An inexpensive but impressive two-in-one laptop. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and you'll pull up a list of your favorite apps. If there’s one more thing to complain about, it’s the lack of backlighting. However, for some, it may be a problem because this simplification comes at a cost. The Duet blew way, way past that mark, completely lapping the Chromebook average with a total time of 21 hours and 29 minutes. As for Apple's iPad, it's $429 with 128GB of storage, or $588 with Smart Keyboard, so the Lenovo's $299.99 with keyboard and kickstand remains a remarkable value. All that this Chromebook hosts is a USB-C port, a volume rocker and a power button. MacBook Pro vs. MacBook Air: Which 13-Inch Apple Laptop Is Best for 2020? Contrast this to the Surface Go 2, which has to go through the less-popular Microsoft Store (which has some pretty slim pickings), and the Duet comes out way ahead on the software front.

Much like Apple’s iPad or Microsoft’s Surface, the Duet’s identity is in its detachable versatility. With only 4GB RAM, letting your Chrome tabs get out of hand can quickly slow the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet's performance, as will running a dozen apps in the background while playing a game or watching a movie.

Why not both in the same machine! With a fantastic display and lightweight design, the Duet would be an excellent tablet running any OS, but it's a particularly good showcase for Chrome's tablet mode enhancements. With all three pieces combined, the Duet trio forms a 2.03-pound sandwich. And it won’t cost you anything. It gets old after a while. Devices which have ports on the top waste quite a lot of wire space coming all the way down. In a word, compromised.

The Chromebook Duet is a new, budget-friendly, two-in-one laptop from Lenovo that makes the most of its limited specs. I've always been a firm believer that sometimes less is more. The trackpad is quite good.

If you want a 2-in-1 laptop that can multitask with the best of them or you're the type of person who opens up dozens and dozens of Google Chrome tabs just to see the world burn, the Lenovo Duet is not the Chromebook for you. In addition, the Chromebooks took a page out of Apple’s book and combined the charging slot and the headphones port, which could lead to some problems when someone needs to choose between recharging and their tunes. The vast majority of laptops that cross my desk are dull pieces of plastic and metal, but every now and then I get to test a machine that feels genuinely fun, innovative, and exciting.

Despite being twice as thick as the Microsoft Surface Go 2, it's still very portable and small enough for practically any bag. Clearly, no two batteries are exactly the same and performance will degrade over time, so you shouldn't expect a nearly 22-hour battery life to be typical. Sign up to get breaking news, reviews, opinion, analysis and more, plus the hottest tech deals! • MediaTek Helio P60T processor• 10.1-inch display • 4 GB of RAM; 64 GB or 128 GB eMMC storage• One USB-C port. As far as Chromebooks and 2-in-1 laptops go, this is the best value you're going to find in a portable device of its kind, hands down. Given the device's smaller size, the keys are slightly cramped and took some time to get used to, however. A bargain bundle: a 10.1-inch Chromebook tablet and keyboard.

There's one lonely USB-C jack on board.

Although the screen size was suitable for writing text in Google Docs, things do start to feel a little cramped when the browser tabs start piling up. to the weight. I was going to talk about the Chromebook Duet’s battery alongside its performance but decided that it deserves separate attention. Speaking of apps, the Duet runs Android apps like many other Chromebooks. All together, the Duet, keyboard and Stand Cover weigh 920g (2.03lbs. Laptop-tablet hybrid electronics are growing increasingly common these days and Chromebooks are one of the most popular. The Lenovo Duet isn’t just a great and very affordable Chromebook tablet, it’s also a great Chromebook laptop thanks to its bundled keyboard case.

As powerful as Android and iOS have become, mobile operating systems are still far more restricted than a Windows, MacOS, or Linux OS. I was quite happy with it over the review period and found it easy to use indoors or out. It is, of course, a touch screen, compatible with Universal Stylus Initiative (USI) pens like the one Lenovo says it will sell soon, joining other vendors such as HP and Chicony. I could say the same about the screen; this is, again, a 10.1-inch device, after all.

Finally, to test a Chromebook's battery life, we loop a locally stored video with screen brightness set at 50 percent, audio volume at 100 percent, and Wi-Fi disabled until the system quits. You will receive a verification email shortly. Along its right edge are a volume rocker, the power button, and the USB port, which serves for data transfer, charging—the supplied power plug's cord is rather short—and DisplayPort video output. Introduction. Its compact form factor and negligible weight make it the kind of 2-in-1 that you can easily carry with you in any circumstance. It’s the only real knock I can levy on the design, and even so, it’s a small one because Lenovo includes a 3.5mm-to-USB-C adapter in the box.

