In a quest for thinner and lighter designs and greater manufacturing efficiency, laptop makers shifted toward designs where components are soldered to the motherboard and batteries are glued in place. While this crusade resulted in more affordable and compact laptops, it came at the expense of being able to repair or upgrade your laptop yourself.
Want to add more memory? You're out of luck. Repair a busted cooling fan? Good luck getting to it. Replace the battery because it's not so slowly dying? Sorry, but your entire laptop is going down with it. However, with a pair of new ThinkPads, Lenovo is reversing this trend at CES 2026.
Welcome to the Space Frame age
The X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition and ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 11 Aura Edition introduce a new modular design Lenovo is calling Space Frame. These two models let you (or your office's friendly IT technician) replace the battery, keyboard, fans, speakers -- even the USB ports. All are replaceable and easily accessed because you can remove both the bottom panel and the keyboard to get to the motherboard. Sadly, the RAM is still soldered to the motherboard and therefore not user replaceable, so you'll need to add the amount you think you'll need up front at purchase.
The Space Frame design lets you remove both the bottom panel and keyboard to get to the internal components for repairs and upgrades.
Josh Goldman/CNETThe modular design means you can replace an individual component when it breaks instead of needing to go out and buy a new laptop, which is good news if you care about return on investment and sustainability. In an additional nod toward sustainability, the chassis is made from up to 75% recycled aluminum and 90% recycled magnesium. Also, the packaging is plastic-free.
Read more: The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition has been selected as the winner in the Best Laptop category for the Official Best of CES 2026 Awards.
The motherboard is two-sided, making it about two-thirds the size of the previous version's, allowing the X1 Carbon design to stay thin and light while also aiding airflow and sustained performance. The smaller motherboard also makes room for a huge, haptic touchpad.
The latest X1 Carbon maintains the line's thin-and-light design and familiar ThinkPad looks.
Josh Goldman/CNETInside, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition and ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 11 Aura Edition feature Core Ultra X7 Series 3 processors from Intel's new Panther Lake series with integrated Intel Arc B390 graphics along with up to 64GB of (soldered) LPDDR5x RAM and a 2TB SSD. Each features a 2.8K OLED display and 10-megapixel webcam. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon weighs 2.2 pounds, and the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 weighs 2.6 pounds.
It'll be a couple months before we arrive at the Space Frame age. Both models won't be available until March. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition will start at $1,999, and the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 11 Aura Edition will start at $2,149.