Notebook Check published a blog post on Monday (March 9) reporting that the Lenovo ThinkPad X14 Gen 1, an unreleased ultra-thin laptop, was accidentally exposed on the iF Design Award website.
In terms of design, based on the information revealed on the page, the biggest highlight of this laptop is its modular design, marking the first crossover of the Magic Bay modular accessory ecosystem, introducing the classic ThinkPad product line from the ThinkBook series.
According to a blog post, early Lenovo models were generally equipped with the UltraBay system, which allowed users to hot-swap the optical drive and replace it with a second battery or an additional storage hard drive.
With the end of the optical drive era, UltraBay also disappeared from the scene. Lenovo has rarely ventured into modular design on ThinkPad since then, only making a brief attempt on it in the first-generation ThinkPad X1 Tablet.
In recent years, Lenovo has pioneered the new Magic Bay modular design on its ThinkBook series. These accessories connect to the webcam protrusion on the top of the laptop via magnetic contacts, and the core product currently supporting this ecosystem includes the ThinkBook 16p. Users can connect large, high-definition webcams, flashlights, 4G modems, or even a secondary screen.
The newly revealed ThinkPad X14 Gen 1 clearly features a Magic Bay accessory port on the top cover. While its design is similar to the smaller ThinkPad X13, it adopts the large keyboard of the ThinkPad T series. Moreover, its portability even surpasses that of the ultra-thin T14s.
