Lenovo ThinkPad P1, A 15.6-inch Thin & Light Mobile Workstation

Lenovo has just announced a new workstation laptop, the ThinkPad P1. A brand new line within the ThinkPad P-Series, the P1 is a 15.6” thin (18.4mm) and light (3.76 Lbs) workstation with excellent display options  and impressive memory and storage options.

The design reminds us of the 14” 2018 X1 Yoga which we previously reviewed, but it opens at 180-degrees. The chassis is a little bit wider and deeper to accommodate a 15.6 display but  it is only ~1mm thicker than the X1 Yoga.

Visually, this workstation is easily distinguishable by its Black color, while the other ThinkPad are “dark grey.” The paint seems to give it a slightly more “premium” aura, but we will have a better option of that when we do the complete review.

The touchpad is made of Glass (instead of Mylar, a plastic) which is in-line with the luxurious theme of the design. Glass is smoother than any other trackpad surface, and you can use the trackpad for a very long time without any irritation of the skin.

As usual, you get the ThinkPad keyboard with deep key-travel distance (probably ~1.8mm) and large, comfortable keys, including the arrow keys to the right. For security purposes, there’s an optional fingerprint reader.

The computer is powered by a 130W power supply which has been reduced in size by ~35%. As of late, Lenovo has done a remarkable job of shrinking the wall chargers, a trend that a few other OEMs are also following. This model does not use  a USB-C power connector, because the processor’s options max-out the “power over USB” specs.

Ports

• 2x Intel® Thunderbolt™ 3 (Type-C)
• 2x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (Type A)
• 1x HDMI 2.0
• 1x Mini Gigabit Ethernet
• 1x Mic/Headphone Combo Jack
• 1x Smart Card Reader 2 (Optional)

System specifications and display

As you might expect from a workstation, the CPU, memory and storage options are might higher than on consumer-level laptops, check this:

• Up to Intel Xeon / Core i9 (Gen8)
• Up to 64GB RAM max (2x SoDIMM)
• Up to 4TB PCIe storage (m.2)
• Up to NVIDIA Quadro P2000 (768 CUDA cores, Pascal architecture)
• Windows or Linux

As you can see, this laptop can be configured to power Creative apps. If you are unfamiliar with the Quadro GPUs, they are designed for professional applications. Sometimes, there are minor hardware changes to accommodate specific use cases, but the most important aspect is the certified drivers that are validated by the most common software vendors (ISV).

ISV certifications: ArcGIS®, AutoCAD®, CATIA®, Creo®, Inventor®, Microstation®, NX®, PDMS®, Revit®, Solid Edge®, SolidWorks®, Vectorworks®

For a better idea of the general performance, you can approximately compare it with a consumer-level GeForce GPU with the same architecture (Pascal) and CUDA cores. In this case, it would be a GeForce GTX 1050.

The Lenovo ThinkPad P1 has a display that matches the rest of the specs, with a 4K option that can reproduce 10-bit colors (~1 Billion colors, 100% Adobe RGB) at a maximum 400 NITs of brightness. There is also a less expensive 1080p/300 NITs option if color accuracy is not your focus (scientific computing).

In case you watch movies on that brilliant display, the audio is powered by Dolby Atmos, a surround sound renderer that powers cinematic experiences for countless Hollywood movies.

The 80Wh battery has Lenovo fast-charging enabled, and we’ve heard that the 135W power supply can make it go from 0% to 80% in ~60mn. Maybe we can confirm that in our lab at some point, but a charge speed of 1.06 Wh/mn would slightly outdo the fastest-charging laptops we’ve tested yet, the ThinkPad T480s.

Hubert Nguyen
Categories: Computers
Tags: Editorspick, Laptops, Lenovo, Lenovo Laptops, Lenovo ThinkPad, workstations