Lenovo Releases Two New Enterprise-Oriented Desktop Systems

Lenovo refers to its higher-end ThinkStation E30 PC as a “workstation,” while its lower-end ThinkCentre M81 PC is termed a “desktop.” In addition to a $30 difference in starting price, Lenovo’s ThinkStation offers additional enterprise software applications and better processing performance.

“Workstation users need the kind of performance that lets them do more each minute. The ThinkStation E30 workstation builds on our strong workstation platform, combining new rapid processing for data-crunching with more vivid and intense graphics capabilities,” said Tao Gu, executive director and general manager of Lenovo’s Workstation Business Unit, in a statement. “We created the ThinkStation E30 workstation to offer extremely powerful processing on a software-certified solution at desktop prices.”

The follow-up to Lenovo’s ThinkStation E20 workstation PC, Lenovo said its ThinkStation E30 workstation runs on Windows 7 OS and second-generation Intel Core processors, as well as an optional Intel Xeon processor that brings the overall processor core-count to four. Like the ThinkCentre M81 it offers Turbo Boost overclocking capability for performance-intensive workloads.

Lenovo’s ThinkStation E30 comes with an SSD offering either 80 or 160 GB of storage space, as well as up to 16 GB of 1333 MHz Error Correcting Code memory. Lenovo’s new workstation also offers a choice of enterprise-oriented discrete GPUs from Nvidia -- either Nvidia Quadro or Nvidia NVS. The ThinkStation E30 also includes support for SATA III and USB 3.0 technology, both of which improve the system’s speed of data transfer.

Lenovo’s ThinkCentre M81 desktop also comes with second-generation Intel Core chips as well as an SSD with up to 160 GB, SATA III and USB 3.0 but its discrete graphics card option comes from AMD’s Radeon family. The addition of the discrete GPU, however, allows users to simultaneously display content on up to four different monitors, according to Lenovo.

In addition, as with its recently refreshed Lenovo ThinkPad line , Lenovo has added its Turbo Boost Plus to its workstations, allowing users to dial-up performance in order to take advantage of thermal headroom in the system. Lenovo previously told CRN it developed the technology alongside Intel, which allowed Lenovo's engineers some interaction with the software in order to allow its users to better leverage it when needed for intensive applications. Lenovo said it alone among manufacturers has the ability to stay in TurboBoost as long as it does, due to specific proprietary thermal engineering designs.

Lenovo said its Enhanced Experience 2.0 features boot-ups that are 20 percent faster on average than that of a typical Windows 7 computer as a result of another proprietary feature, Lenovo’s RapidBoot technology, which the company said speeds up the ThinkStation E30’s boot time by 57 percent and its shut down time by 38 percent compared to previous Lenovo ThinkStation PCs. It also speeds up the ThinkCentre M81 desktop’s boot time by 30 percent.

Lenovo said both of its new workstations also help users seeking to lower their energy costs. The ThinkCentre M81 desktop, which features Energy Star 5.0 models and a new Power Manager utility for managing energy settings, saves 56 percent more energy compared to previous ThinkCentre PCs, Lenovo said.

Lenovo’s ThinkStation E30 workstation starts at $629, while its ThinkCentre M81 desktop starts at $599.