MAKING THE CASE FOR

Mobile Engineering
Workstations

Engineering on the Go:
The Case for Mobile Workstations

The way products are designed, made andused is undergoing a revolutionary transformation. Competitive and regulatory
pressures are mounting, and time-to-market
windows have become much narrower. As aresult, engineers are expected to create new,innovative parts and products more rapidly, andto explore more design iterations in a fastertime frame.

Design workflows have shifted from CADcentric activities supported by siloed engineering and rendering departments, to more holistic
environments where designers are called up to
perform frequent simulation tasks, as well
as real-time rendering and visualization.
These new workflows require powerfulworkstations to support increasing demandfor compute resources.

2 MAKING THE CASE for Mobile Engineering Workstations

At the same time, engineers
find themselves working awayfrom their desks more frequently
because of travel, remote work/
work-from-home scenarios, andthe need to work from actual job
sites or client offices. The recent
COVID-19 pandemic – which
abruptly forced many firms into
work-from-home situations they
were ill-equipped to support– also highlighted the need forengineers to be able to taketheir work with them on a
moment’s notice.
New, powerful mobileworkstations make it possible
for engineers to tackle the mostchallenging design workflows
on the go. In conjunction withremote access software, cloudbased applications, and other
innovations, these workstations
make it possible for engineers to
do their work anywhere,
any time.
The Lenovo ThinkPad P
Series of mobile workstations
provides professional-grade performance in a portable form factor, including the robust graphics
and multi-core processing thatengineers need for collaborative,
simulation-driven design.

Why Choose the Lenovo
ThinkPad P Series?

Product design has become much more complex. Whether you arecreating an electronic device,an automotive component, a
medical device, white goods
or a consumer product, these
designs increasingly incorporate a mix of mechanical,electrical, sensor, and software
components that require crossdisciplinary collaboration acrossteams performing CAD, CAM,
visualization and CAE tasks.
Integrating these workflows
together allows product designers and engineers to experience
their concepts virtually – iterating on ideas earlier in the design
process, reducing costly physical prototypes and ultimately
getting to market more quickly.
Modern engineering workflows
now include such scenarios as:• Work may involve creating
very large, complex models thatreflect mechanical and electrical systems, and require large
amounts of compute resources
to manipulate• A designer may need todevelop a ‘digital twin’ to run
multiple simulations of a design
during the early development
stages to verify design choices,or may leverage simulationdriven, generative design
techniques that rely on complex

analysis• Designers may be required
to generate highly detailed renders of their designs for review
throughout the design process;in some cases, this may eveninvolve the use of virtual reality
tools• Many manufacturers now
fabricate product components,
requiring powerful CAM andtooling workflows for digital
fabrication• The design process may
also require multitasking – run-productively manage thesecompute-intensive tasks is easily addressed with a professional desktop workstation. In thepast, the mobile environment
has proven more challenging.
However, technology advancements have made it possible to create mobile workstations with the right combinationof multi-core CPUs, powerfulGPUs, and sufficient memory
for engineers to take their workwith them. Lenovo offers powerful, reliable mobile worksta-

ning analysis in the background
while working in CAD, or showing a simulation or rendering toa client via a Zoom or Microsoft
Teams link.
The workstation hardware
required to successfully andtions in its ThinkPad P Series
that are made with high-quality
standards and with the rightmix of computing capabilities
to allow designers to work withmodels, run simulations, andrender their designs on the go.

MAKING THE CASE for Mobile Engineering Workstations

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The ThinkPad P Series offers a number of advantages for mobile computing, including the use of highperformance processors and advanced design features and specifications. Those include:
Powerful Intel Processors
At the heart of the ThinkPad P Series are thelatest Intel Core processors, including up to12th-Gen Alder Lake chips. The Intel processors offer optimal single-threaded for solid
modeling workflows and multithreaded performance for simulation, analysis and CAM
workloads. The mix of Performance Cores andEfficient Cores provide improved multi-tasking,and the Intel ThreadDirector assigns the righttasks to the right cores. Error Correcting Code(ECC) memory protects data integrity andsystem reliability. The Intel vPro platform offers
hardware-enhanced security features to keep
the devices safe against cyber attacks, alongwith enterprise-grade device management
capabilities.
Thanks to the advanced thermal management utilized in the design of the ThinkPad
mobile workstations, Lenovo is also able toleverage the maximum performance of both theCPU and GPU, enabling businesses to get thehighest possible value out of their investment.
High-Capacity Storage and Memory
Many engineering applications require large
amounts of memory to efficiently perform
advanced operations, and the ThinkPad P
Series offers units with memory from 8GB up to4 MAKING THE CASE for Mobile Engineering Workstations

