Announcing ThinkPad P-Series - P50 and P70

P50 Datasheet: https://www.thinkworkstations.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/WW_DS_Q2-16_ThinkPad_P50_Final.pdf

P70 Datasheet: https://www.thinkworkstations.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/WW_DS_Q2-16_ThinkPad_P70_Final.pdf

3D Tour: https://www.thinkworkstations.com/thinkpad/

P-Series replaces the current W-Series (P50 is the follow-up to the W541).

 

xeon and ECC support on laptop, meh...

They have new 17" back which is nice, also confirm 4K on 17"s (which should also be coming from dell/hp)

and looks like a MxM.

 

I'm very curious to know about graphics & battery life. Will the Quadro be based on Maxwell or Pascal? And can it pull off the same battery life as the W550s with more powerful components?

 

Definitely Maxwell. nowadays, components all idle at similar draw, so i don't see battery life dropping unless they mess up optimization.

Sent from my 306SH

 

W550s is dual core ULV and entry level Quadro though. I think W540 will be a more realistic comparison

 

Monster specs.

Awesome.

 

What is that Thinkpad performance dock?

 

Still a 16x9 screen and what appears to be 6-row chiclet keyboard. Bah. The 64GB RAM support is nice, but otherwise I don't see much to be excited about. (This is in reference to the P50.)

 

They are too heavy..yuk

 

These are workstations -- not ultrabooks. The weight is to be expected. The P50 appears to be the same weight as the W540, so certainly not too heavy.

 

Too bad the xeons will be quad cores only.

 

I think there is currently only one mobile Quadro with Maxwell and it is the k2200 (1ST gen Maxwell GM107). The others are all Keplar based. For example, the king of quadro mobile is the k5100m and it is Keplar based. *edit: I mentioned the k2200, but my mistake... that is not a mobile but a desktop card. There is a k2100m but it also is only Keplar. So it seems there currently are no Maxwell based Quadros for laptops.

I'm hoping there will be a newer high end mobile Quadro released with the new workstation. A 2nd Gen Maxwell or if very lucky maybe Pascal architecture.

 

All Quadros with the letter "K" in front are Kepler based. Maxwell based Quadros will have an M in front.

nVidia already introduced their desktop Maxwell models a few days ago (M6000, M5000, M4000), the mobile GPUs should follow soon enough (so the P50 should have a Quadro M2000M).

 

That makes sense, but I think Nvidia already has a couple quadros (that begin with "K") that are maxwell. That is according the anandtech article from last year...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8374/nvidia-refreshes-quadro-lineup-launches-5-new-quadro-cards

I agree it was very weird to see a "K" model with Maxwell architecture. The article mentioned it was strange too.

Whatever the case, I hope the new mobile workstations have Maxwell quadro

 

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees! 17" thinkpad! Fingers crossed that lenovo won't screw it too much tho

 

It is not though. Check the motherboard's picture - http://www.notebookreview.com/feature/lenovo-thinkpad-p50-and-p70-first-look-preview/

 

Pictured is the motherboard of a P50, not of the P70 (which can be easily seen, since the pictured board only has one USB 3.1 / Thunderbolt 3 port in the back, and the P70 has two).

I am not sure if the P70 supports MXM, but it might very well do. We will see.

 

nerdgasm on the 17" 4k screen.

 

^ Indeed, finally a progress on the 17" front. It was about time. Not 16:10 and not 100% scaling friendly though (at least for most people, if you can use 4K @100% scaling I envy you ), but I guess we wont see 2560x1600 17" ever (what I think would be the best suited resolution for 17"display for most people).

Well the chances are they'll use the same MoBo for both models, and maybe fit better GPU and/or CPU, since there would be more room in the 17". We'll see as you said.

 

They won't.

 

Any info that I've missed? Lets not forget that we are living in the cost-cutting edge. Kudos to them if it actually is different non-soldered-everything MoBo.

 

Just have a look at the different port layout, e.g. the location of the ExpressCard slot - it is impossible that they use the same mainboard for both machines.

 

As long as the build quality is decent, the battery life is as good as the W5x0 series was (better than the Precision M4x00 series), and there are no heat issues (like that uncomfortable hot palmrest on the W540), this is exactly what I am looking for. Quad core, decent GPU, expansion options, decent screen, good battery, and reasonable weight in a 15" workstation is quite hard to come by nowadays.

 

Can't find a drop of further info on these. 99% sure the P50 will replace my W530. Hate to be an early adopter, but I'm really ready for a higher rez portable screen solution. Hoping for an across-the-board experience of speed improvement as well.
Lighter weight (somewhat?), higher rez, faster bus speeds, backlighted keyboard (thinklight has always seemed only better-than-nothing to me), hoping PCIe storage will be a noticeable difference.
When do we get reviews?!! Ya, nobody really knows....

 

P50 will hit the store in late October, when the new Intel Quad-Core and Xeon range hits the market.

I hope I will get to see the P50 next week on IFA...

 

Please comment here if you get a chance to see it.

 

I wish there was a consumer version of this. I need to replace my W520 with something that is just as tough and has as good battery life, but no longer need workstation components (nor the associated cost!)

 

In order to have a well built system with quad-core processor, decent graphics, and solid battery life, you pretty much need a workstation. Gaming notebooks don't have the same build quality or battery life, and multimedia notebooks and thin and light systems don't have the build quality, connections, cooling, and component access.

I don't need a professional graphics card either, but when I bought my W530, mobile workstations were the best all-purpose utility notebooks with the fewest compromises. I'd say they still are today.

