The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition has just launched in China. It's one of the first laptops available globally to feature a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot, promising fast data transfer speeds. For reference, a PCIe Gen 5 SSD can deliver roughly double the performance when compared to a 4.0 SSD, thanks to the newer interface having a data transfer rate of 3,938 MB/s per lane instead of the 1,969 MB/s delivered by the previous-gen standard.
However, this increased data transfer rate comes at a cost. To be specific, PCIe 5.0 SSDs require a good cooling solution to deliver improved performance, and it seems Lenovo has addressed this issue with its new ThinkPad X1 Carbon Aura. The Gen 5 SSD installed in the laptop has a dedicated heatsink, which lowers the chances of thermal throttling (1 TB PNY CS3150 XLR8 Gen 5 SSD curr. $152.99 on Amazon).
As for the SSD that's installed in the 2025 ThinkPad X1 Carbon Aura, it's reportedly the SK hynix PCB01, which was introduced in March of this year. With the Alistar ACNT093 controller, the 2 TB variant of this SSD offers a sequential read speed of up to 14,000 MB/s and a write speed of up to 12,000 MB/s.
It's worth noting that Lenovo is also offering the 2025 ThinkPad X1 Carbon Aura with 1 TB of storage, which seemingly has the same Gen 5 SSD. Besides the speedy drive, the laptop features the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V, which is an upper mid-range processor from the Lunar Lake lineup.
Other highlights of the laptop include an OLED screen with a 120 Hz refresh rate, a 57 Wh battery, 32 GB of LPDDR5x RAM, a magnesium alloy body, and a generous number of ports. The starting price is CNY 15,999 (roughly $2,200), and Lenovo has already introduced it to the global market. The laptop made its global debut at IFA 2024, and we have a review on the way.