Lenovo ThinkPad 25 Teardown and SSD, RAM Upgrade Options

Last year was the ThinkPad brand’s 25th anniversary since its first laptop - the ThinkPad 700C was launched in 1992. To celebrate its 25th anniversary, ThinkPad has specially released a new laptop. The ThinkPad 25 features many classic elements, such as a colorful ThinkPad and a classic keyboard with seven lines, and it is made based on the ThinkPad T470 mold. This laptop adopts a new port design and good specifications. Now we get the ThinkPad Anniversary 25, which is only available in a limited edition of 1000 units worldwide to see its design. The laptop features a classic, colorful ThinkPad logo and adopts a concise style on the top cover. The laptop’s surface with keyboard also features the same colorful ThinkPad logo on its top covers’. The only difference is that the red circle on the top cover is luminous, while the one on the surface with the keyboard is not. The laptop’s screen supports touch operation with 180-degree viewing angles. Axis design The infrared camera over the screen combines with the front camera, which supports the Windows Hello log-in method. The label for ThinkPad 25 is placed at the top left corner of the keyboard. The laptop adopts a keyboard with seven lines. The keyboard comes with long key travel and supports a backlit function. It is Intel’s 7th low-voltage processor, which connects to the NFC area. In general, the laptop features a classic modern design. It adopts a new fingerprint reader, which is below the indicator. The laptop has a smooth touchpad. The ThinkPad 25 has a comprehensive port design. The laptop on the right provides the SD, an RJ45 port, a USB 3.0 port, an HDMI port, a USB 3.0 port, and an earphone/microphone two-in-one port. The laptop on the left provides the power, a USB 3.0, a Thunderbolt port, and a vent. It provides the latest lightening3.0 port. The ThinkPad 25 keeps an expansion port at the bottom. Removing the external battery, we find the SIM card slot. This laptop supports 4G network surfing. The laptop adopts the two batteries (external and built-in combination) design. The external battery can be replaced. It has a thin external battery. The external battery has a capacity of 24Wh. Remove all the screws and buckles at the bottom. The whole back cover can be removed. The back cover uses aluminum-magnesium alloy, which can guarantee hardness while remaining lightweight. After opening the back cover, we can see that the laptop has a compact internal layout. Now, remove the built-in battery. The built-in battery also has a capacity of 24Wh. Remove the built-in battery, and the NFC module can be seen. The SSD is placed beside the built-in battery. The SSD has a small volume, which is good for heat dissipation. However, if the M.2 SSD were directly connected to the motherboard, the laptop would have more reasonable space utilization. The 256GB SSD’s model number is PM961 from Samsung, which supports NVMe. The ThinkPad 25 has two memory card slots, which can be changed. The laptop has a built-in 16GB memory. The user can also add a 16GB memory. The Wi-Fi and 4G network module can be seen at the top left corner. The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth two-in-one modules are called 8265NGW from Intel. The 4G surfing model number is EM7455 which supports LTE B1-B5, B7, B12, B13, B17, B20, B25, B26, B29, B30, B41. It also supports UMTS/HSPA+ B1, B2, B3, B4, B5 and B6. It is a 4G network card's back part. The laptop has a regular wire layout besides two sides of the speaker module. It has a small loudspeaker module. Now, we are ready to disassemble the heat dissipation module. After removing the screws, the whole heat dissipation module can be easily disassembled. There are two thick copper tubes to help cool the CPU and GPU. If the copper tubes were shorter, the heat dissipation would be better. The vent slice has a moderate thickness. Remove the keyboard, and the motherboard can be disassembled. Next, remove the cover on the functional keys at the top left corner. Then, the whole keyboard can be removed. The surface of the touchpad uses glass material. Push the keyboard upwards to remove all fixed buckles. Disconnect two wire ribbons, the little red circle, and three mice keys. Keyboard The keys to turning the laptop on are separated. We can see the key travel. The laptop has a reasonably clean internal layout, although it has many wire ribbons. The orange and blue cables of the 4G network card are fixed by the network cable manager. After removing all the fixed screws on the motherboard, we can see its two sides are thickened by the metal plate to guarantee hardness. This is the metal plate to fix the USB 3.0 and the Thunderbolt 3 ports on the left. After disconnecting all the wire ribbons, we can easily remove the whole motherboard. There are NVIDIA 940MX chips and two memory chips on the right. The Intel i7-7500U processor is on the left side of the memory chips. The Thunderbolt chip’s model number is JHL6240, which was officially launched in the second quarter of 2016. It provides a Thunderbolt 3.0 port with 1.2W TDP. It is ThinkEngine’s new product on the motherboard’s back. Motherboard's back. It is an ALC3268 Realtek chip. A ThinkEngine chip is on the back. After removing the motherboard, we can disassemble the fingerprint reader module. Front fingerprint reader module The fingerprint reader module’s back The insulated paper under the motherboard protects the motherboard from malfunction. The NFC module’s antenna line is placed in the open slot, aiming to prevent signal shielding. NFC module Remove four fixed screws on the touchpad. The whole touchpad can be removed. Remove the touchpad. The touchpad has a good key design. Remove fixed screws to separate the screen. It is an expansion port, which doesn’t work at the bottom right corner. The internal part is covered by aluminum-magnesium alloy, with good workmanship and high-quality material. Front part. The screen is thick because of the touchpad. According to the whole teardown, the ThinkPad 25 has quite satisfying workmanship on its internal structure. In general, the laptop has excellent workmanship and material. The laptop has a neat internal wire ribbon and compact space utilization. A great deal of aluminum-magnesium alloy contributes to the whole device’s hardness. In a word, the laptop has excellent workmanship and reasonable internal structure.