Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 3 Review
The Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 3 isn’t a mere 15.6” laptop computer; it’s a Mobile Workstation configurable with a skilled NVIDIA Quadro graphics processor, ECC reminiscence, and Intel Xeon CPU with vPro. This could be packaged in an especially gentle 3.75+ Lbs chassis, making it a robust laptop computer for its weight.
The ThinkPad P1 Gen 3 has been designed for professionals engaged on demanding apps that require potent processors and loads of reminiscence.
Folks working with 3D functions might desire a licensed Quadro driver, and a few patrons may also purchase this workstation for its licensed sturdiness. As such, there’s a premium related to a number of the design and options, which we’ll go over.
Specifications Highlights
Configuration as examined
In this overview, we’re particularly testing the mannequin with a 2.7Ghz i7-10885H CPU, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD (Samsung MZVLB1T0HBLR-00L7) with the 4K OLED show. The GPU is an NVIDIA Quadro T2000 with 4GB of VRAM.
At publishing time, this configuration on the official Lenovo product web page has an estimated price of $5040, and Lenovo was providing a reduced worth of $2670.67 through eCoupon (code: THINKCMSALE). Coupons are momentary by nature and may be discontinued at any time. Also, essentially the most reasonably priced ThinkPad P1 Gen 3 begins at $1704.62 on Lenovo’s web site.
Configuration choices
The system configuration choices can help a wide selection of costs, with the bottom model promoting for $2939 and the fully-loaded one retailing at an MSRP of $6734. That stated, Lenovo had some big low cost (~50%) this week, so it’s value wanting on the official web site.
Components such because the Quadro GPUs bear further worth for professionals who need licensed drivers and particular additional options not discovered within the gaming counterpart GPU.
The ECC reminiscence can be one thing that some customers may need and protects in opposition to reminiscence errors for the best possible system stability.
ECC reminiscence is one thing that the common consumer doesn’t find out about or need. If you don’t see why you’d want to have ECC reminiscence or Quadro GPUs, then you definately don’t “need” it.
- CPU: i7-10750H (base), i7-10850H (+$310), i7-10850H (+$440), i9-10885H (+$890), Xeon W-10855M (+$1100)
- GPU: NVIDIA Quadro T1000 or T2000 with Max-Q 4GB
- RAM: 8, 16, 32, or 64GB of DDR4 2933MHz of RAM, user-replaceable. With some CPUs, ECC reminiscence exhibits up as an possibility.
- 15.6-inch Display
- FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS anti-glare, 300nits, 72% shade gamut
- FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS, anti-glare with Dolby Vision™ HDR, 500 nits
- UHD (3840 x 2160) LCD IPS, anti-glare with Dolby Vision™ HDR, 600 nits
- UHD (3840 x 2160) OLED, AR/AS, touchscreen with Dolby Vision™ HDR True Black, 400 nits
- Storage
- Two bodily M.2 slots (for RAID possibility), 256GB, 512GB, 1TB or 2TB Intel OPAL SSD.
ThinkPad P1 Gen 3 Design and Ports
The Lenovo ThinkPad P1 has a basic and trendy ThinkPad design confirmed to achieve success for enterprise customers. You can respect the aesthetic facet with the photographs, and we’ll deal with the target advantages and potential pitfalls.
The chassis is generally made from carbon-fiber and magnesium with a soft-pain on prime, just like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. The show back-cover is the one place the place you’ll be able to see the carbon weave sample, and it provides a contact of sophistication whereas reminding folks what’s beneath.
Lenovo’s tender paint is agreeable to the contact, not slippery, and really immune to put on and tear – extra so than bare aluminum.
As typical with the ThinkPad line of product, the laptop computer has handed a dozen or so MIL-STD-810 checks and possibly has a spill-resistant keyboard, though we didn’t put this to the check.
The backside cowl could be opened by eradicating screws, which provides you entry to the elements. There are two DDR4 RAM slots and two M.2 SSD slots, nice for upgrades and repairs.
“THE 3.75+ LBS WEIGHT OF THE LENOVO THINKPAD P1 GEN 3 IS A MASTERPIECE IN ITSELF”
The 3.75+ Lbs weight of the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 3 is a masterpiece in itself, and anybody who carries a typical 5.5+ Lbs workstation is aware of that it’s going to make an enormous distinction on the subject of mobility and journey – particularly should you typically fly to satisfy purchasers and colleagues.