Benchmarks yielded an insane 15-plus hours. The Lenovo Chromebook Duet is a curious — and incredibly affordable — device.

Just remember to keep closing tabs and you’ll be fine.

With the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet, you have to turn the metaphorical lights off when you leave the room to keep everything running smoothly.

For the most part, the experience is solid. I enjoyed watching video from Netflix and Disney Plus on the screen, which looked colorful. There’s no microSD slot, nor is there a headphone jack. Stereo speakers and mics are drilled into the top edge, while copper pogo pins line the bottom for connecting to the keyboard. You should invest in one if you know you will be typing …, Chromebooks come in all shapes, sizes, configurations, and price points. The Chromebook Duet tried valiantly but brought up the rear.

The computer feels well-made, and if you're using it like a tablet, it's comfortable to hold.

My biggest complaint about the Chromebook Duet is its lack of ports.

One thing I absolutely loved was that the speakers were on the top of the screen as opposed to being on the keyboard.

It’s a reliable device for virtual meetings, online classes and even light research. We ran several benchmarking apps and came away with average results. I wouldn't even consider using the tablet to compare spreadsheets or scroll through lengthy PDF documents. We answer these and other questions in the Android Authority Lenovo Chromebook Duet review. Installing it is as easy as flipping a switch in the system settings.

Battery life, on the other hand, is outstanding. These took me longer to get used to than I expected. For my money, I’d much rather have better battery life than the fastest processor in a Chromebook anyway, and the Duet more than delivers where it counts.

It’s not perfect. Its MediaTek Helio P60T was slow back when it launched in 2018, and a bare-minimum 4GB of RAM means you won’t be keeping dozens of tabs open. That way you can tap and interact with its touchscreen. You're on a strict budget Brandon Carte has been the technology editor at BestProducts.com since 2017, where he's been covering the latest gadgets and scouring the internet for the greatest deals; His tech reporting has been featured on TopTenReviews.com and USA Today. The Duet is more flexible and more affordable than much of the competition, and that makes it a powerful foe. HyperDrive GEN2 18-in-1 USB-C Dock Review, Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 Headset Review, Logitech G733 Wireless Gaming Headset Review, Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 Headset Review, Hardcore Droid’s Massive Hardcore Giveaway, Master & Dynamic MW65 Wireless Headphones Review, Sky Battleships: Total War of Ships Review, Spooky Wars – Castle Battle Defense Review, Mutiny: Pirate Survival Drops on Google Play. There was a problem. Most Chromebooks in the sub-$300 space are clunky 14-inchers that offer little in the way of flexibility. I appreciated that the Duet seamlessly transitioned between laptop and tablet mode. It has an immensely bright 1900×1200 resolution offering the crispness and richness that Chromebooks priced at just $299 rarely offer. Camera: 8MP auto-focus (back), 2MP fixed-focus (front)

From start to finish, we got a fully-operational Linux command line terminal up and running on the Duet in about 5 minutes. The Lenovo Duet comes with a magnetic case that fits like a glove. Simply put, you just don't see this robust of an OS packed into a tablet. There's no headphone jack, either. It’s as easy on the wallet as it is on the eyes. While you can plainly see that the Duet brings up the rear compared to other recent Chromebooks in our baseline CrXPRT 2 Performance benchmark, in day-to-day use it didn’t feel nearly as sluggish as the bar chart would have you believe.

Since the Lenovo Duet has just the single USB-C port and nothing else, you'll need the included USB-C adapter to use standard headphones. The Core i3 Asus Chromebook Flip is clearly the class of the field here. For example, the camera is unusually good. (The Apple and Microsoft tablets are available with LTE mobile broadband; the Duet isn't, but offers tethering to Android phones.).

For our formal benchmarks, I compared the Chromebook Duet to two compact convertibles, the HP Chromebook x360 12b and the Lenovo Chromebook C340-11, which use the same Intel Celeron CPU; the Acer Chromebook 315, which has an AMD A4; and the Intel Core i3-powered Asus Chromebook Flip C436. A Treat to Look At.

It provides good performance, a highly impressive battery life and great portability in a fairly modest price tag.

Here’s the thing, though. You can usually find him with his nose buried in a screen. Connectivity: 802.11 AC (2 x 2) wireless, Bluetooth 4.2 Dubbed the "IdeaPad Duet Chromebook" outside the U.S., the Chromebook Duet is really a trio, of sorts, if you count its main components. The Duet’s battery life is easily the most impressive battery life I’ve ever witnessed. When I tried doing so, it began to severely lag and switching between tabs started taking longer than usual.