8 minute read
P40 Yoga
Lenovo ThinkPad how capable it is at working with large CAD models. Product spec and heavy pen pressure. Tilting the pen can also give you differP40 Yoga Yoga master ■ Intel Core i7-6500U CPU (2.5GHz, Turbo ent effects. The included ThinkPad Pen When you are used to havto 3.1Ghz) (Dual Core) Pro is incredibly slender, priLenovo re-imagines the 14-inch mobile ing a separate laptop and ■ 1 x 8GB DDR3L 1600 SODIMM marily so it can be docked workstation with a lightweight, multi- tablet, it takes a while to get memory inside the machine for storage mode device that flips between laptop and tablet with ease. your head round having both in a single device. ■ 256GB 2.5-inch SATA Solid State Drive (SSD) and charging (Lenovo says a 30-second charge will give However, as it’s so easy to ■ Nvidia Quadro 8-hours of use, thanks to a The 14-inch mobile workstation has never flip between the different M500M GPU (2GB) built-in super-capacitor). really taken off in the design sector. Over modes, it soon becomes quite ■ 14-inch FHD (1,920 x 1,080) IPS This is ultra-convenient, but the past ten years, only Dell and HP have natural to transform the P40 touchscreen there is a trade off in ergonomlaunched 14-inch machines and neither Yoga for different workflows. ■ Microsoft ics. While we found the pen have sold particularly well. To go from laptop to tablet, Windows 10 Pro 64 perfectly fine for general tablet
With both manufacturers now focus- you simply bend the screen ■ 338 (w) x 236 (d) x 20mm (h) use, it was a little too thin to ing exclusively on 15-inch and 17-inch back on itself. The laptop ■ From 1.8kg sketch comfortably, particularform factors, the timing is good for keys automatically lift so ■ Three-year on-site ly when using the integrated Lenovo to enter this historically difficult they are flush with the sur- warranty side buttons for ‘erase’ or to market sector. But, rather than simply round, then lock into position ■ £1,199 + VAT bring up radial menus in shrinking down its larger ThinkPad mobile workstations, the company’s new to protect against accidental keystrokes. The trackpad lenovo.com Autodesk SketchBook. The good news is, for £30 you ThinkPad P40 Yoga is a 14-inch with a also automatically disables can get a chunkier 9.5mm pen. twist – that twist being quite literal, in and Windows 10 changes the user inter- We didn’t get the chance to try this for size, that this lightweight, multi-mode laptop face accordingly. but have seen good reports about its ergocan be transformed into a pressure-sen- The hinge on the P40 Yoga doubles as a nomics. It is not rechargeable though, sitive pen tablet in seconds. It’s an excit- grip, which is handy for stopping the instead relying on an AAAA battery. ing proposition for designers who want device slipping out of your hand. Both pens come with a durable POM the freedom of a tablet and the power of a Weighing in at 1.8kg and with a thickness plastic tip but there are optional felt tips fully certified mobile CAD workstation of 19.9mm, the P40 Yoga is considerably for those who prefer a more natural in a single device. bulkier than dedicated tablets. We found sketching experience.
The ThinkPad P40 Yoga is an evolution it most comfortable to use when sitting, While Lenovo places a big emphasis on of Lenovo’s business-class laptop, the resting the device on the lap. concept sketching, we also found the ThinkPad Yoga 14. Thanks to a versatile ThinkPad P40 Yoga to be great for mark360-degree hinge, it can be used in a num- Touchy feely ing up drawings and models in applicaber of modes: standard ‘laptop’, ‘tablet’, as For simple tasks like browsing websites, tions like Bluebeam Revu CAD. well as ‘stand’ and ‘tent’. it is really intuitive to tap and swipe the Josh Mings from SolidSmack has even
The idea is that architects can pick up multi-touch panel with your fingers, but developed a custom workflow for running the integrated Wacom pen and start precision work is best left to a pen. mechanical CAD software SolidWorks in sketching, then move into 3D CAD with- The slimline ThinkPad Pen Pro is pow- tablet mode (tinyurl.com/yoga-solidworks). out having to change devices. ered by Wacom’s Active ES technology – Indeed, the beauty of the P40 Yoga is that
This flexibility, while unique among the very same technology found in it is more than capable of handling 3D CAD mobile workstations, is not a work and, despite its entry-level new concept for designers. Microsoft’s excellent Surface Pro 4, currently being championed by Siemens for run‘‘ While Lenovo places a big emphasis on concept sketching, we also found the standing, we were impressed with its performance. Workstation laptop ning the mechanical CAD ThinkPad P40 Yoga to be great for In laptop mode, the Yoga feels software Solid Edge, can also marking up drawings and models in exactly like any mobile workhandle both tasks. The difference with the Lenovo applications like Bluebeam Revu CAD station. Input is via Trackpad or TrackPoint, but we prefer a ThinkPad P40 Yoga, however, lies in its superior graph’’ Bluetooth mouse with 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator ics performance. Wacom’s Intuos and Cintiq products. It for navigating 3D models. The touchscreen
