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Lenovo powers up a thin-and-light ThinkPad P1 for pros

The company finally offers a powerful mobile workstation under 4 pounds.

Lori Grunin Senior Editor / Advice
I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.
Expertise Photography, PCs and laptops, gaming and gaming accessories
Lori Grunin
2 min read
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Lenovo

Lenovo has an established mobile workstation line -- its ThinkPad P series -- but it's lagged behind HP's ZBook and Dell's Precision lines when it comes to slim and 2-in-1 models, with its lightest models still weighing over 4 pounds (2 kilograms).

It lags behind when it comes to announcing its products too. Many of the light and convertible models HP and Dell announced earlier this year are just beginning to become available. While Lenovo oddly hasn't updated its ThinkPad P40 Yoga convertible since it debuted in 2015, it's finally offering an ultraportable: the ThinkPad P1.

The ThinkPad P1 is slated to ship in the US by the end of August, starting at $1,950. We don't know shipping or availability elsewhere, but the US starting price directly converts to about £1,530 and AU$2,660.

Despite the option for a 400-nit touch 4K Ultra HD display with 100 percent Adobe RGB gamut coverage, the 15-inch ThinkPad P1 targets CAD/CAM/CAE more than the (mythical) "right brain" design professions. Its certifications at launch are for ArcGIS, AutoCAD, CATIA, Creo, Inventor, Microstation, NX, PDMS, Revit, Solid Edge, SolidWorks, Vectorworks. And it looks the part, with the staid, basic black ThinkPad aesthetic.

Specs include:

  • Eighth-generation Core i7, i9 and Xeon (unspecified)
  • Nvidia Quadro P1000 or P2000 GPU
  • 15.6-inch display options: 300-nit HD (1,920x1,080) IPS with 72 percent NTSC color gamut or 400-nit 4K UHD IPS touchscreen with 100 percent Adobe color gamut and 10-bit color processing
  • Up to 64GB 2,667MHz DDR4 ECC RAM
  • 2xUSB-C/Thunderbolt, 2xUSB 3.1Type-A, 1xHDMI 2.0, 1x mini Gigabit Ethernet, mic/headphone jack, smart card reader
  • Up to 4TB PCIe SSD; RAID 0 or 1 options
  • Dimensions: 14.2x9.7x0.7 in/362x246x18 mm
  • Weight starts at 3.8 lbs/1.7kg

Lenovo also gave its workhorse 17-inch P71 a bunch of component bumps for the ThinkPad P72: eighth-generation Intel Core and Xeon processors, Nvidia Quadro P5200, up to 128GB memory, up to 6TB storage with up to 16GB Intel Optane acceleration storage.

It's also expected to ship by the end of August, with prices starting at $1,800 (directly converted, about AU$2,450 and £1,410).

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