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Lenovo, the world’s top-selling PC maker, has introduced a new entry-level ThinkStation designed for professionals working on computer-aided design, product development and architecture.
The ThinkStation E32, with prices starting at $729, will be available with Intel Xeon E3 and fourth-generation Intel Core i7 and Core i5 processors—appropriate power for intense software demands.
“The ThinkStation E32 is built for the design and engineering community, and it’s an ideal workstation for running AutoCAD LT,” Sheila Parker Tolle, senior director of e-commerce and small business marketing at Lenovo said in an Aug. 21 statement.
To prove it, the machines will ship with a free, 60-day trial of AutoCAD LT installed.
Also on board, for the long haul, is Microsoft’s Windows 8 Pro and Error Correcting Code (ECC) memory, which Lenovo says drastically reduces the “possibility of memory-related errors and critical data loss.”
The E32 is certified to run applications, including Adobe, PTC, SolidWorks and Siemens PLM, and has 1,600MHz of DDR3 (double data rate type three) dual in-line memory modules that are said to provide app responsiveness and dependability.
Rob Herman, director of product and vertical marketing at Lenovo, calls it a “design workhorse” on a “PC-sized budget.”
The ThinkStation E32 offers professional graphics capabilities, with the option of Nvidia’s Quadro graphics cards, as well as Intel P4600 HD graphics. It can support up to 32GB of memory and includes six USB 3.0 ports.
Arriving Sept. 6, it will be available as a tower or small form factor (SFF).
Global PC Market
Lenovo this year firmly overtook Hewlett-Packard to become the world’s leading PC maker. (Gartner gave Lenovo the crown during the third quarter of 2012, but if it was ahead, it was ahead by the slimmest margin; IDC’s figures had HP still in the lead by a handful of sales).
In an overall market that’s declined quarter-after-quarter, Lenovo has continued to post growth. However, during the second quarter of 2013, even Lenovo’s discipline and determination couldn’t fully protect it from market pressure. The company fell by 0.6 percent but maintained its lead on HP.
Gartner blamed the dip on the Asia-Pacific region, saying that Lenovo had managed “strong growth” in the Americas, and the region of the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
Lenovo posted its most recent earnings Aug. 15, offering more evidence, to anyone requiring it, that the post-PC world is upon us: The world’s largest PC maker now sells more smartphones and tablets than PCs.
It posted $8.8 billion revenue, $170 million in profit, and announced that during the quarter it became “the third-largest supplier of smart-connected devices (including PC, smartphone and tablet products), growing shipments 41 percent year-over-year.”
Its combined smartphone and tablet shipments surpassed PCs for the first time, it added, “demonstrating the momentum of these two businesses.”