‘Workstation requirements are becoming more complex…our devices ready to handle multiple workloads’: Lenovo on new ThinkStation products

Lenovo already has a ThinkPad laptop line for its commercial customers but the PC giant also makes high-end ThinkStation workstations aimed at professional users who want modular, high-performance desktop towers. The new ThinkStation P-series lineup consists of three machines including the top-of-the-line ThinkStation PX workstation which is co-designed with Aston Martin, a luxury automaker whose designers use ThinkStations to build cars.

Lenovo’s ThinkStation team during the launch of new ThinkStation P-series in New Delhi. (Image credit: Lenovo)

“We are making sure that [our] devices are ready for multiple applications, multiple workloads, and being able to configure and customise that configuration to support any pro space including VR, XR and all of those elements,” Johanny A. Payero, Director, Global B2B Advanced Solutions Marketing and Strategy at Lenovo, chimes in, adding that the company makes a lot of enhancements to its workstations so that they are optimised for those workloads that generate more data.

From a design perspective, both pro-grade notebooks and desktops are designed differently as they are different types of devices serving different goals. “There is a clear distinction between mobile workstations and desktop workstations,” says Mahesh R, Product Manager Lead for ThinkStations, Lenovo Asia Pacific and Japan. “A lot depends on what kind of an application you are running and how large the file sizes are,” he says, adding that there are some applications which you cannot work on mobile workstations because of hardware limitations and the limited space to pack all the internals. However, the desktop workstation has an edge over a mobile workstation due to dual CPUs, multiple GPUs, scalable memory, and access to the highest storage capacity.

The flagship ThinkStation PX (starts at Rs 300,000) is based on two 4th Generation Xeon Scalable ‘Sapphire Rapids’ processors with up to 120 cores in total as well as up to four Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada Lovelace graphics cards with 48GB of GDDR6 memory onboard. The chassis, co-designed with the British luxury automaker Aston Martin, features Lenovo’s tri-channel cooling system and can be serviced without using tools.

The flagship ThinkStation PX (starts at Rs 300,000) is based on two 4th Generation Xeon Scalable ‘Sapphire Rapids’ processors (Image credit: Lenovo)

The hexagonal front grille on the ThinkStation PX is inspired by the front grill of the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera, which has a starting price upwards of Rs 5 crore.

“The concept started about three and a half years ago,” Payero opens up about how Aston Martin got involved in the project. “They [ Aston Martin] were actually a customer first as they were purchasing our devices and building and designing on our workstation, and their feedback and partnership crafted an idea of making a similar design that could be replicated on a professional workstation,” she explains.

Lenovo and Aston Martin looked at airflow management and aerodynamics, the two important elements to cool the system’s high-end parts. “Our workstation team has developed thermal management through an air baffle system and that thermal management of airflow cools each individual CPU at the same time so that the system can perform faster and remain cooler.”

Within Lenovo, the ThinkStation team consists of a group of designers and engineers that are specifically focused on the engineering capability of the ThinkPad lineup which has evolved into a professional workstation. “The core competencies of our design and engineering team are specifically focused on mechanical, system engineering and software development,” reveals Payero. The ThinkStation lineup is designed out of Lenovo’s Morrisville facility in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Lenovo is targeting its new ThinkStation P-series workstation aimed at designers, engineers and those on the content and media side. Payero says ThinkStation customers consist of large manufacturers of solutions in R&D and life sciences, manufacturing, engineering and construction as well as media and entertainment.