Announcing ThinkPad P-Series - P50 and P70

I believe you can use 2x 2.5" SSD/HDD in P50 - second HDD goes into space reserved for 2x M.2 SSDs, just need special cable (same as for the main HDD).

 

How do you order that special cable and bracket if you want to use a 2.5SSD instead of M2? Do you just call technical support?

 

http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Lenovo-ThinkPad-P70-Workstation.156792.0.html

Formal review in German but the English version should appear soon--in the meantime, use Google Translate, it works ok to understand the gist of things. A lot of images and up-close details.

 

Here is another discussion about the M.2/SATA drive issue.

I would try call them for the cable - cant really figure the part number out.

 

Does anyone know when online configurator will have WWAN card and xeon 1535m available?
As an expanded question: what other options are missing currently from online configurator?
Do we have an official time frame when full list of options will be there?

 

Is there a shot where I can see it? I'm curious. The machine is thick enough to be MXM, but I kinda like to look under the skirt

 

You can see it in the Hardware Maintenance Manual, the MXM board: http://www.ok1.de/thinkpad/HMM/p70_hmm_en_sp40j65113.pdf

 

Thanks. I hope that it's not proprietary, unlike W701(ds), which is.

 

Any words on the build quality? Is it back to the pre-W520 era build quality?

 

Of course not! Its much better then that...

 

Are the HDMI/miniDP ports wired to the quadro gpu in both of these? Also, does anyone know if the P70 will be using a whitelist for the MXM cards?

 

The other day I bought a Thinkpad p50 from newegg and it shipped so I should get it in my hands sometime next week. It is one of the topseller models.


Here are the specs:

Intel Core I7 -6820HQ
Quadro M2000m
16 GB Memory
3840X2160 display resolution
loaded witth Windows 7 Pro but I am going to put Windows 10 on it.
256 GB Sata 3 SSD.

 

I purchased a P50 from Newegg as well, the TopSeller 20EN0013US. Its an amazing machine. Best keyboard I have ever used. The trackpad is great as well and I am glad it has dedicated buttons and is not a clickpad anymore. The screen is apparently a Samsung IPS and actually has no backlight bleed. I do not have a calibrator but the color is great and it is very crisp. This machine is amazingly light for a workstation. It is the lightest 15 inch workstation I have used and given that it has a quad core probably the most powerful as well. It is also very quiet and the cooling system works very well. It also stays pretty comfortably cool on my lap which is wonderful.

Installing my own 2.5 inch SSD was tough. After unscrewing the bottom plate it took quite a bit of force to pop the tabs allowing the plate to be removed. Hopefully this is easier the next time I need to replace anything. The machine did not come with the M.2 SSD trays, so I will need to order them from Lenovo as a spare part directly. Supposedly they are only $10 each.

My Debian Jessie install (using backported kernel 4.2) booted right up and everything except the Wifi and brightness control was functioning. I think support for these new models needs to be added to the thinkpad acpi module so it may be a while before brightness control works. I am using dedicated graphics only, which works great with the Nvidia binary driver.

 

I found the part on lenovo and here is the part number for the m2 ssd tray 4XB0K59917.

Just search for it on lenovo.com

 

I don't know if it's been posted yet, but notebookcheck's P70 review is up:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-P70-Workstation-Review.158308.0.html
Their review unit has the 4k display and quadro m3000m.

 

Adobe RGB gamut isn't impressive for this price point

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

I wonder if the FHD panel can cover sRGB at least? Anyone know what model they are using?

 

According to the review, the 4k 17" panel does cover sRGB, but not Adobe

 

Thanks for the link, I just ordered two trays. I am undecided if I want to get an nvme or data drive, as i have seen some people over at the Ubuntu forums complaining about speed and stability issues with the nvme drives.

I updated to kernel 4.3 today, the Intel WiFi now works however I have discovered the display freezes when closing the lid using the nvidia 352.63 drivers.

 

What about the 15" panel in P50?

 

According to Lenovo´s specs the P50 4K panel has a bigger color gamut, its being tested right now by the Notebookcheck guys.

 

What's the difference between the 6820hq and the mobile xeons? Will the 6820hq take ECC sodimms?

 

Mine (P50, 1080 non-touch) came with a Samsung LTN156HL01, which according to panelook is 72% NTSC. My guess is probably 90-95% sRGB.

 

I should've mentioned I was asking about the 4K Panel.

 

No, it does not. ECC is reserved for the Xeon CPUs only.

 

Thanks Good start, I still need review of the Dell 7710 (not sure if there is one yet) and the HP Zbook 17 G3 to make a final decision and I hope that comes within 35 days. (that’s when my current Internet Security subscription expires I want to have my new laptop before purchasing another another Internet Security software

 

Notebookcheck has a German review for the 7710 - 89% as well.

http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Dell-Precision-7710-Workstation.158229.0.html

 

Why do the Germans always get reviews out first on high end machines?

 

Thanks, however it is in German has there been a English Review?

 

It's fresh from today - so I assume they'll translate it within a few days.

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-P70-Workstation-Review.158308.0.html

 

Interesting note for those using the P50 and possibly P70: The Thunderbolt port did not appear to function as a USB 3.1 port when connected to my Nexus 6P until I updated to BIOS 1.15. It would charge the Nexus 6P fine but did not allow any data transfer to the device from either Windows 10 or Linux. After the BIOS update, everything worked as expected from both operating systems.

