What do we look for in a budget workstation? Should it beam with rich features or should it be a kind of value for money device? I bet you do look for both. Admittedly, It’s a hard decision to make and eventually, we do lean onto a final optimized decision. Yes. Optimization. That’s how we all address these kinds of buying decisions. It’s a necessary evil.
Ok. When it comes to buying the best workstation which will not make a heavy dent in your pocket, Lenovo ThinkPad P52s is one of the cults you should toy with. The device got all the features for being a stolid workstation. Moreover, Lenovo is a coveted name in this niche and it already has mothered an array of smart devices which can brave our demands being the ultimate workstation.
Workstation laptops are generally used for running software of CAD-related work. If you are a budding architect struggling to find the best laptops, below are some posts which might come handy in case you want to use software like AutoCAD, SolidWorks or Revit.
Best Laptops for AutoCAD (for architects who work on AutoCAD)
Best Laptops for SolidWorks (for people who work on Solidworks)
Best Laptops for Revit (for architects who work on Revit)
Laptops for Professional Architecture Students (for pro architects)
So, let’s dig a bit deeper into the features of Lenovo ThinkPad P52s.
Lenovo ThinkPad P52s Review [A Budget Workstation]
The Design
Design is the first and foremost important area of any device. It should be robust but not as heavy as old workstations. Moreover, the appearance of the device should turn heads towards it.
Thankfully, when it comes to Lenovo Thinkpad P52s, its design itself is one of its best features. Brutally robust and painfully elegant. It‘s mere 0.78 inches thick with a length of 14.4 inches and a breadth of 9.95 inches. Yes, It gobbles up very less volume of your work table. Supporting its small dimensions, Lenovo ThinkPad P52s weighs just 4.3 pounds. It’s built to travel with you.
The appearance of its clean and brushed metal looks completes its mass appeal of falling into ‘a-must-have-device’ list. But, both of its display and bottom covers are made of reusable glass-fiber reinforced plastic which is light, durable and bendable. Moreover, it also supports the clean and green mission of leading E-manufacturers. Lastly, the zed black color of the device makes it a rich-eye candy for us.
The Display
The Lenovo ThinkPad P52s comes with an anti-glare, full HD display with a staggering screen size of 15.6 inches. It has a screen resolution of 1920*1080 being a true FHD display. The excitement doesn’t end here. The best part is the technology Lenovo employed for its vibrant display, namely, IPS or plane-to-line-switching technology. So, what it does?
It does many things. Firstly, it carries better color accuracy and consistency. Secondly, it creates a better viewing angle, typically, 178 degrees, both vertically and horizontally. Added to this, this IPS technology supports a true and professional color space technology, with advanced response time, that we generally find in professional image and video editing software like Adobe RGB and alikes.
So, if you are a video editor or image illustrator or a pro photo blogger, IPS technology is there for you to execute your professional duties in a better way. Lastly, the display of Lenovo ThinkPad P52s also carries an array of strong display features like LED backlight support and a 700:1 contrast ratio.
This awesome device also comes with an in-build HD720p fixed-focus webcam which offers a better privacy layer with ThinkShutter Camera Privacy technology.
The Hardware Performance
The hardware configuration defines the performance of every device that we know. The richer the hardware configuration of a device, the better is its brain. Thus, an enhanced level of performance.
Likewise, Lenovo ThinkPad P52s comes with 1TB SSD(solid-state drive) hard drive and a powerful 8th generation Kaby Lake Intel Core i7-8550U Quad-Core processor which encases a processing speed of 1.8GHz with 8MB cache memory storage. This 64-bit processor having an x86 mobile microprocessor which is based on an enhanced version of Kaby Lake microarchitecture. Moreover, this processor always stays cool as it has a TDP(Thermal design point which points to the maximum heat generation of a processor during the heavy processing time) of 15Watts with a turbo-boost technology which can accelerate its processing frequency from 1.8GHz to a whopping 4GHz when needed.
Yes. With this special processor and a 32GB DDR4 physical memory(RAM), Lenovo ThinkPad P52s is fleet-footed. When overall performance is concerned, It always believes in a single approach -Jet.Set.Go.
Moreover, this device also houses an NVIDIA Quadro P500 Graphics card with a 2GB DDR5 VRAM support. This card can brave all of your heavy graphics needs. So, being a workstation it always performs with surgical dexterity.
The Connectivity
Nowadays we live in the world of IoT where we wear, eat and live technology. Thus, connectivity is the single most important feature for any device to live in this era of the connected world. Lenovo ThinkPad P52s is here for the long run with its wide assemblage of various ports. It comes with 1 Thunderbolt 3 port(next level of USB-C ports with 40GBPS throughput), 1 USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C port, 2 USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A port, 1 docking connector, 1 HDMI 1.4 port, 1 3.5mm port for audio i/p & o/p and 1 media card port(SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC).
For the wireless connectivity, it carries an Intel Dual-band Wireless-AC 8265 series card which enables you to use WiFi 2*2 802.11 ac and Bluetooth 4.1 connections.
Keyboard & Trackpad
This device encases a 6-row, spill-resistant keyboard with multimedia Fn keys, numeric keypad, and an optional LED backlight support. The touchpad is a buttonless Mylar surface kind which can respond instantly with multi-touch ability. These aesthetic designs add a bit more value to the appearance of the device.
Audio
A workstation is not built to work all the time. At times it plays the role of a fun box. Likewise, a workstation without good multimedia features is like a dead brick. Thus, Lenovo ThinkPad P52s holds the power to rock your ears with HD Audio. It runs on Realtek ALC3287 codec with a lossless content protection technology. The built-in stereo speakers go vibratious with Dolby Audio.
Battery life
Lenovo ThinkPad P52s comes with a detachable, 4 celled, upgradable, 32W-hour battery. Although, the performance and the life of a battery greatly depend on the usage, still, this device drinks less juice and runs a bit longer(around 7 hours) in comparison with its competitors. The battery takes around 2 hours to get fully charged through a 65w ac power cable.
Conclusion – The moment of truth
So, at last, it’s the time to find out whether this device can be included on the list of -value for money’. Personally, both yes and no. With it’s preloaded Windows 10 professional OS, awesome keyboard and trackpad, long-lasting battery life and exciting speakers, this device is good. But, with its moderate graphics rendering performance, occasionally overheating of the processor and an okayish webcam, it’s not that confident. Admittedly, it’s not that great but it will not be going to fail you too. Technically, it works best with office goers, students, and teachers but it’s not for the people working in the graphic designing/developing sectors.
Do you have another view on this? Feel free to bug us anytime.
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