16-inch mobile workstation packs performance of a 17-inch into a chassis equivalent in size to a more traditional 15.6-inch laptop
Lenovo has introduced the ThinkPad P16, a new mobile workstation designed to deliver the high-end performance and features of a 17-inch laptop in a compact 16-inch chassis. In a departure from the classic ThinkPad styling, the P16 also features an innovative new industrial design, plus an advanced thermal solution to maintain performance levels, while running cool and quiet.
Built around the new ‘hybrid architecture’ 12th Gen Intel Core HX mobile processors, the ThinkPad P16 offers up to eight ‘Performance’ cores and eight ‘Efficient’ cores, for a total of 16 physical cores and 24 threads. This is a big step up from 11th Gen Intel Core mobile processors, which maxed out at eight cores and 16 threads
Compared to previous generation ThinkPads with 11th Gen Intel Core processors, the P16 should offer better single threaded performance, which is important for CAD and BIM software, and significantly more multi-threaded performance, which is important for ray trace rendering, simulation, and reality modelling.
Lenovo has not released any performance figures, but Intel benchmarks show the flagship Intel Core i9-12900HX CPU to have an 81% performance lead over the Intel Core i9-11980HK when rendering in blender.
With more cores, 12th Gen Intel Core HX processors have a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 55W, 10W more than 11th Gen. To handle the increased thermal load in the smaller 16-inch form factor, Lenovo’s thermodynamics engineers had to create an all-new cooling solution with dual fans, heat pipes, a dual vapor chamber, keyboard air intake, and dual by-pass design.
According to Lenovo, this innovative solution allows for more airflow through the chassis and keeps the P16 cooler and quieter even during the heaviest workloads. Warm air is expelled at the rear, rather than the side, so it does not heat up the user’s hands.
The cooling solution is also designed to balance the thermal load between the CPU and GPU. Lenovo offers several options here including the 125W Nvidia RTX A5500 (16GB) for the most demanding real-time visualisation, GPU rendering and VR workflows.
The completely re-designed chassis features a new ‘storm grey’ aluminium ‘A cover’, built around a magnesium subframe to protect the display. The palm rest is crafted from ABS plastic and polycarbonate, coated with a grey anti fingerprint paint to echo the aesthetic of the ‘A Cover’. Meanwhile, a solid magnesium sub frame or ‘roll cage’ gives the laptop body its traditional ThinkPad strength and rigidity. A red stripe across the rear expands on the aesthetic of Lenovo’s desktop ThinkStation workstations.
The ThinkPad P16 also comes equipped with the latest DDR5 memory, supporting up to 128 GB acrosss four DIMMs, as well as a maximum of 8 TB of storage via two high-performance M.2 NVMe SSDs.
The laptop features a new 16-inch low blue-light display, with OLED Touch option with pen support. The 16:10 viewing area is said to deliver a higher screen-to-body ratio thanks to narrower bezels, higher pixels per inch and higher vertical resolution and space.
Additionally, the P16 features a wider 115mm touchpad, an integrated on-chip fingerprint reader in the power button, and a FHD camera for better picture quality on video calls. Wireless connectivity options include Intel WiFi 6E AX211 and 4G LTE.
Meanwhile, for easy upgrades or repairs, a service hatch with a single screw gives easy access to one NVMe drives and two memory slots, while the second NVMe drive, Wi-Fi and 4G modules can be accessed by opening the entire bottom cover.
The laptop measures 364 x 266 x 30mm and starts at 2.95kg, which is slightly bigger and heavier than the HP ZBook Fury G9 and Dell Precision 7670, both of which have similar specs.
The ThinkPad P16 mobile workstation will be available later this month starting at $1,979.
Meanwhile, last month Lenovo launched two other 16-inch mobile workstations, the thin and light ThinkPad P1 Gen 5 with 12th Gen Intel Core H-series processors (up to 14 cores and 5.0 GHz), and the ThinkPad P16s, with an AMD Ryzen Pro 6000 CPU with integrated Radeon Graphics and a Radeon Pro APU driver.
