6 minute read
Lenovo ThinkPad P70
After years focusing exclusively on the volume 15-inch market, Lenovo returns with a well-built 17-inch mobile workstation for more demanding 3D users
It’s been years since Lenovo had a 17-inch mobile workstation in its product range. Indeed, the last one we saw at AEC Magazine was back in 2009, a quirky machine called the ThinkPad W700ds. With a built-in Wacom digitizer and 10-inch colour screen that pulled out from the side of the main display, it was some concept designers’ idea of heaven. But this niche mega-laptop didn’t sell well and, soon after, Lenovo dropped the 17-inch form factor from its range to concentrate on the volume 15-inch market.
Several years later and Lenovo is back with a new 17-inch model. Gone are the bells and whistles that made the W700 such a niche product – the Lenovo ThinkPad P70 is all about delivering bucket-loads of 3D performance for demanding CAD and design viz specialists.
With most 15-inch mobile workstations limited to mid-range GPUs, it is the 17-inch machine that has historically catered to the high end. Indeed, the ThinkPad P70 can take anything up to an 8GB Nvidia Quadro M5000M, a hugely powerful GPU perfect for design viz using applications like 3ds Max. For power CAD, however, the requirements are less demanding, making our test machine’s Nvidia Quadro M3000M a much better fit.
Compared to the Quadro M2000M (the most powerful GPU in the 15-inch Lenovo ThinkPad P50), the Quadro M3000M packs a lot more punch, with 60% more CUDA cores (1,024) and double the memory bandwidth (160GB/sec).
CAD users who work with large BIM models or demand realistic shading and lighting effects in the viewport are likely to see the biggest payback. However, those who use a GPU ray trace renderer, such as the forthcoming Iray plug-ins for Revit and Rhino, should also benefit from significantly reduced render times.
We put the ThinkPad P70 through its paces inside SolidWorks and PTC Creo using the SPECapc 3D graphics benchmarks. Our first test results were way off what we expected, but this was fixed with a BIOS update and a change in settings to disable Intel graphics and permanently turn on the Nvidia GPU. The Quadro the ThinkPad P70 excels is in its screen M3000M excelled both in Creo and size. Our test machine’s 17.3-inch FHD SolidWorks, particularly when realistic (1,920 x 1,080) IPS panel isn’t top of the materials and lighting was enabled. range (there’s an optional 4K UHD (3,840
While the ThinkPad P70 stands out for x 2,160) IPS panel as well) but the quality its graphics prowess, it is much more is good and for detailed CAD work, the ordinary when it comes to core size makes a big difference over a typical processing – ordinary as far as mobile 15-inch screen. For colour-critical workstations are concerned, that is, not workflows, there’s an X-Rite Pantone compared to a standard laptop. colour calibration system built in. Simply
Our test machine’s quad core Intel Xeon choose the preferred colour profile, close E3-1505M v5 CPU, which runs at 2.8GHz, the lid and it handles the rest. is available in virtually all 15-inch mobile ThinkPads are renowned for their build workstations, including the slimline HP quality and the P70 is no exception. The ZBook Studio we review on page 38. In magnesium alloy chassis makes the fact, somewhat surprisingly, we found machine feel exceptionally strong and the HP’s quad core workstation Ultrabook to two stiff metal hinges for the display be a fraction faster than the ThinkPad mean virtually no wobble. The keyboard P70 when rendering in 3ds Max, though with numeric keypad is solid, though it thanks to the ThinkPad P70’s optimised takes a little getting used to, as the keys dual fan ‘FLEX Performance have more travel than most Cooling system’, it was Product spec laptops. Travel on the mouse significantly quieter. buttons is even more
The bundled Performance ■ Intel E3-1505M v5 noticeable, a far cry from the Tuner software from Lenovo (2.8GHz up to 3.7GHz) (Quad Core) CPU subtle click of a MacBook Pro. can help optimise the system ■ 16GB (2 x 8GB) Connectivity is very good, for a variety of 3D DDR4 2,133MHz with a variety of modern ports, applications. There’s no ECC memory including two USB 3.1 Type-C rocket science going on here, ■ 256GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD ports with Thunderbolt 3, four and nothing that can’t be ■ Nvidia Quadro USB 3.0 (one always-on done manually in the Windows Operating System, such as setting application M3000M GPU (4GB GDDR5) (354.25 driver) ■ Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit Pro charging) and RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet. For security, there’s a smart-card reader and priority. However, it does (pre-installed through Windows 10 fingerprint scanner just below make tuning very easy, as Pro downgrade rights) the keyboard. A Mini settings automatically ■ 17.3-inch FHD DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 1.4 change when individual CAD (1,920 x 1,080) IPS display port give plenty of options for applications are launched. ■ 416mm x 276mm x connecting external displays.
We found the most useful 30-32mm (w) (d) (h) For a machine of this class, feature to be the performance ■ From 3.4kg battery life is pretty decent, monitor, featuring dials that ■ Three-year on-site thanks to an 8 Cell (96 WHr) show CPU, GPU, network, warranty battery. It’s easy to swap out, so memory and storage utilisation in real time. It’s ■ £2,539 lenovo.com keeping a spare in the laptop bag is a great way to extend potentially a great way to operation time on the go. Of identify hardware bottlenecks in your course, this will add to the bulk of an product development workflows. By already heavy machine, which starts at design, you don’t have to keep your eyes 3.4kg, adding on 1.0kg if you include the glued to the dials. Alerts can be set to tell 230W power supply. you when utilisations hit certain levels for a certain amount of time – although we Conclusion couldn’t get this feature working. At a time when mobile workstations are
Our test machine’s storage came cour- getting thinner and lighter, Lenovo’s decitesy of a single 256GB M.2 NVMe PCI sion to re-enter the 17-inch market may at SSD. There’s room for a second of these first seem odd. The fact is, with the excepsuper-fast SSDs but, for a lower price per tion of some specialist 15-inch machines GB, we’d recommend you add a 2.5-inch from Schenker, Workstation Specialists Hard Disk Drive (HDD) up to 2TB. and Eurocom, if your workflows need a There’s also room for a second HDD, for powerful GPU, there is no other choice. those with really high storage require- And, with the ThinkPad P70, Lenovo has ments, though this comes at the expense a solid, well-built machine with which to of the optical drive. target more demanding 3D CAD users.
Of course, one of the main areas where Greg Corke
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1 Front view of the ThinkPad P70 2 For input, there’s a Touchpad and a TrackPoint, both of which have three dedicated mouse buttons 3 The Lenovo performance monitor, features dials that show CPU, GPU, network, memory and storage utilisation in real time 4 Rear view of the ThinkPad P70
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