At SIGGRAPH, Lenovo announced the new ThinkPad P Series mobile workstations, including a 17-inch model that can be configured with up to 64 GB of DDR4 ECC RAM, 1 TB of SSD storage, Thunderbolt 3 connectivity, and a 4K UHD display.

The 17-inch ThinkPad P70 is no lightweight—it starts at 7.6 lbs, compared to 5.6 lbs. for the similarly spec'd 15-inch P50. Aside from screen size, the main difference between the two machines is that the P50 supports up to three storage devices while the P70 supports up to four, including a DVD-RW bay that can also be used with an extra 1 TB HDD or 512 GB SSD. The P70 has two Thunderbolt 3 ports compared to the P50's single port, and the P70 is about 0.2 inches thicker, as well.

Both computers use Intel Xeon E3-1500M v5 processors, Nvidia Quadro mobile GPUs, X-Rite Pantone color-calibration, and a new dual-fan cooling system designed to keep the system running faster for longer periods of time, Lenovo said.

"We've built features into these machines that were previously unachievable in a notebook, making them the most versatile and highest-performing mobile workstations ever," said Lenovo's VP and GM for workstations, Victor Rios.

Both systems are expected to begin shiping in the fourth quarter, Lenovo said, with the P50 starting at $1599 and the P70 at $1999. More specs are available at www.thinkworkstations.com.