To provide you with an instance, listed below are the respective weights of a handful of rivals. HP ZBook 15 G6 (5.7 Lbs), MSI WS75 (5 Lbs), Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition (4.85 Lbs), and the closest, the Dell Precision 5530 (4.4 Lbs).
Keyboard and Trackpad
The full-size keyboard is great and probably the greatest we’ve examined on a 15.6” laptop computer. There’s ample key-travel, and the keys are curved and cozy to the contact. The plastic is designed to repel finger grease, which is a plus for heavy keyboard customers.
The trackpad is massive, however not huge – some 13.3” laptops have bigger trackpads. However, I believe that most individuals utilizing Workstations like this primarily use a mouse.
The bodily trackpad buttons are snug and correct than in my view. It is particularly true for “click & drag” operations and small gadgets choice the place you wish to be 100% certain that the cursor received’t transfer as you mouse-click (instance: polygon vertices in a CAD app).
Thinkpad P1 Gen 3 Ports
The extensive availability of ports is extremely handy if it is advisable to join to numerous peripherals. Workstation customers are most likely extra susceptible to be related to a number of shows, printers, and custom-peripherals than your typical workplace employee.
With a full array of ports, together with a full-size USB+HDMI and highly effective ThunderBolt 3 ports, there aren’t limitations as to what you’ll be able to connect with, and no danger of forgetting dongles when it is advisable to join essentially the most.
The variety of ports is an important distinction with extra compact and ultra-thin 15” client laptops on this worth vary.
- 2x USB-A, 2x Thunderbolt 3
- 1x full-size HDMI 2.0
- 1x 3.5mm audio, 1x SD full-size
- 1x proprietary Ethernet
- 1x safety lock port, 1x 4G LTE (non-obligatory)
ThinkPad P1 Gen 3 Display
We have the OLED 15.6-inch show, so the colours are vibrant, and the ~588 NITs measured brightness is often greater than vivid sufficient, in any circumstances. Note that the OLED show is rated for 400 NITs, but it surely does peak properly above that, as our checks present.
I feel that OLED is the perfect for media consumption due to the right blacks. Also, for coding and high-contrast textual content, I discover it to be extra snug too. The shade accuracy is excellent (we measured 100% sRGB, 96% Adobe RGB, 99% of P3 with SyderXElite), however should you work in design or require the perfect shade matching, the IPS 4K show -might- be a greater possibility.
Because it’s a workstation, all shows come out totally calibrated from the manufacturing facility, which is a plus for individuals who purchase laptops for his or her entire workforce. Eventually, you would need to recalibrate them, nevertheless.
For utilitarian functions that don’t want high-resolution or super-precise colours, the bottom FHD show (300 NITs, no HDR certification) will just do wonderful. For extra satisfying media consumption, the FHD+HDR show tends to have higher distinction and colours too.
Keep in thoughts that FHD shows are far more battery-friendly than their 4K counterparts, typically by ~30%-40%, however workstations are, usually, run with energy related.
4K shows are wonderful should you work with wonderful textual content (code, writing, studying) as a result of the textual content will seem very clean. The identical factor is true for functions that use numerous wireframe 3D graphics like CAD and 3D modeling apps.
- 1920 x 1080 IPS anti-glare, 300nits, 72% shade gamut
- 1920 x 1080 IPS, anti-glare with Dolby Vision™ HDR, 500 nits
- 3840 x 2160 LCD IPS, anti-glare with Dolby Vision™ HDR, 600 nits
- 3840 x 2160 OLED, AR/AS, touchscreen with Dolby Vision™ HDR True Black, 400 nits
Optional Digital Pen
The ThinkPad Pen Pro is non-obligatory ($99.99, with Wacom AES 2.0) however Lenovo supplied us with one for testing functions. The pen is massive and cozy like a daily pen, so it could be appropriate for long-term use (versus simply taking notes for ~45mn).
I’m no designer, however I can verify that the Ink may be very quick and responsive. Now, this pen won’t be nearly as good as an iPad 10 Pro’s for sketching functions, however I discover it to be fast and correct.
