Lenovo has launched a new ThinkStation featuring Intel’s 12th Gen CPUs and Nvidia’s RTX mobile professional graphics in a compact form factor while performing 50 per cent better than previous workstation generations.
The ThinkStation P360 Ultra measures a tiny 87mm x 223mm x 202mm giving it a total package volume of less than four litres. Inside, we find a range of Intel chips, from i3 to i9, with a maximum of 16 cores at 125W, socketed into a double-sided motherboard powered by Intel’s W680 chipset.
The graphic portion can go from an integrated Intel graphics up to a mobile Nvidia RTX A5000 16GB, about which Lenovo says it “worked closely with Nvidia to develop a unique solution to both house the GPU and provide the cooling required to support the RTX A5000 mobile graphics card.”
Obviously, a mobile GPU will be slower compared to classic desktop solutions; however, when it comes to performance at this size, there aren’t too many options. Another concern with these can be upgradability, which seems to be possible if Lenovo offers them as standalone solutions.
Moving to memory, P360 Ultra offers up to 128GB of DDR5-4000 (ECC or non-ECC) spread over four SODIMM slots, alongside two M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe Gen 4 slots for a maximum of 8TB. There’s also a solitary SATA port, too. Note that both M.2 ports can operate in RAID mode.
I/O-wise, there are two Thunderbolt 4, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, and a 3.5mm audio jack in the front panel, twin Ethernet – 1GbE plus 2.5GbE – four USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, three DisplayPort (more depending on the discrete graphics card) in the rear, plus WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 through an Intel AX201 module. Impressive specs for a small box.
Small-form-factor (SFF) machines are now becoming viable options for demanding professionals using CAD, BIM, modelling, or simulations requiring good amounts of horsepower.
Finally, depending on the CPU/GPU combination, Lenovo is equipping these systems with 170W, 230W, or 300W external power adapters touting 89 per cent efficiency.
ThinkStation P360 Ultra will be available later this month starting at $1,299 for the base model.
