ThinkStation

A ThinkStation with its distinctive front grille

The ThinkStation products from Lenovo are professional workstations designed for high-end computing. In 2008, Lenovo expanded the focus of its “THINK” brand to include workstations, with the ThinkStation S10 being the first model released. In 2014, Lenovo introduced the P Series workstations.

2015

P310

The ThinkStation P310 is an "entry-level" workstation and replacement for the P300 ThinkStation. It comes standard with an Intel Xeon E3-1200v5 processor and an Nvidia GPU. It can accommodate up to 64 gigabytes of RAM, and supports Lenovo's FLEX drive system.[1]

P700

The P700 was introduced in November 2015. It has simple black case with red accents that includes numerous places on its front for headphones, a card reader, USB ports, etc. The side panel includes a keyed lock and can be removed by depressing a steel lever. All internal components are modular and designed to be removed and replaced without tools. The P700 uses Intel Xeon processors. Nvidia graphics cards come standard.[2]

2014

ThinkStation P300 workstation internals
New ThinkStation launch in 2014

P Series

Lenovo launched the P Series at SIGGRAPH 2014 in Vancouver, Canada. The P Series is designed for use in engineering, architecture, professional video, energy production, finance, and other computationally intensive industries. The series includes the P900, P700, P500, and P300 models. The P Series uses Xeon processors from Intel and Quadro video cards from NVIDIA. The P300 line uses Haswell-based Xeons and supports dual channel memory. The P500 uses single Haswell-E Xeons and quad channel memory. The P700 uses dual Haswell-E Xeons. The P900 is similar to the P700 but uses multi-PCIe and has enhanced IO. The P Series is ISV-certified for all applications.[3]

The P Series is based on Lenovo's "Flex" system of trays and connectors that are designed to enable toolless upgrades. The Flex Bay at the front of each unit can be configured with an optical drive or a variety of options such card readers and FireWire connections. Drives are installed using Flex Bays that come in 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch sizes. Each tray can handle one 3.5-inch drive or two 2.5-inch drives. The Flex Connector is a mezzanine card that links the motherboard via PCIe to SATA, SAS, and RAID devices without using up card slots.[4]

2013

E32

On August 21, 2013 Lenovo introduced the ThinkStation® E32 series professional workstation that is available in either a tower or 12.9L small form factor chassis. The E32 incorporates the latest Intel Haswell chip set and supports the Intel Xeon® E3 and 4th generation processors as well as the Intel Core i7 and Core i5 series processors. The E32 supports both on board Intel® HD Graphics P4600 as well as NVIDIA NVS Business Graphics or Quadro® 3D graphics cards up to the K4000. The E32 supports up to 32 Gigs of 1600 MHz, DDR3 ECC memory in both form factors and has USB 3.0 ports on the front and rear of the chassis for a total of six USB 3.0 ports.

As are all Lenovo ThinkStations, the E32 is fully ISV certified for applications suites from Autodesk, Adobe, Dassault Systèmes, PTC, Siemens as well as others. The E32 makes it an ideal entry level platform for CAD and AEC users. Both the E32 tower and SFF workstations are reliable and green, offering 80 Plus® Platinum certification with up to 92% power efficiency. Due to the integration of the Intel Haswell micro architecture and Microsoft officially ending support for the Windows XP operating system in April 2014, the E32 is the first workstation that does not support the installation of Windows XP.

2012

D30

The ThinkStation D30 is a full-sized traditional tower workstation released in 2012. As is typical for ThinkStations the front panel features a perforated honeycomb shaped pattern. The D30 can hold up to two Intel Xeon eight-core processors that feature hyperthreading in order to support the processing of up to 32 simultaneous streams of data. Video is powered by Nvidia Quadro graphics cards. The D30 scored a very high 25.31 points on the CineBench test of 3D rendering. For comparison, the late 2012 Apple Mac Pro only scored 7.36 points on the same test.