The efficiency will probably be restricted by the app’s brushes quite than the Pen itself and Windows OS. For extra particulars in regards to the pen, watch the official video:
Webcam
Depending in your show possibility, the webcam can be a plain one or a fancier one with the secondary IR digital camera for a safe unlock. Both may have ThinkShutter, a bodily shutter that stops the digital camera from seeing something. In many locations, it’s a should and beats tape on the digital camera!
The webcam is inside the high quality commonplace for high-end laptops, however that’s not saying a lot. Generally, even a mid-range or low-end cellphone ought to yield a better picture high quality for video conferences and such.
The 2020 earn a living from home will hopefully push OEMs to incorporate larger high quality cameras. Recently, lowering the cameras’ measurement has been a precedence to have a small bezel, however high quality must rise too.
ThinkPad P1 Gen 3 Speed Test
We don’t overview numerous Workstations since principally we’re a consumer-oriented web site, however I’ve an affinity for them since I labored within the video video games trade for ~13 years.
First, I needed to indicate how selecting completely different CPUs have an effect on the uncooked CPU/RAM efficiency profile. Secondly, we will examine this with basic work laptops to indicate you the way having a workstation may enhance your work state of affairs.
If we take a look at the uncooked CPU numbers with a check like Geekbench, you’ll be able to see that going from a Core i7 to a Core-i9 or a Xeon CPU does kick efficiency into a better gear (and into larger worth too).
The graphics and artistic checks resembling PCMark 10 Creative and 3DMark FireStrike present that the graphics efficiency of our check laptop computer is kind of excessive. Remember that elements of the graphics checks may nonetheless be CPU-limited, so we don’t exclude {that a} quicker processor would elevate the graphics scores even additional.
And this isn’t even contemplating the extra worth for some customers to have Quadro-certified GPU drivers, and their app-specific optimizations. It is hard to seize that worth in benchmarks, however clients who “need” Quadro GPUs don’t want any convincing.
When engaged on compute-intensive functions, the laptop computer followers will kick-in comparatively shortly. The noise isn’t too loud for me, but it surely is determined by your tolerance. If you really want one thing quiet, you may want a desktop as a result of the P1 fan -will be ON usually.
That’s true for any cellular workstation that performs a compute-intensive activity. Performance generates warmth, and warmth must go away.
There’s an possibility for ECC RAM, which is great for individuals who need essentially the most excellent system stability. Again, should you don’t know why or should you want it, you most likely don’t.
ThinkPad P1 Gen 3 Battery Life
Battery life isn’t usually essential for Workstations as a result of they aren’t used for ultra-mobility. As such, these computer systems typically characteristic high-powered processors, graphics playing cards, and 4K shows. They are actually meant to switch a desktop and its monitor.
That stated, the 80Whr battery may be very massive, for the sub-4Lbs weight. With the 135W power-supply, you’ll be able to cost it from 0% to 32% in a pinch in ~30mn, which is fairly quick.
In the PCMark 8 “work” battery check, a typical office-work benchmark, our laptop computer lasted for ~3h43mn. This size isn’t dangerous in any respect for such a robust laptop computer with a 4K show (at 110 NITs of brightness). With a FHD show, it may final 5.5 or 6 hours, in our estimation.
That stated, laptops designed for ultra-mobility will have a tendency to attain even larger, with some reaching September 11 hours at this check.
Again, remember the fact that battery life will considerably differ relying in your show decision and brightness. Of course, the apps you utilize have a significant influence on vitality consumption.
Conclusion
The Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 3 is a superb 15.6-inch workstation, which is highly effective and comes with a substantial amount of order-time configuration flexibility. No matter the use case, it has ample choices to get the job executed and do it securely (vPro chipset).
It is particularly attention-grabbing to the road-warriors due to its light-weight and MIL-810G-STD confirmed sturdiness as a result of it reduces general journey fatigue and lowers the danger of getting a breakdown throughout a mission, which can price hundreds of {dollars} in delay. I journey loads for work, and one fixed fear is having my laptop computer die on me.
“AN EXCELLENT 15.6-INCH WORKSTATION”
If you don’t know why you would want Quadro, ECC reminiscence, or a Xeon processor, you -might- be capable of discover an alternate in gaming laptops. It may be heavier however extra cost-efficient, relying on the configuration.
But I doubt that Enterprise clients would take into account this type of corner-cutting and would significantly take into account the ThinkPad P1 Gen 3 for his or her workforce.
Overall product score: 9.1/10
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