Lenovo has announced the introduction of three new ThinkPad models, the ThinkPad P51s, the ThinkPad P51 and the VR-ready ThinkPad P71. 

Kicking off Lenovo’s new line of mobile workstations is the P51s.  With a thinner and lighter form factor, the P51s can be equipped with a 7th generation Intel Core i7 Processor and up to 32 GB of RAM, and comes with a NVIDIA Quadro M520M GPU.  The machine’s screen measures in at 15.6 inches and can display 4K UHD images.  In addition to its performance hardware, the P51s can handle dual batteries, making it possible to work on taxing applications for hours without having to charge or hot swap the batteries. 

Moving up a grade, Lenovo’s P51 is the definition of a powerhouse workstation.  With an enterprise-class Intel Xeon E3v6 Processor, up to 64 GB of RAM, and a NVIDIA Quadro M2200 GPU, the P51 is capable of tackling any computational rigors that a design or simulation software will bring to bear.  Like the P51S, the P51 is remarkably light for its capabilities, and boasts a 15.6-inch screen that can also display 4K UHD images. 

Finally, Lenovo is now offering a VR-ready ThinkPad, the P71.  As opposed to the P51 models, the P71 (I’m beginning to think Lenovo’s naming scheme is just the size of the display’s numbers in reverse) comes equipped with a 17-inch 4K UHD screen.  While that does up the workstation's bulk to 7.6lb, the machine’s hardware more than makes up for its relative heft.  Similar to the P51, the P71 is driven by a Xeon E3v6 Processor and can be configured with up to 64GB of RAM.  But that’s really where the similarity ends.  The P71’s graphics are a major leap forward from the P51, and the machine sports a Pascal-based NVIDIA Quadro P5000M GPU.  To keep up with the storage and battery gulping of the VR world, the P71 can be armed with up to 2TB of HDD or PCIe NVMe SSD storage and features an 8-cell battery well. 

While VR is still growing in the engineering sphere, it’s good to know that once the technology is widely adopted there will be technology in place that can handle the workflows that designers will need.  What’s even more enticing is that when that day finally comes, the hardware and workstation packages that can handle the most intensive VR applications might not be astronomically priced!