For those who personal a desktop laptop, you are used to swapping components and peripherals round, however most laptops are closed bins with few methods to switch them. Lenovo’s new ThinkBook Modular AI PC idea exhibits what occurs when you may take away a display, a keyboard, and even blocks of ports from a cellular PC.
The pc maker is displaying off the idea at Cellular World Congress in Barcelona. We had an opportunity to see the ThinkBook idea at a Lenovo press occasion in early February and got here away impressed with the corporate’s bold try to enhance productiveness by letting you progress some parts round. The system comes normal with a 14-inch, 4K 120 Hz OLED contact panel you may’t pull off, however there is a secondary show you may connect to the again of the lid through a magnetic connection, or use as a standalone second monitor by connecting with a wire, or snap onto the deck, supplying you with a dual-screen laptop computer just like the Yoga Ebook 9i.
Lenovo ThinkBook Modular AI PC Idea – Click on to enlarge
The laptop computer has two of Lenovo’s Magic Bay magnetic 11 pogo pin connectors, one on the again of the lid and one beneath the keyboard. These connectors, which have appeared on transport ThinkBooks such because the ThinkBook 16p Gen 4 earlier than, mean you can join a light-weight, a webcam, or a 4G modem. Now, they’re getting used to attach the second display and the keyboard.
Lenovo’s display attaches to the Magic Bay – Click on to enlarge
The keyboard itself pops off, so you should utilize that house for attaching the second panel. Even when the keyboard is just not bodily linked to the ThinkBook, you may nonetheless use it through Bluetooth, permitting you to have each a dual-screen laptop computer and a keyboard on the identical time.
Beneath the keyboard perch two detachable port blocks you should utilize to swap out ports. On the precise facet, you may take away the HDMI port and, on the left, there is a pop-off USB-C port. Although the corporate didn’t present this throughout its demo, we assume that Lenovo would provide alternate port blocks you possibly can pop on of their place if this laptop computer ever got here to market.
The ThinkBook Modular additionally has detachable ports. – Click on to enlarge
If you wish to use the second display like an exterior monitor, there is a magnetic stand that snaps onto the again of it and means that you can swap between portrait and panorama modes. When not in use, this stand serves as a foot for the laptop computer, snapping onto the underside floor.
The ThinkBook’s monitor stand attaches to the underside like a foot – Click on to enlarge
On the within, the ThinkBook Modular AI PC idea could be very very like different 14-inch enterprise laptops. It sports activities an Intel Core Extremely 7 255H “Arrow Lake” processor, which isn’t the very newest era of Intel processor (that will be “Panther Lake”). However since it is a idea PC, we will assume that if it have been to come back out, it might in all probability have no matter CPU is present as of that point.
It has a beneficiant 32 GB of RAM, a 1 TB PCIe SSD, an 8 MP digicam and a 33 Wh battery. The laptop computer measures an inexpensive 12.3 x 9.2 inches, however with a chunky 0.94 inch thickness. It weighs a really mild 2.5 kilos with only one show, however that quantity jumps as much as a still-reasonable 3.1 kilos with the second display hooked up. Like different ThinkBooks, it is a boring and corporate-friendly shade of grey – on this case, Luna Grey.
Since it is a idea laptop computer, we don’t know what such a tool would price, though it will not be low-cost – particularly if this 12 months’s reminiscence crunch still continues. By means of comparability, final 12 months’s ThinkBook with rolling display was $3,500. However even when this precise configuration by no means sees the sunshine of day, we would not be shocked to see Lenovo use this modularity thought in a future ThinkBook.
New ThinkPads are available blue, are extra fixable than ever
Lenovo’s mainstream T-series ThinkPads are getting a serious refresh for 2026 as new fashions of the T14 (Gen 7), T14s (Gen 7), and T16 (Gen 5) are all due out this spring. For the primary time, the 14-inch fashions might be out there in Cosmic Blue, a brand new darkish blue colorway that has by no means been used on ThinkPads earlier than. You may nonetheless be capable to get basic black, after all.
