Lenovo ThinkPad P70 Mobile Workstation Review: Xeon And Quadro On The Go
Introduction and Specifications
At a time when laptop makers are shunning big and bulky notebooks in favor of thin and light designs, Lenovo went a different direction with its ThinkPad P70, a mobile workstation brimming with high-end hardware for tackling rough and tumble tasks in the field. It's all about finding the right tool for the job, and just as a lumberjack wouldn't trade his gas-powered chainsaw for a Swiss Army knife just because he could fit in his pocket, there are certain computing tasks that require desktop-class performance. That's what the ThinkPad P70 aims to deliver.
The ThinkPad P70 is one of the first mobile workstations to employ a mobile Xeon processor option based on Intel's Skylake architecture. It's especially noteworthy because never before has Intel offered a Xeon chip in a mobile-targeted package. This particular configuration features a Xeon E3-1505M v5 CPU, a brawny quad-core slice of silicon clocked at 2.8GHz to 3.7GHz with a generous 8MB of cache and Hyper Threading support. And for graphics, Lenovo crammed a discrete NVIDIA Quadro M4000M GPU with 4GB of GDDR5 memory inside.
That's a potent one-two combo to throw at heavy duty workloads. To keep its feet from dragging while pounding on complex data sets, Lenovo installed a nimble 512GB NVMe PCIe solid state drive inside the model it sent us for evaluation. It's this combination of speed and power that justifies the ThinkPad P70's larger and heavier frame.
How large and how heavy are we talking about? Try 16.38 inches (W) by 10.85 inches (D) by 1.18-1.35 inches (H) and around 7.3 pounds—oomph. If those were the only specs you glimpsed, you might think you'd fallen into a time warp. However, this machine is based on a 17-inch and every bit targeted as a desktop replacement, with an Ultra HD 4K IPS display.
Here's a look at what else is included in the model (20ER000XUS) Lenovo sent us:
The above configuration is a special SKU that's increasingly hard to find in-stock through third-party sellers. Similar setups are available to configure direct from Lenovo, though be wary of the details—by default, Lenovo offers just a 1-year warranty on its base models. Also pay attention to the memory configuration. This particularly model ships with a single stick of 16GB DDR4-2133 ECC RAM, robbing users of a bit of memory bandwidth that typically comes with a dual-channel memory setup.
The ThinkPad P70 is one of the first mobile workstations to employ a mobile Xeon processor option based on Intel's Skylake architecture. It's especially noteworthy because never before has Intel offered a Xeon chip in a mobile-targeted package. This particular configuration features a Xeon E3-1505M v5 CPU, a brawny quad-core slice of silicon clocked at 2.8GHz to 3.7GHz with a generous 8MB of cache and Hyper Threading support. And for graphics, Lenovo crammed a discrete NVIDIA Quadro M4000M GPU with 4GB of GDDR5 memory inside.
How large and how heavy are we talking about? Try 16.38 inches (W) by 10.85 inches (D) by 1.18-1.35 inches (H) and around 7.3 pounds—oomph. If those were the only specs you glimpsed, you might think you'd fallen into a time warp. However, this machine is based on a 17-inch and every bit targeted as a desktop replacement, with an Ultra HD 4K IPS display.
Here's a look at what else is included in the model (20ER000XUS) Lenovo sent us:
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| Processor | Intel Xeon E3-1505M v5 (8MB cache, 2.8GHz to 3.7GHz) |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (downgrade rights to Windows 7 available) |
| Graphics | Intel HD Graphics P530 + NVIDIA Quadro M4000M w/ 4GB GDDR5 |
| Memory | 16GB DDR4 2133MHz SDRAM (1x16GB) w/ ECC |
| Display | 17.3-inch 4K Ultra HD (3840x2160) IPS w/ X-Rite PANTONE color calibration |
| Storage | 512GB NVMe PCIe SSD |
| Optical | N/A |
| Ethernet | Gigabit Ethernet |
| Wireless Connectivity | Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC (2x2) 8260 + Bluetooth 4.1 vPro |
| Interface (Left) |
USB 3.0 Always On, Smart Card reader |
| Interface (Right) |
3.5mm Audio connector, 2 x USB 3.0, 4-in-1 memory card reader, ExpressCard slot, mini DisplayPort, Security lock slot |
| Webcam | 720p w/ dual array microphones |
| Battery | 96Whr (8-cell) |
| Dimensions | 16.38 (W) x 10.85 (D) x 1.18-1.35 (H) inches |
| Weight | 7.3 pounds |
| Manufacturer Warranty | 3 years (1-year battery) |
| Pricing: | $3,849 MSRP as tested |
The above configuration is a special SKU that's increasingly hard to find in-stock through third-party sellers. Similar setups are available to configure direct from Lenovo, though be wary of the details—by default, Lenovo offers just a 1-year warranty on its base models. Also pay attention to the memory configuration. This particularly model ships with a single stick of 16GB DDR4-2133 ECC RAM, robbing users of a bit of memory bandwidth that typically comes with a dual-channel memory setup.
We know you're anxious to spy the benchmarks but we've only scratched the surface of what the ThinkPad P70 brings to the table. Let's take a closer look.
