Workstations at Siggraph
August 2015 – At SIGGRAPH 2015, the focus on mobile devices and computers were workstation class machines that are the core of the content creation industry. Unlike consumer applications where data can all be sent up to the cloud for processing and restarting a task due to a crash or bad data is just annoying, the M&E creation space is not tolerant of these options. The workstation class products all feature ECC RAM to insure that the data integrity is high, and that there is not lost data or bad data in the course of editing and creating the media content. This has long been the foothold of the desktop platform for supporting multiple and redundant disk drives, non-CPU integrated graphics cards and multiple high resolution display connections.
HP 15\
HP, Lenovo and Dell were all showing their new models at the show to the content creation community. HP was featuring the Z series workstations that were rolled out in Q4 of 2014. Dominating the show floor with the HP platform were the Z1 all in one workstation and the Z840 & Z860 tower units. These featured Xeon processors, including multi-CPU designs. The units all support both Nvidia Quadro class and AMD Firepro class GPU cards, PCIe storage and 10GbE connections.
Dell and Lenovo had a shift in their rollout at the show this year – in addition to the desktop & tower units, they were showing higher performance mobile workstations that are targeted for on-site and on-location media processing.
Dell Precision M3800 Mobile 4K workstation
Dell was represented by their Precision workstation line. Their featured mobile workstation is the Dell Precision M3800 which retails for $1,649.00 in it is starting configuration at Dell. The unit does not use a Xeon class processor, opting instead for a Intel Core i7 processor and an ISV-certified Nvidia Quadro K1100M GPU. The system has a 1GbE interface as well as wireless, but is designed for media processing with an integrated high-resolution 4K screen and a Thunderbolt 2 port for storage. The unit will support an additional hig resolution display for a full dual screen editing environment.
Lenovo Thinkpad P50 4K Workstation
Lenovo introduced the new Thinkpad P series at the show. The two models were the 15” P50 and the 17” P70 workstations. Both of these units featured the recently launched workstation-class mobile Xeon CPU that shares the Skylake platform by Intel the Xeon E3-1500M v5 CPU. These new CPUs allow the use of next generation memory bringing up to 64GB ECC DDR4 RAM into the mobile platform, in addition to the use of discrete NVIDIA Quadro graphics. The mobile platforms have been designed with the ability to handle up to four storage devices (typically a a 2TB mechanical drive) and up to a terabyte of PCIe SSD storage, utilizing the latest PCIe technology for speeds up to five times faster than current SATA technology. Additionally, the 17” ThinkPad P70 also has two Intel® Thunderbolt 3 ports for ultra-fast connectivity.
A major component for the media and content creation industry is the integration options of a 4K UHD display or optional FHD touch. To support the in-field use of the displays, the ThinkPad P Series includes an automated one-button interface to the X-Rite Pantone color calibration system, keeping colors accurate throughout the life of the product and allowing the display to be “standardized” despite travel and other issues that induce color shift in displays. A historic challenge for these mobile platforms, is the high dutycycle use of the systems out in the field, due to power and air flow issues. To address this, they have modified solutions used in the tower & desktop technologies and now the ThinkPad P50 and P70 feature a brand new FLEX Performance Cooling system. It is a dual-fan design allows for cooler, quieter and faster performance, as well as longer session operation.