I bought an opportunity to see some Cosmic Blue ThinkPads in particular person and I discovered the shade to be very darkish and refined. Solely in very direct lighting might I even inform that they have been blue, not black.
Lenovo ThinkPad T14 in Cosmic Blue – Click on to enlarge
On the within, the ThinkPads might be powered by your alternative of CPU platform. The ThinkPad T14s might be out there with essentially the most choices: an Intel Core Extremely Collection 3 chip, AMD Ryzen AI PRO 400 inside, or Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 SoC that makes use of Home windows on Arm. The ThinkPad T14 and T16 will are available both Intel (Extremely Collection 3) or AMD Ryzen AI.
As at all times, the ThinkPad T14s (the “s” is for slender) is the sleekest of the bunch, tipping the scales at 2.45 to 2.66 kilos whereas being solely 0.7 inches thick. The ThinkPad T14, which additionally has a 14-inch show, is a number of tenths of a pound heavier and about 0.1 inch thicker. The 16-inch ThinkPad T16 is clearly the heaviest of the bunch at 3.62 kilos and it is virtually an inch thick.
Lenovo ThinkPad T14s – Click on to enlarge
The 2 thicker ThinkPads are simpler to restore than ever, incomes iFixit repairability scores of 10 out of 10. As I watched, Lenovo reps confirmed me how simple it’s to take away the again plate, the battery, the SSD, the keyboard, and even the USB-C ports for alternative. This can be a large step up from prior fashions, the place you needed to take away giant parts to get to a few of these components.
ThinkPad T14 Gen 7 is straightforward to restore – Click on to enlarge
The Intel-powered fashions of the T14 and T16 use LPCAMM2 RAM, which is screwed onto the motherboard and could be simply changed. So, in case you purchase considered one of these laptops with solely 16 GB of RAM and also you later wish to improve to 32 or 64 GB, that might be potential, although with the worth of reminiscence today, it might not be fascinating.
All three laptops might be out there in Q2, with the ThinkPad T14s beginning at $1,899, whereas the T14 and T16 each begin at $1,799.
New removable challenges the Floor in enterprise environments
For those who’re on the lookout for a laptop computer the place the display comes off of the keyboard, Lenovo has a brand new possibility within the ThinkPad X13 removable. This 13-inch system appears to be like and feels just like the ThinkPad model of the Microsoft Floor Professional with a keyboard that magnetically attaches to the show.
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Removable – Click on to enlarge
Nevertheless, the keyboard guarantees to be higher than what you’d discover on a Floor pill as a result of it makes use of Lenovo’s well-known ThinkPad keyboard tech, which has a singular mixture of tactile suggestions, smile-shaped keys, and beneficiant journey. In truth, the corporate boasts that the X13 Removable’s keys have a full 1.5 mm of journey, the identical quantity as a ThinkPad X1 Carbon.
Along with the keyboard, there is a Lenovo Slim Pen that prices within the keyboard.
On the within, it is a full-powered PC, full with an Intel Core Extremely Collection 3 (Panther Lake) processor, as much as 64 GB of LPDDR5x RAM, and as much as 2 TB of SSD storage. Its 13-inch show operates at a 2880 x 1920 decision and guarantees to breed as much as one hundred pc of the sRGB colour gamut.
The ThinkPad X13 removable might be out there in Q3 for a beginning worth of $1,999.
Lenovo AI Workmate Idea is prepared that will help you mission
Lenovo additionally confirmed off a robotic that jogs my memory plenty of the leaping Pixar lamp. This darkish grey automaton sits on high of a desk the place it could possibly rotate and bend its display (aka face) to work together with you or aid you.
Lenovo Workmate AI robotic idea – Click on to enlarge
The AI-powered robotic does native AI processing, the place it could possibly aid you with displays, note-taking, and assembly summarization. It additionally has a projector on it, so it could possibly output your slides to everybody within the room.
This machine was not working throughout our demo, so we did not get to see all the things that it could possibly do. It too is only a idea and, based mostly on our expertise, it isn’t as more likely to see the sunshine of day because the ThinkBook Modular. ®
Source link
