Lenovo Keeps Desktop PC Relevancy with Latest Think Lines

Lenovo is out to prove the PC is not dead through a barrage of new offerings for the business space. Its latest lineup includes the ThinkStation E30 and ThinkCentre M81, designed for business professionals who need fast performance without compromise. These new computers come outfitted with the second generation of Intel Core CPUs (i3, i5, i7), so read on and find out what they can offer Lenovo partners …

Lenovo is billing these new machines as speed demons, with rapid boot-up and shut-down. Both the ThinkStation E30 and ThinkCentre M81 are a good fit in the creative, engineering and financial verticals, which rely on software that does heavy lifting.

The E30 workstation (pictured above) is a follow-up to Lenovo’s E20 workstation and will offer either the new Core i-CPUs or a Xeon processor, depending on user preference. Both the E30 and the M81 use Intel Turbo Boost technology for on-the-fly overlocking when needed, and Lenovo boasts that only Lenovo machines maintain Turbo Boost longer than any other PC, due in part to Lenovo-specific “thermal engineering enhancements.”

Those interesting points aside, SSD options are available for the E30 along with NVIDIA Quadro or NVS graphics cards, USB 3.0 and SATA III drives for faster data transfer speeds. Pack the E30 with up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM and memory issues are “virtually eliminated,” according to Lenovo. Likewise, the M81 (pictured right) also comes SSD options, as well as Intel or ATI discrete graphics. SATA III comes standard, along with USB 3.0, and the unit is available in both tower and small-form factors.

Both machines come with the Windows 7 Enhanced Experience unique to Lenovo machines, and promise a 20-second faster boot-up than typical Windows 7 computers, thanks in part to Lenovo’s RapidBoot technology. The machines have been pre-certified for big software from companies including AutoCad, Adobe and more, as well as native Linux Red Hat support.

Lastly, Lenovo has focused on energy efficiency by outfitting the machines with new power management utilities and 80 Plus Gold certified Energy Star-rated power supplies.

MSRP is set for $629 on the E30 and $599 for the M81. Both are available to the channel for resale, and are slated for a late April/May 2011 availability.

As more and more companies move paper-pushing e-mail duties to cloud-based systems, the physical computer becomes less important for the majority of workers in an SMB or enterprise. But for the heavy lifting needed in certain verticals, beefy desktop machines will always have a home. The trick to maintaining relevancy in a world that shifts to mobile and virtualized cloud computing is maintaining a good price-per-value ratio for the good old-fashioned ‘trucks’ of the computer world, and Lenovo seems to have that down pat.

Check out the release as it becomes available for a few more features and details.

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