Dissection of ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition priced at 104 million with new design
The Lenovo ThinkPad This allows many components to become modular, and can be quickly replaced by users or IT departments with just a few standard screws, including the battery, keyboard, cooling fan, speakers, USB ports (mounted on separate boards) and Wi-Fi cards.
Lenovo also provides many CRUs (Customer Replaceable Units) - components that customers can replace themselves without having to send them to a warranty center. These improvements have helped the device achieve an iFixit score of 9/10, becoming one of the easiest high-end thin and light laptops to repair today, contributing to extending the machine's lifespan, reducing maintenance costs and being more environmentally friendly. Please watch the video and pictures of the process of disassembling the X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition to better understand. I am not a professional technician and only need a single screwdriver with PH0 head. From there, it shows that repairing, replacing components, warranty, upgrading... will be very easy.
Open the back cover of the device
Surprisingly, when I removed this cover, it was incredibly light and thin.
The inside of the lid is covered with many lining and cushioning materials.
Unscrew the battery and remove the battery from the device
After opening the back cover of the device, I removed the battery. If you disassemble any device, the battery should probably be the first thing to remove, before removing other electronic components. Or if your device accidentally gets into water, the first thing you need to remove is the battery. The battery of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 is 58Wh. The device runs Intel Panther Lake Core Ultra 7 so the battery can be used comfortably all day. I researched battery reviews and saw that the X1 Carbon Gen 14 has a 58Wh battery, only a little more than the 57Wh of Gen 13 and Gen 12. However, thanks to the new chip, the actual battery life is 15% to 30% better than Gen 13, 30% to 50% better than Gen 12... the difference also depends on configuration and screen. So, you have a 14-inch device, 16:10 screen ratio, weighs only a little more than 1 kg but still has enough battery life to comfortably last all day.
58Wh battery but lasts a long time due to the power-saving SoC.
Remove the entire top of the bottom of the device including keyboard, trackpad, trackpoint...
On the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 (Aura Edition), the keyboard, trackpad (or haptic touchpad) and TrackPoint are integrated into a single cluster. When removing, you will remove the entire assembly at once. Lenovo calls this cluster “Keyboard Assembly with Trackpad or Haptic Touchpad”. This is a seamless module, including keyboard, touchpad, TrackPoint and palm rest. To remove this assembly, after removing the base cover, you only need to unscrew a few screws and remove 3 cable connections to lift the entire assembly. I find this process very simple, no need to remove the mainboard or hinge.
Keyboard, trackpad, TrackPoint are integrated into a single Keyboard Assembly. Thanks to the Space Frame structure, users only need to remove the bottom cover and a few screws to replace the entire assembly within 3–5 minutes - much faster and easier than previous generations. It is also easier for Lenovo to produce and stock FRU components. In addition, the one-piece design significantly reduces gaps between components, increases water spill resistance and limits water from penetrating deep into the mainboard. Overall, this modular solution both improves repair capabilities and increases machine durability. Basically, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 or previous generations already have the ability to resist water spills when accidentally spilling water on the device. Now Gen 14 with the new design, I think it will be a little better. SSD with separate heatsink system
I just removed the heatsink of the SSD.
Before removing it, it will completely cover the SSD like this. It is responsible for dissipating heat for the SSD.
Its underside has a layer of glue that helps conduct heat from the SSD to dissipate.
On the main circuit there is also a heatsink. So the SSD will be sandwiched between these two pieces.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 is equipped with M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 5 SSD. This SSD supports theoretical speeds up to 16 GB/s, with sequential read speeds from 12,000 to 14,000 MB/s and sequential write speeds from 7,000 to more than 10,000 MB/s. With a seemingly well-equipped cooling system and in an open position, I think the speed of the SSD on this X1 Carbon Gen14 will not be reduced much when copying continuously or a lot.
Remove the USB-A and Thunderbolt 4 port module on the left side of the device
The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 is equipped with two ports on the right side: a USB-A port with a speed of 5 Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen 1, Always On) and a Thunderbolt 4 port that supports speeds of up to 40 Gbps. I like that the high-speed connection port is equipped on the right because it is easier to operate with the right hand. These two ports are mounted on a daughterboard, and that daughterboard is connected to the machine's motherboard with a cable. This is a very important part because if maintenance, repair, replacement is needed, or during use you accidentally drop or collide causing this port to be damaged, you only need to replace the daughter board, not the main board.
