Why You Can Trust CNET Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 adds a larger OLED display to the Surface-like 2-in-1
One of our favorite little two-in-one Chromebooks has grown up.
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Lenovo's Chromebook Duet was and still is one of the best Chromebooks we tested over the past couple of years. The 10.1-inch detachable two-in-one Chromebook is small and inexpensive (you can get one for $230) but still had a premium look and feel, good battery life and decent performance for its price. The new Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 uses the same formula but it's bigger -- in size and price -- and, in all probability, better.
The two biggest changes are to the display and system-on-a-chip. The Duet 5 is built around a 13.3-inch, 1080p OLED touchscreen with 400-nit brightness and 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage. The larger display will make it better for doing work, and it also means the included keyboard cover is larger; the original Duet's keyboard was cramped for all-day use.
The Chromebook Duet 5 includes a detachable keyboard cover and a rear cover with a kickstand.
While OLED displays tend to hurt battery life, Lenovo says this should run for up to 15 hours. The Duet 5 also has two, USB-C ports to the Duet's one, which makes it a little easier to connect an external display and keep this charged up for travel.
For the SoC, Lenovo switched from a MediaTek Helio P60T to a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 Compute Platform for the Duet 5. The 10-inch Duet was fine but could get laggy at times. The Snapdragon should deliver improved performance for the 13-inch tablet and it can be paired with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of solid-state storage.
Read more: Best Chromebook in 2021: 8 best Chromebooks starting under $300
The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 is expected in October and will start at $430 in the US. (That converts to approximately £310 or AU$580.) That price includes the detachable keyboard and rear kickstand cover and possibly a USI pen in some packages.
Lenovo's Tab P12 Pro is an Android tablet made for getting work done.
For those who want to skip the Chrome experience and just stick with Android on their tablet, Lenovo also announced Wednesday the Tab P12 Pro. The Android tablet is built around a 12.6-inch AMOLED touchscreen with a 2,560x1,600-pixel resolution, 120Hz refresh rate and 600 nits of brightness.
Lenovo made the P12 for both entertainment and work, and includes a keyboard cover with a touchpad to help you get stuff done. You'll also be able to use the tablet as a wireless display with a Windows PC with the company's Project Unity framework. Just enter a PIN number to connect to the tablet and you'll be able to extend or mirror your Windows desktop while simultaneously running Android apps.
The Lenovo Tab P12 Pro will be available in October starting at $610 (about £440 or AU$830) direct from Lenovo's website.