In a quest for thinner and lighter designs and larger manufacturing effectivity, laptop computer makers shifted towards designs the place parts are soldered to the motherboard and batteries are glued in place. Whereas this campaign resulted in additional inexpensive and compact laptops, it got here on the expense of having the ability to restore or improve your laptop computer your self.
Wish to add extra reminiscence? You are out of luck. Restore a busted cooling fan? Good luck attending to it. Exchange the battery as a result of it is not so slowly dying? Sorry, however your complete laptop computer goes down with it. Nonetheless, with a pair of latest ThinkPads, Lenovo is reversing this pattern at CES 2026.
Welcome to the House Body age
The X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Version and ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 11 Aura Version introduce a brand new modular design Lenovo is asking House Body. These two fashions allow you to (or your workplace’s pleasant IT technician) substitute the battery, keyboard, followers, audio system — even the USB ports. All are replaceable and simply accessed as a result of you’ll be able to take away each the underside panel and the keyboard to get to the motherboard. Sadly, the RAM continues to be soldered to the motherboard and due to this fact not person replaceable, so you will want so as to add the quantity you assume you will want up entrance at buy.
The House Body design permits you to take away each the underside panel and keyboard to get to the inner parts for repairs and upgrades.
The modular design means you’ll be able to substitute a person part when it breaks as a substitute of needing to exit and purchase a brand new laptop computer, which is nice information in case you care about return on funding and sustainability. In an extra nod towards sustainability, the chassis is created from as much as 75% recycled aluminum and 90% recycled magnesium. Additionally, the packaging is plastic-free,
The motherboard is two-sided, making it about two-thirds the scale of the earlier model’s, permitting the X1 Carbon design to remain skinny and light-weight whereas additionally aiding airflow and sustained efficiency. The smaller motherboard additionally makes room for an enormous, haptic touchpad.
The most recent X1 Carbon maintains the road’s thin-and-light design and acquainted ThinkPad appears.
Inside, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Version and ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 11 Aura Version characteristic Core Extremely X7 Collection 3 processors from Intel’s new Panther Lake series with built-in Intel Arc B390 graphics together with as much as 64GB of (soldered) LPDDR5x RAM and a 2TB SSD. Every contains a 2.8K OLED show and 10-megapixel webcam. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon weighs 2.2 kilos, and the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 weighs 2.6 kilos.
It will be a pair months earlier than we arrive on the House Body age. Each fashions will not be accessible till March. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Version will begin at $1,999, and the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 11 Aura Version will begin at $2,149.
