How do you improve upon a five-star laptop design? Lenovo decided to look inward with its 14th-generation ThinkPad X1 Carbon laptop. For 2026, Lenovo has made its flagship clamshell and 2-in-1 ThinkPad X1 machines more repairable and upgradable than ever, an impressive feat that made this device the winner of our Best Laptop category at CES.
It all comes down to Lenovo’s new “Space Frame” interior design, which overhauls the X1’s internals to create more room for improved thermal performance, along with more user-replaceable parts than we’ve ever seen in an ultraportable Thi…
How do you improve upon a five-star laptop design? Lenovo decided to look inward with its 14th-generation ThinkPad X1 Carbon laptop. For 2026, Lenovo has made its flagship clamshell and 2-in-1 ThinkPad X1 machines more repairable and upgradable than ever, an impressive feat that made this device the winner of our Best Laptop category at CES.
It all comes down to Lenovo’s new “Space Frame” interior design, which overhauls the X1’s internals to create more room for improved thermal performance, along with more user-replaceable parts than we’ve ever seen in an ultraportable ThinkPad laptop. Lenovo gave me a sneak preview of the laptop ahead of CES 2026, and I came away deeply impressed with the company’s commitment to using the blue-chip ThinkPad X1 Carbon as a platform for innovation—and, to my surprise, sustainability.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Clearly, the inspiration here is the hyper-modular Framework Laptop—a machine that has prompted many PC laptop makers to up their upgradability game. But this Lenovo goes further than most with the homage, while maintaining the laptop’s brand identity and form factor. I suspect it won’t be long before we see competing flagship laptops adopt similar interior designs to keep pace. Here’s everything I could find out so far about the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 and its 2-in-1 counterpart.
Design: A Carbon Retooled From the Inside Out
Admittedly, at first glance, the 14th version of the X1 Carbon doesn’t look much different from last year’s model. Lenovo made only minor changes to the laptop’s carbon-fiber black exterior, including the 14-inch 1800p OLED display, which shines at up to 500 nits. (The lowest-end models start with a 1200p non-touch panel.) And Lenovo’s trademark keyboard with the classic red TrackPoint navigator nub remains unchanged—as it should be.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Instead, the star of this show is the Space Frame internal design, anchored by a two-sided plate under the keyboard on which components are mounted. This new internal chassis structure overhauls the interior, with Lenovo taking some key components off the mainboard and incorporating them into the two-sided frame, where possible—a space-making frame, if you will. The laptop’s motherboard mounts on the underside of the frame, for example, independent of internal modules that lead to the various ports. While this new design increases the laptop’s overall thickness a smidge—up to 0.60 inch, from 0.56 inch on the Gen 13 X1 Carbon model—it weighs nearly the same at just 2.2 pounds, a negligible half-ounce gain.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
These newly modular parts include components like many of the I/O port headers, the battery, the speakers, and the cooling fans. (Also, the keyboard, attached by magnets, pries off without the need for any tools, as you can see below.) Just note that you may need some minor tools (mainly, a screwdriver) to replace some of these internal parts once you are inside.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The new design should result in more sustainable laptops for individuals and offices alike, with Lenovo essentially “doing a Framework” while stopping short of adopting a fully modular chassis that would allow you to swap in items like ports on the fly from *outside *the chassis. The new ThinkPad X1 Carbon is easily the most repairable and upgradable ultraportable ThinkPad to date.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
There are also thermal benefits to the Space Frame design, according to Lenovo. Lenovo’s interior overhaul creates more space for larger cooling fans, which enable longer periods of sustained high-performance processing. You can see one of them below as I take off the underside of the laptop, exposing the flip side of the Space Frame.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Lenovo also managed to squeeze a third Thunderbolt 4 port into the laptop’s base. These three Thunderbolt/USB-C ports join the returning USB Type-A 3.2, HDMI 2.1, and audio connections. With all those offerings, you might not even need a USB hub or dock with this laptop. Lenovo also updated the webcam with a 10-megapixel option featuring a 110-degree field of view for sharper meetings.
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We should also mention that ahead of CES 2026, Lenovo took the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 to the repairability gurus at iFixIt for a rating, and it scored 9 out of 10. Granted, the Framework Laptop outscored it with a 10, but this is still an impressive effort. Below, you can see one of the fans from the motherboard side of the Space Frame, and at lower left in part, the Wi-Fi card.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Spec Check: ‘X-Treme’ Intel Power
While the most exciting change to the ThinkPad is certainly its Space Frame design, its new and improved silicon is also quite impressive: the latest generation of Intel Core Ultra processors, specifically the Core Ultra X7 Series 3 line (from the larger family code-named "Panther Lake").
These CPUs represent the top end of Intel’s third-generation Core Ultra 7 chips, featuring optional advanced 12-core Arc Xe integrated graphics and an updated neural processing unit (NPU) that can handle up to 50 trillion AI operations per second. (The non-"X" Core Ultra 7 chips will feature Intel’s plain four-core integrated graphics.)
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
While we’ve yet to benchmark-test these chips, they’re likely to make for (yet another) potent flagship work laptop from Lenovo. It also helps that Intel’s platform supports up to 64GB of LPDDR5x memory, in addition to PCI Express Gen 5 solid-state drive options.
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With speedy Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 (plus optional 5G connectivity) rounding out the package, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 looks like a fiery laptop for almost any business or productivity task short of hard-core content-creation or workstation-level jobs. Lenovo has yet to discuss battery life for this laptop, though, so that will have to wait for our full review testing, along with raw speed figures.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Lenovo will begin selling the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition in March 2026, starting at $1,999. This base-model price remains the same as last year’s, upholding its high-end value proposition.
Lenovo’s Convertible Variant: The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 11
This new Space Frame design overhaul isn’t exclusive to Lenovo’s flagship clamshell; it’s coming to the firm’s top-end work 2-in-1, too. The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 11 also employs a Space Frame-based bottom half, providing the same repairability and upgrade capabilities as the clamshell version.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Lenovo’s 2-in-1 version offers all the same features and capabilities as the clamshell, with an identical component mix, including the speaker and microphone array, as well as the same battery capacity. Of course, the 2-in-1 model is slightly thicker at 0.65 inch and heavier at 2.61 pounds, due to the hinge hardware and mechanisms that enable the X1 2-in-1 to rotate 360 degrees.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 11 Aura Edition will be available on shelves at the same time as the clamshell version, starting at $2,149. Come back around then for fully tested reviews of both of Lenovo’s Space Frame-based ThinkPad laptops.
About Our Expert
Joe Osborne
Deputy Managing Editor, Hardware
Experience
After starting my career at PCMag as an intern more than a decade ago, I’m back as one of its editors, focused on managing laptops, desktops, and components coverage. With 15 years of experience, I have been on staff and published in technology review publications, including PCMag (of course!), Laptop Magazine, Tom’s Guide, TechRadar, and IGN. Along the way, I’ve tested and reviewed hundreds of laptops and helped develop testing protocols. I have expertise in testing all forms of laptops and desktops using the latest tools. I’m also well-versed in video game hardware and software coverage.
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