While the Surface Pro relies on inte- offers 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity, can still be used as and when required. grated Intel graphics (built into the double that of the Microsoft Surface Pro 4. With a thermal design power of 15W, CPU), the ThinkPad P40 Yoga has a dis- In Wacom-compatible applications like our test machine’s low-voltage Intel Core crete professional GPU from Nvidia. Autodesk SketchBook Pro, Made with i7-6500U CPU is very entry-level as far as
The Nvidia Quadro M500M may lack Mischief or Photoshop, pressing harder mobile workstations are concerned. the punch of a 15-inch mobile worksta- with the pen gives a thicker line or However, it still clocks up a rather tion GPU like the Quadro M2000M, but increases opacity. Custom brushes can be respectable 2.5GHz (Turbo to 3.1GHz), we were actually quite surprised just created with different responses to light which is important for CAD work. For a
1 Tablet mode 2 360-degree flexibility
bit more ‘oomph’, you can upgrade to an Intel Core i7-6500U CPU 2.6GHz (Turbo to 3.4GHz).
With only two CPU cores, however, you probably won’t want to rely on it too much for multi-threaded processes such as ray trace rendering. For comparison, the Intel Core i7-6500U took nearly 2.5 times as long to render our 3ds max scene as a quad core Intel Xeon E3-1505M v5 (a typical CPU for a 15-inch mobile workstation).
There are compromises in memory as well. With only one DIMM slot, the machine is limited to 16GB of RAM (our test machine had 8GB). However, for the size of 3D models the P40 Yoga is designed to handle in graphics, this shouldn’t trouble most users.
Storage is courtesy of a single 2.5-inch Solid State Drive (SSD). At a time when other mobile workstation manufacturers are standardising on tiny M.2 SSDs, this is a little disappointing. By using smaller storage, we expect Lenovo could shrink down the chassis a bit. Still, from a performance perspective, it’s perfectly acceptable.
The Quadro M500M may be Nvidia’s lowest spec professional GPU but we were pleasantly surprised as to its performance. It comes loaded with 2GB VRAM, which is plenty for most CAD workflows.
Considering how frequently we use 15.6-inch displays, we quickly we became comfortable using CAD software on the 14-inch IPS display. In tablet mode, the display actually felt really big. It’s supposed to be scratch- and smudge-resistant, but regular cleaning was necessary to remove our greasy fingerprints.
At FHD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution, the pixel density is just about right. The optional WQHD (2,560 x 1,440) panel may require some Windows scaling. With more pixels for the GPU to calculate, it could also negatively impact 3D performance. DisplayPort and HDMi ports on the side give plenty of options for connecting up external displays. There are also three USB 3.0 ports (one of which is always-on) but no USB 3.1 Type-C port. Wireless, meanwhile, is covered by Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260 and Bluetooth 4.1.
Due to the thickness of the machine, you don’t get a dedicated Ethernet (RJ45). Instead you plug in an adapter to the custom Lenovo OneLink+ port. There’s also a 4-in-1 card reader.
As we’ve come to expect from a ThinkPad, build quality is excellent. The magnesium alloy frame with carbon fibre body is stiff. The hinges feel incredibly strong with very little wobble.
Conclusion Overall, we were very impressed with this unique 2-in-1, which offers both the performance of an entry-level CAD certified mobile workstation and the flexibility of tablet. As long as you don’t rely too much on realistic real-time rendering effects, there’s enough graphics power under the hood to handle some fairly large 3D models. Plus, with the pressure-sensitive Wacom pen, it’s perfect for sketching out conceptual designs.
However, as most designers will probably use the P40 Yoga as a companion machine to a more powerful desktop workstation, you do need to question how much 3D graphics performance you really need from a mobile device like this?
If you only ever intend to work with small models, you may find the MicroSoft Surface Pro 4 gives you adequate 3D performance in a much more portable form factor (0.79kg and 8.45mm thick + detachable keyboard (0.31kg / 4.9mm). However, the Surface Pro has trade-offs in screen size, pen sensitivity, keyboard, connectivity and CAD certification.
