The 17" Is Back. Lenovo Announces the P70 ThinkPad Workstation.

For all those mobile modeling mavens waiting for another 17″ workstation option, your wait is over. Today, from SIGGRAPH 2015, Lenovo has announced they are bringing back the 17″ workstation, and not only that, a completely redesigned 17″ workstation.

Specifics on CPU and GPU are lacking (Lenovo is still under embargo from Intel and NVIDIA) and all we have at the moment are PR images, but we had a hands-on with the P70 in June and, must say, Lenovo is hitting on all cylinders.

The design is completely new, from the internal chassis to the exterior materials, to fit the latest, high-performance components and whittle down weight. While it starts at 7.6 lbs (3.4kg), there’s room for 64GBs of memory and 2TB HDD storage (or 1TB SSD). Lenovo dumps the VGA port and adds two Intel Thunderbolt ports (40GB/s transfer), plus gives you the decision of a 4k UHD or 1920×1080 touch-enabled display.

Lenovo has also announced a new 15″ laptop, the P50 ThinkPadn that keeps the capabilities, but scales size by 1.5″ and weight by 2 lbs. Both pack everything a 3D professional needs to run 3D modeling, rendering or production software with the upgraded CPU, storage and transfer speeds. You have the same processor, OS, graphics, memory and storage options with each, but lose out on an extra Thunderbolt port with the P50. Each come standard with full backlit keyboard (including number pad), X-Rite Pantone Color Sensor, and their new ‘FLEX Performance Cooling’ to provide more options in keeping that lappy running cool and performing well.

We’ll update with price info as soon as it becomes available, but expect both to start in the sub-$2k range. Availability for each is expected to be Q4 2015.