In a review of the D30 PC Magazine wrote, "Sometimes, you just need to bring out the big stick, and the Lenovo ThinkStation D30 is that big stick. The sheer power of the dual eight-core Xeon CPUs plus the ability to add on more powerful Nvidia Quadro cards means that this is a system to scorch project deadlines in minutes rather than hours, or hours instead of days. Our last dual-processor workstation Editors' Choice was the Lenovo ThinkStation C20, which amazed us by putting dual Xeon CPUs in a more compact chassis. The Lenovo ThinkStation D30 now usurps that mantle, as the dual-processor workstation Editors' Choice. It wins with power, expandability, and a ruthless devotion to get your project done before any of your rivals can."[5]

C30

The ThinkStation C30 is a high-end dual-processor workstation designed for use in video editing, engineering, and finance. The C30 is slightly smaller than a full-sized tower but still comes with two PCI slots, two free PCIe x16 card slots for graphics cards, a free PCIe x4 slot, and space for two free hard drive bays. Two Intel Xeon E5-2620 processors, 16GB of ECC DDR3 system memory, a Nvidia Quadro 4000 graphics card, and a 500GB hard drive come standard. There is an option to rack mount the C30.

PC Magazine wrote, "The Lenovo ThinkStation C30 is a very good dual-processor workstation. It is a powerhouse for the space constrained financial, DCC, or engineering user in your organization. The system therefore comes highly recommended, but its roomier, more powerful, and more expensive big brother the Lenovo ThinkStation D30 holds on to the Editors' Choice for dual-processor workstations for the time being for having a lot more power and being more flexible for future upgrades."[6]

2011

The ThinkStation workstation released by Lenovo in 2011 was the E30.

E30

Announced in March 2011, the E30 workstation could be equipped with either Intel Core i[7] processors or Intel Xeon[8] processors. The workstation could be equipped with either 80GB or 160GB solid state drives.[7] Discrete graphics were available on the workstation, in the form of NVIDIA Quadro or NVS graphics.[7]

When the E30 was launched, Tao Gu, the executive director and general manager of Lenovo’s Workstation Business Unit said, "We created the ThinkStation E30 workstation to offer extremely powerful processing on a software-certified solution at desktop prices."[7]

Detailed specifications of the workstation are as follows:[9]

2010

The ThinkStation workstations released by Lenovo in 2010 were the C20 and E20.

C20

The C20 workstation was compact, designed to be easy to mount on a rack.[10] This compact size allowed up to 14 workstations to be stacked in a standard 42U rack.[10] It also meant that users who used a single workstation were offered extra space either on or beneath their desk.[10]

Detailed specifications of the workstation are as follows:[10]

SLASHGEAR stated that they “had trouble slowing the C20 down – this isn’t a PC where opening a few dozen browser windows will cause lag – and it stayed admirably quiet too (though fan noise did ramp up as the system was stressed during benchmark testing)”.[10] The reviewer also stated that the price would be far too high for most people to afford.[10]

The reviewer summed up the workstation by saying, “Graphics professionals, video editors or anyone looking to do vast amounts of crunching in minimal amounts of time, however – and without turning their office into a server farm – should definitely be considering the C20.”[10]

In addition, since the machine was designed as a workstation used by graphic professionals and video editors it was not intended to replace high end gaming machines.[10]

PCMag received the workstation positively saying, “The Lenovo ThinkStation C20 should be at the top of your list if you're looking for an ISV-certified Windows 7-based workstation.”[11] The workstation was awarded 4 out of 5 stars by PCMag and given an Editor’s Choice award.[11]

The workstation has been certified by several ISVs, including:[12]

E20

The E20 workstation was called ‘a “real” workstation for the price of a consumer PC’ by PCMag.[13] It received the “Honorable Mention” award in PCMag’s “Best of the Year” 2010 awards.[13] The workstation also included several environmentally friendly features.[13] Among these were Energy Star 5.0 and GREENGUARD certifications.[13] The workstation incorporated 66% recycled plastics, with several recycling programs available from Lenovo once the workstation reached end-of-life.[13]

Desktop Review received the workstation positively saying, “Quiet, capable and offering excellent build quality, the ThinkStation E20 is a good option for those in need of a workstation's benefits in a slimmer, more efficient package.”[14] The workstation was awarded 4 out of 5 stars by Desktop Review.[14]

Detailed specifications of the workstation are as follows:[13]

The workstation has received certifications from several ISVs, including:[12]

2009

The ThinkStation workstations released by Lenovo in 2009 were the S20 and D20.

