A new model of Lenovo's high-performance ThinkPad X1 Extreme laptop will be available this August, featuring the latest Intel Tiger Lake processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX laptop GPU.

This is a significant performance upgrade for this 15" laptop and makes it a serious contender for one of the best laptops on the market. In addition, Lenovo claims to have designed several new cooling systems into the 2021 ThinkPad X1 Extreme's chassis to make it more comfortable to use even during heavy work and play time.

In addition to the under-the-hood upgrades, the 2021 ThinkPad X1 Extreme will also have a redesigned chassis that will support a larger 16:10 display (configurable up to 4K) and a 1080p webcam. [2021 Here's what we know so far about the ThinkPad X1 Extreme, Lenovo's thin and light high-performance laptop.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme is available on Lenovo's website and through select third-party retailers. However, the 2021 model with an 11th generation Intel CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 series GPU will have to wait until at least August to be released.

Even if the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme (2021) becomes available, it will not be cheap.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme will be redesigned this year with a 16-inch, 16:10 display surrounded by a thin bezel. The thinner bezel should make it easier to immerse oneself in the screen, and it could also feature a touchscreen of up to 4K.

The X1 Extreme's chassis includes a wider touchpad, speakers that launch from the keyboard deck, a hybrid cooling system that combines vent pipes and vapor chambers, and small holes on the keyboard itself (with special spill-resistant seals), Subtle changes have also been made with the goal of achieving higher performance.

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme's display will go from 16:9 to 16:10 in 2021. The newer, taller 16-inch screen should allow for a slightly larger vertical screen area, making document reading and writing a bit more comfortable.

If you decide to invest, you can configure either a QHD (2,560 x 1,600 resolution) display for up to 400 nits brightness or a 4K UHD (3,840 x 2,400 resolution) display for up to 600 nits brightness. 4K versions are can also be configured as a touchscreen, which is slightly more expensive than the standard display.

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme, which will be revamped in 2021, will ship with up to 64GB of RAM, the latest Intel Tiger Lake CPU, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 series laptop GPU.

When the ThinkPad X1 Extreme (2021) launches in August, it should be able to be configured with up to an 11th generation Intel Core i9 vPro processor, the most powerful laptop CPU available today.

There is also an option to install an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, which should give this 16-inch laptop enough power to run the latest games at high 1080p frame rates. It would also be able to run games at up to 4K, although the frame rate might drop a bit if you decide to upgrade to a UHD display.

While the ThinkPad X1 Extreme's chassis is slightly thinner in 2021, the refreshed model still has many ports. Specifically, it will have two USB-A ports, two Thunderbolt 4/USB4 ports, an HDMI port, an SD card reader, and a headphone/microphone jack.

This is far superior to many recent thin and light laptops, which tend to have few ports other than USB-C ports and headphone jacks.

Between the four USB ports, there should be plenty of options for connecting accessories to the 2021 ThinkPad X1 Extreme; the HDMI port is a nice touch for when you want to connect to an external monitor for presentations or gaming.

When the world went into lockdown on COVID-19, many of us suddenly found ourselves relying on Zoom and other video chat services to stay in touch with friends, colleagues, and loved ones. This video conferencing renaissance gives us ample reason to appreciate high-quality webcams, and Lenovo has responded by upgrading the ThinkPad X1 Extreme's 720p webcam to 1080p.

When the ThinkPad X1 Extreme launches in 2021, it will have a 1080p webcam with a built-in privacy shutter. If you want to log into Windows with your own face, it can also be equipped with a 1080p hybrid IR camera that supports facial recognition with Windows Hello.

All this power comes at the cost of battery life: Lenovo claims that the 2021 ThinkPad X1 Extreme will last up to 10 hours on a single charge, but if you do a lot of heavy gaming or video editing, expect this figure to be considerably shorter. [However, if you configure the 2021 ThinkPad X1 Extreme with a 4K screen and the most powerful CPU and GPU, you can be sure that battery life will be shorter.

The 2021 ThinkPad X1 Extreme is just one of many revamped products that Lenovo will announce this week ahead of Mobile World Congress, but the under-the-hood upgrades and redesigned chassis make it by far the most exciting product.

With a starting price of over $2,000, it is not recommended for those on a tight budget, but anyone looking for a thin, lightweight, high-performance laptop should be well served by the redesigned ThinkPad X1 Extreme in 2021. We hope to do our own hands-on testing of this laptop when it begins shipping in August.