Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook Tablet 4GB/128GB for $260 at Amazon

Packaging & scope of delivery

The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook comes in a chic, printed cardboard box. Compared to the cheap Acer Chromebooks, I already have the impression of getting a higher-quality product. When you open the box, the first thing that catches your eye is the tablet itself. Underneath is the magnetic back cover and the keyboard cover. In a separate box on the right, you will also find a USB-C cable and a 10 watt charging adapter, as well as a USB-C to jack adapter. Of course, a user manual is also included.

Personally, I would have liked to see a USB-C to HDMI adapter in the box, since you can also connect the small iDeaPad Duet to an external screen. In advance, the purchase of a multihub with HDMI, USB interfaces and SD card reader makes a lot of sense in my opinion! You can also optionally use a stylus pen with the Lenovo Duet Chromebook.

Design & workmanship

The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook is only available in the color combination “ice blue – iron gray”. The upper part of the back is a bit less than one third in “ice blue”, whereas the lower rest is in “iron gray”. The blue area contains the built-in 8 MP camera as well as an embedded “Lenovo” badge, which gives the product a high-quality touch in my opinion.

With dimensions of 23.4 cm x 15.4 cm x 0.73 cm, the IdeaPad Duet is a quite compact 10.1-inch tablet and weighs less than half a kilogram with 450 g. Unlike the Surface models, the stand that can be used to set up the tablet is not integrated into the back of the tablet, but is inside the magnetic back cover. It has a gray textile texture and is visually very appealing, at least to me.

The keyboard cover, which is also held by magnets and protects the display when closed, completes the Lenovo Duet as a laptop alternative. It is gray, rubberized on the back and makes a very good first impression on me. First of all, the keys have a really good pressure point for my taste, despite their low key drop, and give a clear haptic feedback, I like that a lot!

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With front and back covers, the Chromebook still weighs less than a kilo at 920 g and has dimensions of 24.5 cm x 16.5 cm x 1.82 cm. Thus, it is immediately well-equipped to survive daily transport in a bag or backpack without permanent damage, such as scratches in the display or back – very good!

In terms of workmanship, I have nothing to criticize about the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook. It looks as well as feels good and I could not find any workmanship or material defects. The power/standby button as well as the volume rocker sit firmly in the case, nothing wobbles here!

Keyboard & touchpad

As already briefly mentioned, I’m positively surprised by the included keyboard cover. The keys give a good haptic feedback during typing, despite their low key drop. Most of the letter keys have a size of 1.5 x 1.5 cm, which is comparable to a normal keyboard.

Thus, I am already accurate with the first typing tests on the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet. Umlaut keys like Ä/Ü/Ö, as well as some character and function keys, however, turn out narrower, nothing you cannot get used to.

The touchpad is quite tiny compared to normal laptops, measuring 9 x 5 cm. Like the keys, however, it gives good haptic as well as acoustic feedback. It supports multi-touch gestures with up to 3 fingers and with the pre-set mouse sensitivity, you can comfortably “drive” over the entire 10.1-inch display without having to reposition your finger frequently.

To make another Surface comparison, a keyboard cover (but with backlight) costs $100 (!!!) extra, whereas it is included here. In return, it really does a very good job, and it is nice that Lenovo is not so stingy with this model.

Hardware

Not the strongest hardware has been chosen, but it is sufficient for the tablet’s purposes in the test and weaker hardware is not unusual for Chromebooks. On the one hand, we have installed a MediaTek Helio P60T processor from 2018. It has 4 GB of working memory and 64 GB or 128 GB of storage depending on the configuration.

Complex gaming apps are probably too much for the tablet, but the hardware is sufficient for video streaming, browsing and office work. It should be clear to everyone that the Lenovo Duet Chromebook is primarily designed for exactly that – you should not make false claims here.

Besides the dedicated contacts for the keyboard, there is only one port on the IdeaPad Duet. We find a single USB 2.0 Type-C port on the side. Unfortunately, there is no headphone jack or second USB-C port. If you have to charge the tablet, you cannot connect anything else. Unless you get a USB-C multihub, as mentioned at the beginning. This can increase the connectivity many times over, so I can only highly recommend using or buying one.

Display

The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook is equipped with a 10.1-inch Full HD IPS display with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels. With a black bezel that is one centimeter thick all around, the look of the display is not the most modern, but it is okay in any case.

The manufacturer specifies the screen’s brightness with 400 nits, which is sufficient in my opinion in the test. At most, you might have problems with legibility on a nice summer day in the park, depending on the incidence of light.

Above the display is the 10-point multi-touch touchscreen, which I like in practice. It responds reliably and precisely to all touch gestures. However, there is also the option to use a pen as an additional input method. Unfortunately, this is not included, but a whole range of pens are supported since the tablet is compatible with USI pens. Thus, you can also make handwritten notes and sort them digitally.

Benchmark & Gaming

In the 3D Mark benchmark “Sling Shot Extreme”, the tablet achieves a scroe of 1,101 points in our test. The Geekbench 5 benchmark test delivers a score of 263 in the single-core Scroe and 940 in the multi-core score.

The benchmark results are also reflected in the gaming performance. While small “mini-game apps” naturally work flawlessly, more complex games like COD Mobile, Asphalt 9 or PUBG Mobile are clearly slowed down graphically.

Graphically, the games are limited and look much less good than they could at medium settings. You also have to deal with small lags from time to time. Here, phones like the Mi 10 Lite with a Snapdragon 765G processor cut a much better figure. Do not misunderstand, but overall I do not have the feeling that the tablet is slow or stutters, but in theory it could be better.

Speakers & microphones

The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook is equipped with stereo speakers on the top of the tablet. Sound-wise, I like them well for compact tablet speakers. I would not necessarily use them for listening to music, but they are, in my opinion, completely sufficient for watching an episode of the favorite series or a YouTube video.

The positioning also ensures a reasonably good stereo sound, which is not always the case for a small tablet like this. Between the speakers, positioned a bit further in the center, are two microphones. In the test with Zoom and Skype, my conversation partners could understand me well and despite the proximity to the speakers, my conversation partners do not hear each other twice – very good!

Cameras

In terms of cameras, Lenovo relies on an 8 MP sensor on the back. This “main camera” is, of course, at best usable for snapshots or to show something in a video chat. Nobody really takes serious pictures with a tablet, and Lenovo also knows that and saves costs accordingly.

The actually more important front-facing camera when it comes to video calling offers a 2 MP sensor, which Thorben says makes me look a bit “dead”, thanks again for the compliment, Thorben.

What he wanted to say is that the camera’s color profile is not particularly warm and also invites pixel counting. However, I think it is sufficient for what it is intended for, namely that the other party can also see you when you are on the phone.

ChromeOS

Many people will not have had much contact with Chrome OS, as I did before this review. The original Chrome OS is not the same as it is today. Back then, only web-based programs were used, but today many native programs are also available, even offline. In addition, Android apps or the Google PlayStore can be used, and a virtual machine for Linux programs has been added. Thus, you have a huge selection of software for the Chromebook.

Thus, Chrome OS has become very flexible over time and perhaps even the better operating system for such a tablet. This is partly because it was originally designed for mouse and keyboard input and is therefore better designed for this than Android is. Nevertheless, the idea of operating the screen with a touch control has not been left out.

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Google shows that it is very serious about ChromeOS and that we are probably only at the beginning of ChromeBooks with a powerful update promise. The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook is supposed to receive updates directly from Google for 8 years, i.e. until 2028. That is much longer than usual for “normal” Android tablets and could even outperform the iPad, which is certainly Google’s plan.

Also, iOS for the iPad is evolving from an only slightly customized mobile OS to a desktop-like macOS alternative, and thus a Windows laptop alternative as well. Google does not want to leave this growing market for inexpensive laptops and tablets with a slim operating system to Apple’s competition, and Windows is now trying Windows 10 in S mode after the failed Windows Mobile and Windows RT. One invests in the future with such a big update promise and wants to assert the still growing market with all means – good for us consumers.

Advantages and disadvantages of ChromeOS