Motherboard when removed
Location relative to the machine frame here
Remove the two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the right
The machine has two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left, connected to the board with pins instead of direct soldering. This makes replacing damaged ports easier and more cost-effective, avoiding the need to replace the entire board. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is designed for business people who value time and work efficiency. Therefore, quickly replacing the port to return the device to the customer to continue working is a top priority, rather than having to replace the entire board.
These are the two female connectors of Thunderbolt 4 on the left side of the device. If the hard drive is plugged in and the computer drops or the hard drive falls out, this port can be easily replaced even if it is damaged.
The two Thunderbolt 4 female headers are next to the two locations where it will be connected to the motherboard.
The position on the left is where the two Thunderbold 4 heads are bolted to the chassis.
After removing the cover and fixing it on top, remove it with just a light press.
Remove the board to connect the WWAN connection, connect the SIM to use mobile data
ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition is equipped with a Nano-SIM tray, similar to a phone, allowing users to insert a 4G/5G data SIM to connect to mobile Internet anytime, anywhere without depending on Wi-Fi. The version I am using has a built-in SIM tray, antenna and is ready for WWAN (antenna-ready), but does not yet have a modem card (WWAN module). This is an option when purchasing the device: if you choose the WWAN configuration, Lenovo will pre-install a 4G or 5G card (Snapdragon X12/X61) and support eSIM. This feature is very useful for people who often travel, work outdoors or in areas without stable Wi-Fi.
Location of the WWAN board on the machine. The colored wire is the antenna wire.
Remove the screws simply
Remove the main cooling system of the machine
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 is equipped with a new interior design called Space Frame, which makes the motherboard (PCB) 20% smaller, thereby significantly increasing the space inside the device. Thanks to that, the cooling system is expanded with a fan that is 70% larger than the previous generation (Gen 13), providing superior heat dissipation performance. The machine operates cooler, quieter and maintains high performance for a long time, helping users exploit the maximum potential of the hardware.
This is the top side of the cooling system, the part you see.
This is the part below, in the middle is the piece with the thermal paste I just removed. That part is in contact with the Intel Panther Lake Core Ultra 7 mobile SoC platform
The location of the cooling system on the machine is very large compared to the size of the machine.
Disconnect the power supply to the radiator fan before removing it.
Remove the motherboard:
The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 motherboard integrates SoC Panther Lake, soldered LPDDR5X RAM, M.2 2280 PCIe 5.0 SSD slot and some other core components. The remaining components such as connection port, cooling fan, speaker, battery and keyboard are designed in modular form (separate), making repair and replacement easier. The new Space Frame design makes the motherboard about 20% more compact than Gen 13, and uses a double-sided layout (components installed on both sides) to optimize internal space. Main components integrated on the board:
The gray squares above are RAM. The blue rectangle has a core in the middle of the Intel Core Ultra 7 Panther Lake SoC
Remove the screen from the main frame of the device
The screen of the ThinkPad This screen assembly is firmly attached to the body with two hinges, opening gently, smoothly and firmly.
14 inch OLED screen with 2.8K resolution (2880 x 1800), 16:10 ratio, 120Hz VRR scanning frequency. Brightness up to 500 nits(HDR), 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, supports Dolby Vision, Eyesafe Certified. The screen has an anti-glare, anti-fingerprint coating, and the front-facing ratio is up to 88.8%. This photo makes my face a bit miserable.
At the top of the screen, the camera cluster protrudes a bit and includes the following components:
All the screws when removed are not many
Screws are designed to attach to the parts they are attached to, so the number of screws on the outside is not much and there are not many types, so it is not difficult to remember the location and type of screws.
Other images of machine components:
The entire machine when disassembled.
The hinge attaches the screen to the main body of the device
The chassis / Space Frame of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition is mainly made of magnesium alloy (Magnesium Alloy).
It's not too difficult to do this.
When you put it back together, it's still a good machine. You can watch the video and see the reattachment process.