Project Aurora: Lenovo explores modular ThinkPad laptop concept

"Circular economy" is one of the big buzzwords of the day. What this means is that products should be reuseable and recycleable, thus creating a sustainable production cycle. For laptops, the key attributes to achieve this circular economy are repariability and a design that is as modular as possible - which funnily enough is something that laptop manufacturers used to do more in the past.

The more modular design approaches have fallen out of favor in the last decade or so, as the manufacturers created less repairable and more monolithic laptop designs. This was done with the argument that such designs can be thinner, lighter and more fashionable. Thus, features like user replaceable keyboards, hot-swap batteries and upgradable RAM disappeared from most laptops.

It fell to a tiny startup called Framework Computer Inc. to show that a different vision for laptops was possible. Its Framework Laptop 13, the first generation of which came out in 2021, showed that even a thin and light laptop could embrace a modular and repairable design approach.

Clearly, the rest of the industry watched this closely. Dell, one of the largest PC manufacturers, showcased a modular laptop concept called "Concept Luna" at CES 2022. No finished product like this has been released by Dell thus far, but to know that manufacturers are paying attention to the Framework Laptop and sustainability is already very important. Another manufacturer concerned with sustainability is Lenovo. The leading PC company has given digitaltrends.com a sneak peek at their own efforts.

In regards to laptops, Lenovo says that they have conducted a consumer study, which revealed that most customers value repairability in a laptop, with 60 percent preferring the laptop to be fixed by the manufacturer and 20 % wanting a DIY option.

Secondly, Lenovo showed off "Project Aurora" with a presentation slide. While nowhere near a finished product, this project aims to explore different ideas how to design a laptop to be more modular and repairable, such as various detachable parts that can be easily replaced. Lenovo also stated that they are looking at ideas like upcycling the laptop screen to serve as a smart-display after the life-cycle of the laptop is finished. The first area where such ideas could be implemented, according to Lenovo, is the enterprise sector, meaning: ThinkPad laptops.