ENGINEERING COMPUTING|||Workstations
36 DE| Technology for Optimal Engineering Design August 2019 /// DigitalEngineering247.com
As we have come to expect, the P72 includes lots of con-
nectivity options. The right side provides a combination
microphone/headphone audio jack, two USB 3.1 ports, an
SD card slot, a mini-DisplayPort connector, a full-size RJ-45
Ethernet jack and a security-lock slot. The left side houses
a smart card slot and an always-on USB 3.1 port that can
charge USB devices whenever the computer is connected to
AC power, even if the system is off. The rear panel provides
an additional USB 3.1 port, an HDMI port, a pair of Thun-
derbolt 3/USB Type-C ports and the connector for the exter-
nal power supply.
Dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth come standard. Although
a six-cell 99Whr battery is the only choice, it kept our
ThinkPad P72 running for 5 hours and 38 minutes, about 20
minutes less than the P71. The Lenovo mobile workstation
remained cool and quiet throughout our tests, reaching 50dB
under heavy compute loads.Very Good Price/Performance
Lenovo workstations have a history of delivering great per-
formance, and the ThinkPad P72 definitely lived up to that
reputation. On the SPECviewperf benchmark, which focuses
on graphics, the P72 scored near the top on all the datasets,
and did quite well on the SPECapc SolidWorks benchmark.
On the very demanding SPECwpc benchmark, the
Lenovo ThinkPad P72 also delivered excellent results,
although its storage scores lagged the field just a bit. Inde-
pendent tests have shown that the M.2 drives currently used
by Lenovo do not perform quite as well as the Samsung 970
EVO drives used by other original equipment manufacturers
and system integrators. That said, its overall results on this
workstation benchmark were still quite good. Its 42.8-second
average to complete our AutoCAD rendering beat the previ-
ous generation ThinkPad P71, which at the time had set the
top mark on this test. But that result falls short of several
other mobile systems we’ve recently reviewed.The base configuration with a Core i7 CPU comes with
Windows 10 Home 64-bit, with the upgrade to the Pro ver-
sion costing $80 more. But all systems based on Xeon proces-
sors include Windows 10 Pro for Workstations. The standard
warranty covers the system for just one year with depot or
carry-in service. Additional coverage is available at the time
of purchase that can extend the warranty for up to five years,
including accidental damage protection, on-site service and
premier support. We boosted the standard warranty to three
years for pricing purposes, which added $93.
The ThinkPad P72 is certified for applications from in-
dependent software vendors including Autodesk, Bentley,
Dassault Systèmes, Nemetschek, PTC and Siemens. You can
build a custom configuration via the Lenovo website, where
our P72 priced out at $4,887 after an automatic online dis-
count. When coupled with its great performance, that price
lands the Lenovo ThinkPad P72 at a very sweet spot in price/
performance, making it an ideal choice for those looking for
a large mobile workstation. DEDavid Cohn is the senior content manager at 4D Technologies.
He also does consulting and technical writing from his home in
Bellingham, WA and has been benchmarking PCs since 1984. He’s
a Contributing Editor to Digital Engineering and the author of
more than a dozen books. You can contact him via email at david@
dscohn.com or visit his website at dscohn.com.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
INFO➜Lenovo:Lenovo.com/thinkstation
Lenovo ThinkPad P72- Price: $4,887 as tested ($1,529 base price)
- Size: 16.4x11.1x1.2-in. (WxHxD) notebook
- Weight: 7.73 lbs. (plus 2.12-lb. external power supply)
- CPU: Intel Xeon E3-2186M 2.90GHz 6-core w/ 12MB cache
- Memory: 16GB ECC DDR4 at 2400MHz
- Graphics: NVIDIA Quadro P5200 w/16GB GDDR5 memory
- LCD: 17.3-in. 4K (3840x2160) IPS
- Hard Disk: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD and
1TB 7200rpm SATA HD- Floppy: None
- Optical: None
- Audio: Built-in speakers, headphone/microphone jack,
built-in microphone array - Network: Integrated Intel 9560 vPro 802.11 AC (2x2) 8265
plus Bluetooth 5.0, one RJ45 gigabit Ethernet port - Modem: None
- Other: Four USB 3.1 (one always on), two USB 3.1 Type-C/
Thunderbolt 3, mini DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0, 4-in-1 card
reader, 4-in-1 media card slot, 720p webcam, IR camera- Keyboard: Integrated 105-key full-size backlit keyboard
with numeric keypad
- Keyboard: Integrated 105-key full-size backlit keyboard
- Pointing device: Integrated touchpad with 3 bu¤ ons,
pointing stick with 3 bu¤ ons, fi ngerprint reader
ThinkPad P73 Just Announced
L
enovo announced its updated 17-in. mobile
workstation, the ThinkPad P73, in June. It is
slated to be available later this month.
The 17-in. workhorse in the Lenovo portfolio
delivers the largest workspace. Its Dolby Vision 4K
UHD screen, designed to maximize the creative
space, is suited for multi-window applications and
split screen multi-tasking.
The model also delivers top-of-the-stack pro-
cessing and graphics power with the 9th Gen
Intel Xeon and Core processors and up to NVIDIA
Quadro 5000 RTX graphics.
The Lenovo ThinkPad P73 will start at $1,849,
according to the company.DE_0819_Review_Lenovo_Cohn.indd 36 7/11/19 11:29 AM