S20

The S20 workstation was released by Lenovo in 2009 and had significant expansion options.[15] The workstation included a PCI, PCIe x1, and two PCIe x16 slots.[15] The workstation also included space for a second optical drive, and two additional 3.5 inch hard disk drive bays.[15] There were also 10 USB ports and 1 eSATA port.[15] However, there was no standard Firewire port.[15] The S20 workstation also included several environmentally friendly certifications including EPEAT Gold, RoHS, Energy Star 5.0 and GREENGUARD.[15]

Detailed specifications of the workstation are given below:[15]

The S20, like other workstations in the ThinkStation product line, has been certified by multiple ISVs, including:[12]

D20

Also released in 2010 along with the S20, the D20 workstation was reported by Desktop Engineering as bearing a strong resemblance to the S20, although it was noticeably larger.[16] According to Desktop Engineering, the D20 workstation delivered very high scores on their benchmark tests, both for Windows XP and Windows Vista.[16] Despite the presence of several fans, the workstation was reported to be nearly silent after the initial boot.[16]

Detailed specifications for the workstation are as follows:[16]

2008

The Lenovo ThinkStation S10

The ThinkStation workstations released by Lenovo in 2008 were the S10 and D10.

S10

In its review of the S10, Trusted Reviews indicated that the workstation used a consumer chipset – while also saying, “Looking at the available specifications, there's nothing to raise suspicion that these machines may underperform.”[17]

Detailed specifications of the workstation are as follows:[17]

D10

For the D10 workstation, Lenovo incorporated server grade chipset and processors, as opposed to the S10.[17] The Intel 5400a chipset used in the workstation supported two Intel Xeon processors and 64GB RAM.[17] The size of the workstation’s motherboard necessitated a larger case to accommodate it.[17] However, the increase in size offered additional drive bays. The case could also be mounted on a rack.[17] The detailed specifications of the D10 workstation are as follows:[17]

References

  1. ↑ Brittany A. Roston (December 1, 2015). "Lenovo ThinkPad P50s, ThinkStation P310 launch next year". SlashGear.
  2. ↑ John Evans (November 12, 2015). "Lenovo ThinkStation P700 Workstation CAD Review". Engineering.com.
  3. ↑ Ian Cutress (November 4, 2014). "Lenovo ThinkStation P300 Workstation Review: Haswell plus Quadro". AnandTech.
  4. ↑ Bryant Frazer (August 12, 2014). "Lenovo Debuts Full Line of ThinkStation P Series Workstations". StudioDaily.
  5. ↑ "Lenovo ThinkStation D30". PC Magazine.
  6. ↑ "Lenovo ThinkStation C30". PC Magazine.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Jennifer Johnson (28 March 2011). "Lenovo Unleashes ThinkStation E30 Workstation & ThinkCentre M81 Desktop". Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  8. ↑ Shane McGlaun (30 March 2011). "Lenovo ThinkStation E30 and ThinkCenter M81 computers announced". Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  9. ↑ "ThinkStation E30 Datasheet" (PDF). Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Ewdison Then (25 August 2010). "Lenovo ThinkStation C20 Review". Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  11. 1 2 Joel Santo Domingo (17 February 2011). "Lenovo ThinkStation C20". PC Magazine. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  12. 1 2 3 "ThinkStation ISV Certifications" (PDF). Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Joel Santo Domingo (14 July 2010). "Lenovo ThinkStation E20". PC Magazine. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  14. 1 2 J. R. Nelson (5 October 2010). "Lenovo ThinkStation E20 Review". Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Joel Santo Domingo (3 August 2009). "Lenovo ThinkStation S20". PC Magazine. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  16. 1 2 3 4 David Cohn (1 May 2010). "ThinkStation D20: Lenovo's New Dual Quad-Core Powerhouse". Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Edward Chester (7 February 2008). "Lenovo ThinkStation S10 review". Retrieved 13 December 2011.
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