Lenovo ThinkPad P71 (i7, P3000, 4K) Workstation Review

Lenovo introduced the 17.3-inch case with the ThinkPad P70 just last year, so there are no changes for the ThinkPad P71. However, this is not a big problem since we are still impressed by the stability of the black case. The base unit in particular is extremely sturdy thanks to the aluminum/magnesium alloy underneath the plastic surfaces. The tactile feel of the surfaces is similar to the smaller T-series models such as the ThinkPad T570. They are slightly roughened, but the surfaces of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon or other aluminum cases still leave a better impression.

The stability of the large lid is also decent, but still not quite on par with the base unit. You can twist it with some pressure, even though there are no creaking sounds and we cannot provoke picture distortions under pressure from behind either. The two metal hinges allow a maximum opening angle of 180 degrees, but they could be tighter for the heavy lid.

The big case has one advantage over many modern systems with slim constructions: You can easily access the components. The battery is replaceable at the bottom and does not have its own support foot, so the operation without the battery is no problem. There is also a large maintenance hatch at the bottom, which reveals components such as the RAM, for example. According to Lenovo, the notebook also meets the requirements for the military standard MIL-STD-810G, but the manufacturer does not list any specific tests. The keyboard of the ThinkPad P71 is spill-waterproof.

The ThinkPad P71 is a very bulky system, especially compared to 15.6-inch laptops. Compared to its direct rivals, however, there are basically no differences. They are not good choices when you need a portable machine and the workstations really feel at home on the desk.

Lenovo has not changed the connectivity, so customers still get plenty of ports, including two modern Thunderbolt 3 ports. According to the specification sheet however, the new ThinkPad P71 can only drive four displays simultaneously (five on the old P70). The 4K output of the HDMI port is limited to 30 Hz, but 60 Hz is possible via mini DisplayPort or Thunderbolt 3. A DVD burner, which is very rare these days, can be found on the left side. Whether it makes much sense, obviously depends on your requirements.

This year we have not had any problems with the performance of the USB ports. We determined good transfer rates of ~380 MB/s in combination with our Samsung SSD T3 and drives were always recognized as USB 3.0 models, which was not the case on the previous unit.

The SD card reader is one of the faster modules. We determine a maximum transfer rate of 216 MB/s with our reference card from Toshiba (Exceria Pro UHS-II 64 GB), while pictures are transferred at 156 MB/s on average. An external card reader is not necessary here (if you do not need other formats).

The security equipment has also got a small update. Lenovo has now implemented a TPM 2.0 chip instead of the 1.2 module that was in the old P70. Many laptops are equipped with fingerprint scanners nowadays, but the P71 offers options to increase the security level for more accurate scans. It is easy to implement in business environments thanks to the SmartCard reader, and you can obviously set numerous passwords (power on, hard disk, BIOS).

Lenovo offers multiple accessories that were already compatible with the predecessors P50 & P70. The docking stations are especially interesting if you want to use the P71 within your productive environment. We had a closer look at different models in the review of the P70.

The ThinkPad P71 is shipped with a 3-year on-site service in Germany and Austria by default, which is standard in this segment. There is also a 3-year international warranty (bring-in). You can upgrade the service to five years with accidental protection. Please see our Guarantees, Return Policies and Warranties FAQ for country-specific information.

In addition to the traditional touchpad, you can also control the cursor via red TrackPoint. Both mouse replacements have three dedicated mouse buttons each. As a result, the touchpad surface itself is smaller compared to some devices, but still sufficient and we prefer the version with dedicated buttons. There is no criticism for the functionality and you do not really need an external mouse.

The ThinkPad P71 is Lenovo's most powerful mobile workstation, which is also reflected in the specification sheet. You can choose between four different mobile quad-core CPUs from Intel (2x Core i7, 2x Xeon), which can be combined with up to 64 GB of DDR4-RAM (optional ECC with the Xeons). The list of GPUs includes four dedicated chips from Nvidia, starting with the small M620M, which is still based on the old Maxwell architecture, all the way up to the new Pascal models (P3000, P4000 & P5000).

The steady performance in our Cinebench Multi loop without any signs of throttling is therefore no surprise. The Xeon chips are obviously a bit faster (see comparison chart below), but the ThinkPad P71 can also be configured with them.

Lenovo limits the performance on battery to 60W, but this is still very generous and does not affect the Cinebench score, for example.

Neither the PCMark 8 Work test nor the modern PCMark 10 worked on the test model, which is a bit strange. We suspect an issue with the drivers, because the results are not particularly good in the other two PCMark 8 sub tests (Home/Creative) considering the powerful components.

However, we did not experience any other limitations during our time with the unit and all other benchmarks/applications worked just fine. The subjective performance impression is also great.

You can equip the ThinkPad P71 with a total of four storage drives. In addition to both M.2 slots (with PCIe support) and the regular 2.5-inch tray, you can also install another HDD instead of the optical drive. Our test model is shipped with a fast NVMe-SSD from Samsung, which is also the case for most rivals (only Dell's Precision 7720 uses a Toshiba NVMe-SSD), so they are all very close in this section. More benchmarks for many other SSDs & HDDs are listed in our Tech section.

The Quadro P3000 can obviously not keep up with the gaming performance of the consumer GeForce GTX 1060 thanks to the lower clock, but is still ahead of the GTX 1050 Ti. This is sufficient for smooth gameplay in modern titles (high or even max. details), but only in 1080p. The native 4K UHD resolution is just too challenging. The modern Quadro drivers are usually no problem for games, only brand-new titles sometimes require more modern drivers (you can use the regular GeForce drivers in these cases). More gaming benchmarks are listed here.

The powerful and at yet quiet cooling solution is once again an advantage of the ThinkPad P71. The two fans are often deactivated in practice and hardly disturbing at 32 to 34 dB(A) during more challenging tasks. The noise can be described as a pleasant murmur without any annoying frequencies. The noise level of the cooling mainly depends on the CPU load. The maximum value is 39.1 dB(A), but we only recorded 34.7 dB(A) in the “Witcher 3”. This is pretty much on par with the old ThinkPad P71, which was equipped with the Quadro M3000M. The SKU with the more powerful Quadro M4000M on the other hand was noticeably louder (up to 45 dB(A)), so you can expect higher results for configurations with the more powerful Quadro P4000 or even P5000 as well.

There is unfortunately some occasional coil whine at about 30 dB(A), which slightly affects the good overall impression.

The two mediocre stereo speakers (2x 2W) have not changed. We determine a maximum volume of just ~70 dB(A) and there is no dedicated subwoofer, so you do not get much bass either. The modules are certainly sufficient for voice transmissions (like conferences), but that is about it. We noticed some weird cracking noises on the ThinkPad P70, but this was not the case here.

You should definitely use external speakers for music playback or movie sessions on the 4K panel. This works well via a stereo jack or Bluetooth.

Frequency Comparison (Checkboxes select/deselectable!)

SKUs with the Quadro P3000 are also shipped with the bulky 230-W power adapter, even though the smaller 170-W model would have been sufficient. A direct comparison with the predecessor shows two things: The minimum consumption is now much lower, and the system is more efficient under medium workloads (3DMark 06). Here we can notice the influence of the more efficient Pascal GPU, which consumes less power despite the higher performance. The maximum consumption of the ThinkPad P71 is actually a bit higher, but other factors such as the higher CPU consumption have to be considered as well. The test model also performs well within our comparison group, only the Fujitsu Celsius H970 has an advantage, thanks to the lower display resolution.