Laptops With 128GB of RAM Are Here (theverge.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Brace yourself for laptops with 128GB of RAM because they're coming. Today, Lenovo announced its ThinkPad P52, which, along with that massive amount of memory, also features up to 6TB of storage, up to a 4K, 15.6-inch display, an eighth-gen Intel hexacore processor, and an Nvidia Quadro P3200 graphics card. The ThinkPad also includes two Thunderbolt three ports, HDMI 2.0, a mini DisplayPort, three USB Type-A ports, a headphone jack, and an Ethernet port. The company hasn't announced pricing yet, but it's likely going to try to compete with Dell's new 128GB-compatible workstation laptops. The Dell workstation laptops in question are the Precision 7730 and 7530, which are billed as "ready for VR" mobile workstations. According to TechRadar, "These again run with either 8th-gen Intel CPUs or Xeon processors, AMD Radeon WX or Nvidia Quadro graphics, and the potential to specify a whopping 128GB of 3200MHz system memory."

Comments

For what use?

[DogDude]

I don't have any use for something like this, either personally, or in my work. What's the point of something like this? What kind of software needs this kind of juice?

Re:For what use?

[tk77]

Think of these kinda of machines less like laptops and more like portable workstations. Its easier to transport one of these around then it is having to transport everything needed to run a similar desktop. More "on-location" work can be done rather then having to wait to get back to a studio, for example. The battery in heavy use cases can be thought of as giving the ability to move the machine from outlet to outlet without having to shut down/power off.

Re:For what use?

[dryriver]

Precisely this. In fact, in my segment we'd actually buy 8, 10 or 12 Core laptops or even more if we could actually get them. The battery is indeed used mostly to move the laptop about without having to switch it off. Kind of like an Uninterruptable Power Supply for those 20 - 30 minutes where you might not have power coming out of a wall socket, or where you are moving location.

Re:For what use?

[dryriver]

The biggest CAD/3D models these days are for 3D buildings - like a new factory, airport or shopping center. Those CAD files can very easily become bigger than 64GB and not fit in RAM anymore. If you need to go to the construction site with a 98GB CAD model that can be inspected, how do you do that without a laptop that has 128GB RAM? Do you take a 35,000 USD dual Xeon CAD workstation with 3 GPUs that weighs 40 to 50 lbs and carry it to the construction site in a van? That's what these new laptops are for. Opening huge 3D CAD files away from the office desk - and very likely at a construction site.

Re:For what use?

[Hadlock]

Most developers I know have a single laptop as their primary workstation. We were complaining about the 16GB limit on macbook "pro" laptops in 2015 as the on-premise software appliance we were developing at the time used about 10GB memory, which quickly ballooned to 17GB by mid-2016.
 
The product we were using was also designed to scan other machines, which meant that you would likely have between .2 and 8 VMs running on your local machine to dev/test the entire product.
 
So yes this is absolutely supposed to replace your personal workstation. I do about half my work from home these days, the 2-3 days a week I am in the office I still probably do 4 hours of work at home. Splitting your work between two machines is a real bear. Here we are three years later and the best "professional" macbook offering still only offers 16GB memory, where Lenovo and Dell have been offering 32GB memory in laptops for two+ years now. Will I need 128 GB? No probably not tomorrow but 64GB would be a reasonable ask for someone in my line of work. There's something like half a million software developers in the Bay area, I'm sure more than 5% of them are running in to memory problems at least monthly.

Re:Laptops with 128 GB of RAM...

[kaka.mala.vachva]

Call it a portable workstation, if you like that. I need my "laptops" to move around with me - so I have a properly specced computer with me wherever I work. I don't necessarily need a lot of battery life. Just because you CAN'T see a usecase, doesn't mean there ISN"T one.

Re:Laptops with 128 GB of RAM...

[TheFakeTimCook]

Call it a portable workstation, if you like that. I need my "laptops" to move around with me - so I have a properly specced computer with me wherever I work. I don't necessarily need a lot of battery life. Just because you CAN'T see a usecase, doesn't mean there ISN"T one.

The problem is that something that needs that much horsepower almost always needs multiple displays. and those just don't "port" as easily as a laptop; so again, if you have to lug around your environment to be efficient, then why not at least port around a high-end All-In-One, like an iMac Pro. it is available with up to 128 GB RAM, 18-Core Xeons, multiple TB3 ports, built-in 5k display that is large enough to actually SEE things on, etc...

Re:Apple, have courage

[Graymalkin]

Dear Intel,

Release a mobile chipset that supports LPDDR4 so vendors can support more than 16GB of RAM without using a memory controller using 2-3x the power of the low power chips. Lots of RAM in laptops would be great but not at the cost of battery life.