 

NotebookCheck review (German language) is available for the P50:
http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Lenovo-ThinkPad-P50-Workstation.158241.0.html

They give the P50 top marks for build quality, keyboard / mouse quality, low noise, long battery life.
They complain about annoying extra cables / brackets needed for expanded storage, FHD display with low colour space, poor Intel turbo boost support, lower performance on battery


Also, I noticed (at least on the Canada site) it says you have to pick the super-expensive Xeon CPU to get the M2000M Quadro video. But I noticed that if you change the CPU from i7-6700HQ to i7-6820HQ, you can select the M2000M video as well, saving you CDN $180 over the Xeon.

 

If you open it with Google Chrome, it automatically translates it for you

 

Well my p50 came in today and I like it except I have one problem now I need to order the drive cable I found the part number 00UR835 but I have no idea how to order it. Does anyone have any idea how to order that part number?

 

Yikes, 58% sRGB? It's That's worse than the x220 IPS screen

 

And the CPU turbo Boost basically not working ??
I am heavily disappointed ...
It is far from meeting the expectations I had after reading the P70 review.

I hope that Lenovo will quickly solve the issue with the CPU boost and that the 4K screen is better.
I was planning to go for FHD to save battery life but man ... 58% is really low.

 

The turboboost on mine behaves more like the 6820HQ in the P70 review. It instantly clocks up to 3.2Ghz on a single core and 3.1Ghz on multiple cores and stays there until the load is removed. It appears to not be quite as good as other machines using the same processor, but it is using turboboost. Oh, and it behaves exactly the same under battery as well.

Its a shame they have a panel lottery, and they are using that low quality display from LG. Mine came with the Samsung which is great, but you shouldn't have a chance of getting a much worse display on their high end workstation!

 

Yikes, I was really on fence about p50 or precision 7510, but maybe by sound of it I'll just stick to using my 2016 Alienware 17 R3 for work and play. Beautiful 4k panel and great performance. Was really hoping p50 would knock it out of park, really like look/feel of my w550s, but even with that performance really low even for ulv.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

My ThinkPad P50 is ordered with only a mechanical HDD and should ship within 7 days. Also, I ordered a Samsung 950 Pro SSD and the necessary SSD Tray #4XB0K59917.

A few questions for those who have more experience with this series:

1. I realised I have not seen a definitive confirmation that the M.2 PCIe slots in the P50 actually support PCIe x4. Can anyone confirm this?

2. I plan to install Win10 on the Samsung 950 Pro, using the Win10 license code delivered with the PC. So the 1 TB drive will be a data drive full of music, movies, etc. So the PC won't even be powered on until the 950 Pro is installed. I like the idea of having a clean install with no crapware, and I will just re-install the drivers manually.

Does it make sense to just do a clean install of Win10 on the SSD? Will anything important be lost if I totally reformat all partitions on the mechanical HDD? Or is there any benefit in cloning the HDD's content across to the SSD?

 

I can't find anything about getting random displays, only about how you can choose different panels. Where'd you hear about this?

 

Looking at the NotebookCheck review, they list the model number of an LG panel.
It sounds like win32asmguy found a model number somewhere on his panel that identified it as a Samsung.

The existence of 2 different FHD non-touch panels suggests a panel lottery.

 

Or they switched to Samsung due to dissatisfaction with the LG panel. Admittedly the lottery explanation is probably more likely -- but we can't be certain until we hear from more P50 owners.

 

My P50 is coming but the estimates suggest it will be 3 weeks before I actually have it. I hope win32asmguy can chime in to explain how he determined that he had a Samsung panel.

 

I also have a P50 on order (since 1/14/2016) and they're predicting that it'll ship by next Wednesday. Hopefully so...

 

It's definitely a panel lottery for FHD anti-glare, take a look at this document:

https://download.lenovo.com/parts/ThinkPad/p50_frubom_20151130.pdf

There are panel options from LG (LGD), Samsung (SDC), and Boe Hydis (BOE) for FHD anti-glare. They likely have multiple vendors supplying panels so if stock runs low with one, they do not have to delay shipments to customers.

I determined the panel my P50 uses with HWInfo64, the display section has the LCD part number,
LTN156HL09901, which is a Samsung panel.

Also, the turbo function on mine works just fine. It is the slower 6700HQ, but it behaves and performs exactly as other machines using the same processor do. The only difference I can think of is that I am running with only dedicated graphics enabled. Maybe the IGP is somehow eating some of the 6820HQ's TDP and causing it to throttle on high loads. It still doesn't explain their single core results however.

 

Are there any reviews for the UHD model? I'm interested in the P50, but screen quality is important for me (need 100% Adobe RGB or close).

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

I found this spec sheet indicating that the UHD panel is 100% gamut:
http://psref.lenovo.com/syspool\Sys... P50/ThinkPad_P50_Platform_Specifications.pdf

 

Its important to note that Lenovo uses the NTSC gamut for the specs. So while this is definitely is a wide gamut screen, we will have to see how that translates into AdobeRGB and sRGB.

 

I noticed this new review when browsing the internet this morning:

http://lab-kuzniewski.pl/lenovo-thinkpad-p50-biznesowa-maszyna-o-ogromnych-mozliwosciach/

It is in Polish, but google translate works well. Looks like they got a top end model with a Xeon 1505, Quadro M2000M, FHD Touchscreen, and the NVMe SSD. It sounds like the Xeon 1505 in their review is not throttling as it matches the results from Notebookcheck's Precision 5510 review using the same processor. However they measured the same poor gamut from the touchscreen their review is using. Hopefully this panel does not end up being the more common screen they use.