 

Agreed, with a single caveat of the15" Retina MacBook Pro with quad-core CPU and discrete graphics, with decent build quality and battery life.

I'd like to replace my T510 with a ThinkPad that is equipped with a quad-core Broadwell CPU and a decent discreet graphics card. I've been waiting for a T or W model to show up with those specs, but so far, nothing. I could wait for a P50 and get the latest Skylake CPU, plus other cool stuff (PCIe SSD) but it seems like a long time to wait, and I'd rather wait to see if the first owners of the P series run into any issues.

 

I understand waiting isn't fun, but it's probably your best bet given what you're looking for. The W series (and now P series) are/were the only Thinkpads with decent graphics.

Build quality between workstations and the Retina Macbok Pro may be debated, but the Apple system is definitely inferior to a mobile workstation regarding cooling (and sustained performance), connections, and component access. In addition, it has no accidental damage warranty coverage option. These reasons as well as some of my own personal idiosyncrasies and the price difference contributed to my decision not to get one back in 2012.

Today, both the Retina Macbook Pro and the Razer Blade are high-powered thin and light systems with good battery life and decent build quality (although likely still not up to par with business systems). However, I would argue that they both inherently make sacrifices in cooling, connections, and accessibility to fit the form factor. I would generally prefer to own a system that makes the fewest sacrifices possible, and I'm willing to carry around a somewhat thicker and heavier computer as a trade-off.

 

I'll probably wait for the P series to roll out. But if Lenovo decides to implement quad-core Broadwell in their T or W series before then, I will be sorely tempted. A nice i7-5750 with Iris Pro graphics would be hard for me to say no to. But I would be giving up some graphics capability for that. Maybe I could wait. I must distract myself somehow.

 

Comparing Lenovo P50 board with HP elitebook, I can see that Lenovo just use one heat pipe to the fans and HP Elitebook has two heat pipes for the CPU and two for the graphics card. Though HP has only one fan.

My question is how good the Lenovo cooling is when stressing both GPU and CPU.

 

Hi,

I need to replace my 10 years old laptop and I'm considering a Lenovo. I am not sure I need a workstation and to be honest I'd prefer a 14" screen for portability so I am tempted to wait a few months more and get a skylake 14" thinkpad. Now looking at the P50 and P70, I see that these do not come with replaceable batteries so it is more than likely that the successor of the T440p will come with an internal battery as well. I really don't like this at all and I'd say getting the "not so good" touchpad of the T440p is still better than getting a laptop with an internal battery. Note that I'm not going to replace a laptop every 2-3 years so being able to replace a battery is something that matters to me. Do you know for example if it will be possible to replace the internal battery on a P50/P70 thinkpad without too much hassle? Will these batteries be sold to end users actually?

Thanks

PS: if a replaceable battery really matters. would you get a T440p and not wait for skylake??

 

Where does it say that batteries are sealed? I don't see that anywhere.

 

I read that here:

http://www.techradar.com/news/mobil...workstations-get-significant-overhaul-1301501

"You can configure the ThinkPad P50 with either a 4-cell or 6-cell battery. Lenovo rates battery life at 3.6 hours with the smaller battery and six hours with the larger capacity battery. Like the P70, the battery cannot be replaced."

Would be a deal breaker for me if the battery is not user replaceable. Maybe they were only referring to the PowerBridge feature that is gone but not that the battery cannot be renewed...

 

Thats not true, I just had my hands-on with both the P50 and the P70, and neither of them has a sealed battery. Their batteries are stored in the front of the system, and they are fully removable.

 

any more comments you'd care to make? how does the weight feel in hand? did you see one with a 4K screen? I assume we're still looking at a 170watt power brick?
Wow, looks like a single very large cover comes off for access to storage and memory?

 

Great! Thanks! I'm going to wait for skylake then

 

release date?

 

End of October is likely.

 

End of October for the P50, early December P70.

Great! They are very soldi units, without feeling too heavy. I was surprised how relatively light the P70 was, it is nothing like the W700, which was really heavy.

Here are three pictures in comparison with my W550s:


Oh, did I mention, ThinkPads are all pure black again? No more Graphite Black Grey mix!

 

I did write a short hands-on review over in the Lenovo Forums on these: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-IFA-2015/ThinkPad-P50-amp-P70-Hands-On/td-p/2164261

 

Nice write up. I'm liking the change back to the, the lip, the dedicated trackpad buttons, and a decent FHD screen. Its looking like it will be my next system (probably i7, M2000M, FHD only). I just hope battery life follows through; one site said the 6 cell 90Whr was Lenovo-rated for 6 hours which would be a large drop from the W541 which was I think 11 hours for the 9 cell 99Whr.

 

I am definitely seriously looking into getting one of these for my next laptop.

I currently have a rMBP, but am getting pretty annoyed with Mac OS X. Since I can still get a lot of money out of my Macbook, I can't wait to get it on eBay and get one of these Thinkpads in my hands for the first time since my X220

 

When is Lenovo planning to start releasing the P50s??

Need something ASAP!

 

P50 should be on the market late October, with the official start of Intels HQ CPUs.

 

Ok, I'm new at this process the P70 can be ordered before early December correct? I am just checking in case I decide to purchase one if it would arrive by christmas.

Just interested in the length of time it would take including possible delays.

 

I'd count on 3 weeks to a month from order to delivery for built-to-order systems.

 

Sales rep told me the P70 will be released in January. I hope he is wrong.

 

Thanks for the info
best regards