Lenovo boosts performance with desktop and workstation ranges

Lenovo has refreshed its desktop and workstation ranges designed to offer greater reliability and improved performance.

The ThinkStation E30 workstation is designed to handle intensive applications and is suited for use by creative, engineering and financial professionals, Lenovo said.

Users will be able to choose between different second-generation Intel Core processors with Turbo Boost+ technology. The workstation also incorporates the SATA III interface and USB 3.0 ports, allowing data to be transferred 10 times faster than devices using SATA II and USB 2.0 technology, the firm noted.

Customers are offered 80GB or 160GB of SSD-based storage, and the workstation caters to those working with 3D content as it comes with Nvidia Quadro or Quadro NVS graphics cards. A Blu-ray player is an optional extra.

The ThinkStation E30 also has certifications from vendors including AutoCad, SolidEdge, Adobe and SolidWorks, and built-in support for Red Hat Linux.

"Workstation users need the kind of performance that lets them do more each minute," said Tao Gu, executive director and general manager of the workstation business unit at Lenovo.

"The ThinkStation E30 builds on our strong workstation platform, combining new rapid processing for data-crunching with more vivid and intense graphics capabilities."

Meanwhile, the ThinkCentre M81 desktop is aimed at employees in large organisations and will be available in tower and small form factors.

The desktop will be available with Windows 7 Professional and will be powered by either Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors. There will be support for up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM and the desktop will have support the SATA III interface and include 10 USB 3.0 ports.

A 160GB of SSD storage is offered as is the choice between Intel HD graphics or ATI discrete Radeon HD5450 graphics cards.

Both machines will ship with security features including port disablement and hardware password manager to encrypt hard drives.

Lenovo has also optimised the devices for faster boot and shut down times. The ThinkStation E30 workstation boasts a 57 per cent faster boot time and 38 per cent faster shut down time over previous models, and the ThinkCentre M81 desktop has a 30 per cent faster start-up time, the firm said.

The ThinkCentre M81 desktop will be available at the beginning of May with prices starting at £535. The ThinkStation E30 workstation is due to start shipping at the end of May and will start at £559 excluding VAT. Users will be able to purchase the device through business partners and www.lenovo.com.

Lenovo has also begun shipping its 10.1in LePad tablet in China. The tablet runs on Android 2.2 and is powered by a 1.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. It is available in 16GB and 32GB versions with Wi-Fi or 3G and prices start at $533.