Lenovo unveiled three new thin and light mobile workstations at Solidworks World 2017--the ThinkPad P51s, P51, and P71. All of the new laptops offer Nvidia Quadro graphics options, with one of the models sporting VR-ready performance.

Two ThinkPad P51s Are Better Than One

The Lenovo ThinkPad P51s and P51 both feature 15.6-inch displays, with options for 4K (3840 x 2160) and FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS screens, in addition to an FHD touch option. Both offer Maxwell-based Nvidia Quadro GPUs, with the P51s featuring a Quadro M520 (384 CUDA cores, 1GB GDDR5, 64-bit) and the P51 sporting up to a Quadro M2200 with 1,024 CUDA cores and 4GB of GDDR5 running over a 128-bit memory bus. Both also offer up to Kaby Lake Intel Core i7 processors, but the P51 can be equipped with up to Xeon E3-v6 workstation-class CPUs. However, the exact processor models offered aren’t currently known.

The ThinkPad P51s features up to 32GB of DDR4-2133 with its two SODIMM slots, but the ThinkPad P51 supports up to 64GB of DDR4-2400 (four SODIMMs). Storage for the two 15.6-inch ThinkPad mobile workstations also vary, with the P51s featuring up to a 1TB HDD or 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD. The P51 supports up to three total drives and can be equipped with up to a 1TB HDD and 1TB PCIe NVMe SSDs (up to two). The P51s features a dual-battery system, with a 4-cell 32Wh in the front, and up to a 6-cell 72Wh battery in the rear. The ThinkPad P51 sports up to a single 6-cell 90Wh battery. Both feature Intel gigabit Ethernet and Wireless AC 8265 networking.

Clearly, the P51 is intended for power users that require more horsepower under the hood with its increased memory speed and capacity, in addition to offering more-robust storage options and larger batteries. However, neither of these new ThinkPads are up to task for VR applications with their Maxwell-based GPUs. That’s where their new, bigger brother comes in.

Lenovo's First VR-Ready Mobile Workstation

The ThinkPad P71 features up to Intel 7th generation (Kaby Lake) Core i7 or Xeon E3-v6 processors, in addition to supporting up to the most-powerful mobile workstation GPU currently in Nvidia’s arsenal, the Quadro P5000. The Pascal-based mobile graphics sports 2048 CUDA cores and 16GB of GDDR5 running over a 256-bit memory interface, and perhaps most-importantly, it makes the ThinkPad P71 VR-ready, giving developers and content creators a potentially powerful mobile option.

Similar to the ThinkPad P51, the P71 can feature up to 64GB of DDR4-2400. However, the P71 can accommodate up to 2TB of HDDs (two 1TB drives) and 2TB of PCIe NVMe storage (two 1TB SSDs) for a total of four drives. The 17.3-inch IPS display comes in 4K (3840 x 2160) and FHD (1920 x 1080) varieties, but a touchscreen is not an option for the P71. The ThinkPad P71 also features an 8-cell 96Wh battery and Intel Wireless AC 8265 and gigabit Ethernet for internet connectivity.

The Lenovo ThinkPad P51s, P51, and P71 will be available this March, starting at $1,049, $1,399, and $1,849, respectively.