If you own a desktop computer, you’re used to swapping parts and peripherals around, but most laptops are closed boxes with few ways to modify them. Lenovo’s new ThinkBook Modular AI PC concept shows what happens when you can remove a screen, a keyboard, and even blocks of ports from a mobile PC.
The computer maker is showing off the concept at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. We had a chance to see the ThinkBook concept at a Lenovo press event in early February and came away impressed with the company’s ambitious attempt to improve productivity by letting you move some components around. The system comes standard with a 14-inch, 4K 120 Hz OLED touch panel you can’t pull off, but there’s a secondary display you can attach to the back of the lid via a magnetic connection, or use as a standalone second monitor by connecting with a wire, or snap onto the deck, giving you a dual-screen laptop like the Yoga Book 9i.
The laptop has two of Lenovo’s Magic Bay magnetic 11 pogo pin connectors, one on the back of the lid and one beneath the keyboard. These connectors, which have appeared on shipping ThinkBooks such as the ThinkBook 16p Gen 4 before, allow you to connect a light, a webcam, or a 4G modem. Now, they’re being used to connect the second screen and the keyboard.
Lenovo’s screen attaches to the Magic Bay – Click to enlarge
The keyboard itself pops off, so you can use that space for attaching the second panel. Even if the keyboard is not physically connected to the ThinkBook, you can still use it via Bluetooth, allowing you to have both a dual-screen laptop and a keyboard at the same time.
Beneath the keyboard perch two removable port blocks you can use to swap out ports. On the right side, you can remove the HDMI port and, on the left, there’s a pop-off USB-C port. Though the company did not show this during its demo, we assume that Lenovo would offer alternate port blocks you could pop on in their place if this laptop ever came to market.
The ThinkBook Modular also has removable ports. – Click to enlarge
If you want to use the second screen like an external monitor, there’s a magnetic stand that snaps onto the back of it and allows you to swap between portrait and landscape modes. When not in use, this stand serves as a foot for the laptop, snapping onto the bottom surface.
The ThinkBook’s monitor stand attaches to the bottom like a foot – Click to enlarge
On the inside, the ThinkBook Modular AI PC concept is very much like other 14-inch business laptops. It sports an Intel Core Ultra 7 255H “Arrow Lake” processor, which is not the very latest generation of Intel processor (that would be “Panther Lake”). But since this is a concept PC, we can assume that if it were to come out, it would probably have whatever CPU is current as of that time.
It has a generous 32 GB of RAM, a 1 TB PCIe SSD, an 8 MP camera and a 33 Wh battery. The laptop measures a reasonable 12.3 x 9.2 inches, but with a chunky 0.94 inch thickness. It weighs a very light 2.5 pounds with just one display, but that number jumps up to a still-reasonable 3.1 pounds with the second screen attached. Like other ThinkBooks, it’s a dull and corporate-friendly shade of gray – in this case, Luna Gray.
Since this is a concept laptop, we have no idea what such a device would cost, although it won’t be cheap – especially if this year’s memory crunch still continues. By way of comparison, last year’s ThinkBook with rolling screen was $3,500. But even if this exact configuration never sees the light of day, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Lenovo use this modularity idea in a future ThinkBook.
New ThinkPads come in blue, are more fixable than ever
Lenovo’s mainstream T-series ThinkPads are getting a major refresh for 2026 as new models of the T14 (Gen 7), T14s (Gen 7), and T16 (Gen 5) are all due out this spring. For the first time, the 14-inch models will be available in Cosmic Blue, a new dark blue colorway that has never been used on ThinkPads before. You’ll still be able to get classic black, of course.
I got a chance to see some Cosmic Blue ThinkPads in person and I found the shade to be very dark and subtle. Only in very direct lighting could I even tell that they were blue, not black.
Lenovo ThinkPad T14 in Cosmic Blue – Click to enlarge
On the inside, the ThinkPads will be powered by your choice of CPU platform. The ThinkPad T14s will be available with the most options: an Intel Core Ultra Series 3 chip, AMD Ryzen AI PRO 400 inside, or Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 SoC that uses Windows on Arm. The ThinkPad T14 and T16 will come in either Intel (Ultra Series 3) or AMD Ryzen AI.
As always, the ThinkPad T14s (the “s” is for slim) is the sleekest of the bunch, tipping the scales at 2.45 to 2.66 pounds while being only 0.7 inches thick. The ThinkPad T14, which also has a 14-inch display, is a few tenths of a pound heavier and about 0.1 inch thicker. The 16-inch ThinkPad T16 is obviously the heaviest of the bunch at 3.62 pounds and it’s almost an inch thick.
Lenovo ThinkPad T14s – Click to enlarge
The two thicker ThinkPads are easier to repair than ever, earning iFixit repairability scores of 10 out of 10. As I watched, Lenovo reps showed me how easy it is to remove the back plate, the battery, the SSD, the keyboard, and even the USB-C ports for replacement. This is a huge step up from prior models, where you had to remove large components to get to some of these parts.
ThinkPad T14 Gen 7 is easy to repair – Click to enlarge
The Intel-powered models of the T14 and T16 use LPCAMM2 RAM, which is screwed onto the motherboard and can be easily replaced. So, if you buy one of these laptops with only 16 GB of RAM and you later want to upgrade to 32 or 64 GB, that will be possible, though with the price of memory these days, it may not be desirable.
All three laptops will be available in Q2, with the ThinkPad T14s starting at $1,899, while the T14 and T16 both start at $1,799.
New detachable challenges the Surface in business environments
If you’re looking for a laptop where the screen comes off of the keyboard, Lenovo has a new option in the ThinkPad X13 detachable. This 13-inch system looks and feels like the ThinkPad version of the Microsoft Surface Pro with a keyboard that magnetically attaches to the display.
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Detachable – Click to enlarge
However, the keyboard promises to be better than what you’d find on a Surface tablet because it uses Lenovo’s famous ThinkPad keyboard tech, which has a unique combination of tactile feedback, smile-shaped keys, and generous travel. In fact, the company boasts that the X13 Detachable’s keys have a full 1.5 mm of travel, the same amount as a ThinkPad X1 Carbon.
In addition to the keyboard, there’s a Lenovo Slim Pen that charges in the keyboard.
On the inside, this is a full-powered PC, complete with an Intel Core Ultra Series 3 (Panther Lake) processor, up to 64 GB of LPDDR5x RAM, and up to 2 TB of SSD storage. Its 13-inch display operates at a 2880 x 1920 resolution and promises to reproduce up to 100 percent of the sRGB color gamut.
The ThinkPad X13 detachable will be available in Q3 for a starting price of $1,999.
Lenovo AI Workmate Concept is ready to help you project
Lenovo also showed off a robot that reminds me a lot of the jumping Pixar lamp. This dark gray automaton sits on top of a table where it can rotate and bend its screen (aka face) to interact with you or help you.
Lenovo Workmate AI robot concept – Click to enlarge
The AI-powered robot does local AI processing, where it can help you with presentations, note-taking, and meeting summarization. It also has a projector on it, so it can output your slides to everyone in the room.
This device was not working during our demo, so we didn’t get to see everything that it can do. It too is just a concept and, based on our experience, it’s not as likely to see the light of day as the ThinkBook Modular. ®
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