Lenovo's engineers said they couldn't make ThinkPad X1 lighter, so they went all in on repairability

Lenovo is one of the world's largest PC manufacturers, and the company's branding is all over the Consumer Electronics Show — so it's no surprise you can see a lot of Lenovo laptops there.

That includes the latest rendition of the iconic Lenovo ThinkPad X1 family of business laptops, including the best-selling ThinkPad X1 Carbon and its ultra-versatile sibling, the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1. At CES 2026, though, Lenovo revealed it took a different approach to updating these laptops this year.

Instead of trying to make the ThinkPad X1 Carbon lighter (something my Editor-in-Chief was told by Lenovo's engineers wouldn't be feasible without compromise), the company instead set out to make it one of the most durable and easily repairable business laptops on the market — all while making it more powerful and efficient.

Introducing: Space Frame, for ThinkPad X1

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 14) Aura Edition and ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 (Gen 11) Aura Edition — too ridiculously long names for what very well may be the best business-grade laptops of the year.

Both are powered by the latest silicon from Intel, rocking up to Intel Core Ultra X7 Series 3 chips paired with best-in-class memory and PCIe Gen5 storage. It's a big jump up in overall performance for both devices, especially with Intel's new 12-core Arc GPU.

Pair that with a wide assortment of ports (including three Thunderbolt 4 ports), a new 10MP wide-angle front-facing camera, optional NFC and 5G cellular, and a bevy of AI features between their Copilot+ PC status and Lenovo's Aura Edition features, and both of these devices are well equipped.

The X1 Carbon also gets a new, larger haptic touchpad, while the X1 2-in-1 benefits from a redesigned active pen that magnetically docks and charges. Ultimately, though, it's all about Space Frame.

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When I reviewed the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13), I expressed my disbelief that Lenovo somehow made its flagship enterprise laptop even thinner and lighter. It wasn't realistic to push that boundary even further this time, but the X1 Carbon doesn't really need it.

Instead, Lenovo re-engineered the internals with a new "Space Frame" design, which makes use of both sides of the motherboard. The improvements are two-fold: improved cooling and heat dissipation lead to significantly greater sustained performance, and repairs are now faster and easier thanks to simpler access to replaceable USB ports, battery, keyboard, speakers, fans, and more.

The latter improvement resulted in both ThinkPad X1 devices earning a 9/10 repairability score from iFixit; for comparison, the latest Apple MacBook Pro 14 only earned a 4/10.

Lenovo ThinkPads are already well-known for their reliability and durability, but the highest-end X1 family wasn't as competitive in terms of repairability. This new design handily resolves that problem, and it could make these laptops unbeatable for professionals in 2026.

What do you think of the new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 series? Could one of these be your next laptop? Let us know in the comments below!

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