Lenovo made a Franken-laptop with modular ports and a second screen
One of Lenovo’s big laptop concepts for MWC 2026 is a modular ThinkBook with dual screens. Officially called the ThinkBook Modular AI PC Concept, the proof of concept is a 14-inch productivity machine with two plug-and-play interchangeable ports and a second 14-inch display magnetically attached to the back of its lid. The second screen is removable and can be placed on a magnetic kickstand (stored under the laptop) and plugged in via USB-C.
But this PC concept has one more trick: remove the keyboard/trackpad and replace it with the second screen, turning the whole thing into a dual-screen laptop that you use with the keyboard and trackpad connected via Bluetooth – like the Asus Zenbook Duo.
This whole concept led me to modular ports. The options presented by Lenovo for this concept included USB-C, USB-A, and HDMI options – which doesn’t compare to the broad ecosystem established by Framework. But if this product ever hits the market, it will at least be a start. Unlike Framework, hotswap ports use an M.2 interface to connect to the laptop, instead of USB-C. But they were very easy to take out and put back in, and Lenovo also showed off a nice little carrying case for taking a few ports with you. In addition to the two modular ports, the ThinkBook concept has a permanent USB-C for charging or plugging in the second monitor.
The ports looked pretty cool, but Lenovo pulled out a Lenovo and also went crazy with all those second screen cutscenes. These displays are both touch-enabled OLEDs with a 16:10 4K (3,840 x 2,400) resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and 500 nits of brightness. Other potential specs include an Intel Core Ultra 7 255H Arrow Lake processor, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD.
Who knows if this will ever be made, but I have an idea why it might not be: the battery. The ThinkBook Modular only has a 33Wh battery to power all that hardware. It’s significantly smaller than a 13-inch MacBook Air, and it doesn’t have one but two Power-hungry high-resolution OLEDs. I’m concerned that this laptop will have anemic battery life, at least in its current thin and light incarnation (it weighs just 2.54 pounds/1.15 kg with one screen and 3.11 pounds/1.41 kg with both screens). But maybe Lenovo could surprise us in a year or so and release one with a bigger battery or a chip that consumes less power.
Even if it ditched the second OLED, it would still be intriguing – because who wouldn’t want to choose their own ports?
Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge
