If you do want the maximum charging speed, just invest in a third-party USB-PD adapter or power bank which will also fast charge any other modern laptop or smartphone too. It’s no biggie as you’ll not be charging too often with battery life from the 7,000mAh battery giving around nine or ten hours of real-world use between top-ups. The single USB-C port offers USB-PD charging at 18W, but Lenovo has bundled a 10W power adapter in the box. If you do ditch the cover and keyboard, you get a very thin and portable tablet, but my recommendation is to keep both attached for convenience and the added protection they bring.Ĭlosing the keyboard turns off the Duet, and if you fold it around it also detects this to stop unintended button presses messing things up. Audio is a little on the quiet side, however. You can switch between windows or browser tabs without lagging, and you’ll also get no dropped frames when streaming video.Īs a device to consume Netflix or YouTube, the bright 400 nits display with 1920×1200 pixel resolution is fantastic. It’s responsive to your touch, gestures are smooth and easy to use. In all the ways that matter, the Duet delivers. Benchmarks aren’t everythingīenchmark wise, the Lenovo isn’t going to win any awards, but if there was ever a perfect example of why people argue benchmarks don’t tell the whole story, this is it. Given the flexible nature of the keyboard and stand, it probably won’t work too well when on an actual lap, but on a table or desk it’s solid with a non-slip surface on the underside of the keyboard keeping it firmly anchored. It supports Chrome OS gestures, which in tablet mode now mimics an Android device for even greater familiarity. It won’t take long for muscle memory to help you remember the positions.Įven the trackpad is responsive and smooth, offering a firm click when pressed. The keys are surprisingly good, with a nice curvature on each one, and even the narrower keys on the right-hand side (this is a 10.1-inch screen after all) are manageable. With the included keyboard and stand, you’ll come to see this as a fully functional laptop that can be stripped down and used as a tablet on occasion. But it can do a whole lot more too.Ĭhrome OS is a better environment for running Android apps, and the windowed nature and easy split-screen management of multiple apps is far better than an Android tablet. With a boot up time of 8 seconds, and instant on when in standby (just like your phone), it serves both purposes brilliantly. Given its price and specification, it’s understandable that most people would see this as a secondary device to get online quickly when crashed out on the sofa, or to watch a movie on a train journey or flight. Secondary specification, primary performance However you look at it, Lenovo has created something at an excellent price that is almost within ‘impulse purchase’ territory, like buying something like an Amazon Fire tablet (which, believe me, offers a far inferior display and performance). Well, actually, even then it seems impossibly cheap.Īn 8th generation ‘entry level’ Apple iPad is going to be more powerful, but with the iPad itself costing £329, and the smart keyboard costing £159 on top, that’s going to set you back over £200 more.Īpple will also charge you £89 for an Apple Pencil, which I mention because the Duet is one of the new generation of Chromebooks that will work with any USI stylus, making the Duet an option for notetaking and drawing. It also helps you understand why this can be sold for as little as £280, including the cover and keyboard. There’s not even a memory card slot, so if you need more storage you’ll need a USB-C flash drive.Īll of this might seem like a rather negative start to a review that’s supposing to be extolling the many virtues of this device – but there is a good reason not to raise expectations too high. There’s a last-gen MediaTek P60T octa-core chipset, 4GB of RAM and just 64GB or 128GB fixed storage. Indeed, it starts from the base of being a tablet that can run Android apps (with an ARM based chipset, it does this well compared to Intel ones), to having the additional benefit of working within the Chrome OS ecosystem. In the case of the Duet Chromebook, it isn’t trying to be a powerful alternative to a PC or Mac.
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