo boasts that this is the thinnest and lightest ThinkPad mobile workstation ever built.
This model can be specified with up to Core i7 Kaby Lake processors, up to 32GB system RAM, and an Nvidia Quadro M520M graphics solution – it also sports the same options as the P51 in terms of the screen (4K, Full HD touchscreen or just plain Full HD).
The P51s has ‘power bridge’ tech which allows for the use of two batteries to keep going for far longer when away from the power socket. Combined with its highly portable nature, this gives the notebook a great deal of appeal in terms of being a road warrior workstation.
The P51s will be first out of the gate in March priced at $1,049 (around £850, AU$1,380), and the other two models will follow in April, with the P51 and P71 starting at $1,399 (around £1,130, AU$1,840) and $1,849 (around £1,500, AU$2,430) respectively.
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