128GB of DDR4 RAM. Models are also available with up to 4TB of storage, which is necessary for managing large files and data sets.
Professional Displays
With designers generating more frequent renderings and visualizations, high-quality displays
are a critical component of a mobile workstation. The ThinkPad P Series workstations alsofeature Pantone factory color calibration withprofessional Minolta colorimeters, and theX-Rite application is pre-installed to manage
color spaces.
Improved Thermal Design
More powerful computers generate more heat,so the latest ThinkPad P Series workstations
feature improved heat management, including
greater air flow, a larger CPU heat sink, larger
vents, and a thermal mesh that helps dissipate
heat quickly.
Lenovo ThinkPads also benefit from lowtemperature solder manufacturing. This method
has not only improved the products’ long-term
reliability, but also minimized the power consumption caused by higher temperatures in thesoldering process and reduced greenhouse gas
emissions during production.

Professional Graphics
Modern design workflows require advanced
graphics performance, and Lenovo offers a
range of leading graphics processing units(GPUs) with its mobile workstations. In addition, many engineering software applications
now take advantage of the large number ofcompute cores available via GPU acceleration
for rendering and simulation.
Built to Last
All Lenovo ThinkPads are Torture Tested toensure they can withstand use in the field aswell as in the office. Mobile workstations are noexception and are exposed to shock, vibration,and environmental hazards (like dust and liquids)that can quickly render a consumer-grade laptop
inoperable. For engineers to be able to continue
working at client sites, in the field or at home,they need to be able to rely on the workstation,even in less-than-optimal environments.
Lenovo is dedicated to quality whichmeans its workstations are tested against theMIL-STD 810H standard for durability andreliability. This includes exposing the workstations to multiple shocks and drops, humidity,
extreme cold and heat, solar radiation, highaltitudes, dust, liquids, vibration, wireless interference and other conditions.
Mobile workflows also require flexibility

on when to dial up performance and when toconserve battery, by utilizing the Windows Power
Slider, the Lenovo ThinkPad P Series offers thebest of both worlds, depending on the task athand.
Certified to Work with Engineering Applications
Lenovo offers certified workstations for use witha variety of products from independent software
vendors (ISVs). Thanks to Lenovo’s relationship with ISVs, the workstations in the ThinkPad
P Series are certified to work with all leading
design and engineering software, including applications from Autodesk, Siemens, Ansys, PTC,
Dassault Systèmes, and others. That level of reliability and capability, specific to the applications
that engineers use every day, is not available inconsumer-grade laptops and notebooks.
Flexible Configurations
The Lenovo ThinkPad P Series includes a wide
range of mobile workstations to address mostengineering roles and workflows, from generalpurpose CAD work to more analysis- and visualization-heavy applications. From thin-and-lightfor highly-mobile power users to ultra-premium
blends of power and design, through to heavy-duty
performance on-the-go, the portfolio offers the fullspectrum of solutions.

MAKING THE CASE for Mobile Engineering Workstations

5The Bottom LineEngineers and designers need more compute power than ever before – at their desktop, at home, and in the field – to use the design, simulation, and rendering tools
required for new and emerging design workflows. Remote and work-from-homeenvironments, in particular, will require powerful and reliable mobile workstations that canmeet these demanding standards.
Lenovo offers a wide range of mobile workstations in its ThinkPad P Series that arebuilt to address these workflows. Meeting Lenovo’s stringent quality and performancestandards, the ThinkPad P Series offers:
••
••
•
•

Powerful, multi-core Intel processors
Professional-grade graphics cards
Flexible configurations to meet application and budget requirements
Tested, durable design that meets MilSpec standards
Color-calibrated displays
Certification with leading engineering/design software
To learn more about the benefits of the Lenovo ThinkPad P Series
workstations, contact Lenovo at:www.lenovo.com/workstations

6 MAKING THE CASE for Mobile Engineering Workstations