We live in a world where people no longer use just a single device. While the primary device many find themselves using is their phones, people tend to adapt to different devices as they go about their busy schedules — from phone to laptop to desktop to tablet. As platforms evolve, you’ll find that the software adapts to the hardware and vice versa. In a similar sense, Chrome OS has come a long way since the Google CR-48 — you are no longer confined to “just the Chrome browser” and the interface has transformed to fit the varying types of devices that we use on a daily basis. Enter the Lenovo Chromebook Duet: a 2-in-1 Chromebook tablet that attempts to be an entertainment and productivity device all in one package.
Specs
| SoC | MediaTek Helio P60T |
| RAM | 4GB |
| Storage | 64 or 128GB |
| Display | 10.1-inch 1920×1200 IPS |
| Battery | 7,000 mAh |
| Cameras | 8MP rear camera, 2MP front camera |
| Software | Chrome OS, with updates until at least 2028 |
| Measurements (tablet only) | 9.44×6.29×0.29-inch, 0.99 lbs |
| Price | From $279 (includes keyboard and cover) |
Hardware, speakers, and display
The Lenovo Chromebook Duet is indeed a single product, but this single product encompasses three parts — a tablet, a back cover, and a keyboard. At the core, you have the tablet: a rectangular-shaped, aluminum-built, slate. As far as tablet hardware goes, the Chromebook Duet itself is a solid looking device. The aluminum build felt premium enough in hand and the accented baby blue plastic strip, which covers the top third or so part of the back, provides a bit of flair in a world where tablets are just single colored aluminum or plastic slabs. The Chromebook Duet has a decent amount of bezel (albeit not the worst I have seen) to hold the device, and the rounded corners provide an extra bit of comfort when holding for prolonged periods. By itself, the tablet weighs just under 1lb and I never once felt like my hand was getting tired or cramped. For the most part, the Chromebook Duet is a well-built device. I did find that — at least on my device — there was some flex and creaking when holding the top bezel where the plastic portion of the back rests. It’s nothing too crazy that hinders the experience, but it is something worth mentioning.
You’ll find the volume rocker, power button (which is ridged for easy access), and the single USB Type-C port on the right side of the device. Most Chromebooks have USB Type-C ports on both sides. This was definitely missed on the Chromebook Duet, particularly when I wanted to charge and listen to audio. That’s right — there is no 3.5mm headphone jack on the Chromebook Duet. You’ll have to either get yourself a pair of Bluetooth headphones or utilize the included USB Type-C to 3.5mm adapter that comes in the box. At the top of the Chromebook Duet, you’ll find some machine drilled holes for the stereo speakers. The speakers, which are tuned by Dolby Audio, get fairly loud and offer decent separation. The bass is almost nonexistent and the highs and lows are quite flat. The speakers are not going to wow you, but they will get the job done when watching movies or listening to the occasional song or two. There is also a 2MP webcam and an 8MP autofocus camera on the Chromebook Duet. Both are terrible — don’t use them if you absolutely don’t need to. Period.
The display is a 10.1-inch FHD IPS panel at a resolution of 1920 x 1080. It’s not a bad panel, to say the least. Lenovo says that the display covers only 70% NTSC, but in my usage, I found that colors popped, text was sharp, and the 400-nit rating provided enough visibility in bright scenarios. As an entertainment device, you need to have a good display. Lenovo hits the mark here and you’ll have no problem enjoying videos, games, or text on this display. The display also offers support for USI (Universal Stylus Initiative) styli, but you’ll have to purchase that separately. I would’ve liked to see Lenovo go with a 3:2 aspect ratio display. However, the slightly taller 16:10 display is definitely less awkward to hold vertically than a device with a 16:9 aspect ratio. If I had to knock one last thing about the display, it would have to be the oleophobic coating on the front glass. It is poor and the device picks up fingerprints very easily. Nothing a screen protector or quick wipe down can’t fix, but a tad bit annoying to say the least.
Back cover
As I mentioned, the Chromebook Duet comes in three parts. The second part is the back cover. The back cover is made of hard plastic but is covered in a gray fabric material that provides added grip when magnetically attached to the slippery aluminum back. The cover also has a kickstand mechanism built in that allows you to prop and adjust the device at pretty much any angle. The kickstand worked well and was very stable in my usage. I did find that the hinge on the cover to be very rigid — almost to a fault. Trying to separate the kickstand from the cover was a chore at times. I also didn’t like how heavy the tablet felt in hand with the back cover attached. I definitely preferred using the tablet by itself rather than with the cover attached.
Keyboard and trackpad
The final component of the Lenovo Chromebook Duet is the keyboard and trackpad. Put together with the tablet and back cover, the entire package weighs just over 2 pounds — definitely less weighty than the Pixel Slate and keyboard! The keyboard on the Chromebook Duet is made out of an almost rubberized plastic. While the keyboard is full-sized, you’ll notice that Lenovo shrunk some of the keys so that they fit the body of the device. On a device this size, there is pretty much no getting around shrinking the keys. There was a little adjustment when typing, but I got used to it fairly quickly. In fact, it took me just a couple of hours to adjust. Lenovo says the keys carry 1.2mm travel and I found that to be accurate. There is also no backlighting on the keys. That might irk some, but it wasn’t an issue for me. The trackpad is also made of plastic and like with the keys, Lenovo had to make some sacrifice. It is small and cramped and I found, at times, that my palms would accidentally click the trackpad when typing. Still, the trackpad worked fairly well in my usage. It followed my finger well enough and the multi-finger gestures worked just fine. To sum up the keyboard — it’s not the greatest keyboard in the world, but for a device this size it is almost perfect. It can be fairly easy to type out a word document or navigate the web. In fact, this review was typed all on the Chromebook Duet!
Performance and battery life
The Lenovo Chromebook Duet comes with a Mediatek Helio P60T octa-core processor with ARM G72 graphics and 4GB of RAM. Let’s get this out of the way — the Chromebook Duet is no speed demon. I hate running benchmarks so I’ll just tell you how the Chromebook Duet performed in everyday usage. As a media consumption device, the Chromebook Duet is fast enough. You could easily open about 5-8 Chrome tabs and have an Android app or two running in the background without the device coming to a complete halt. That’s not to say that you won’t see some stuttering here or there, but the device chugged along fairly well. Websites loaded and rendered pretty quickly and video playback was smooth. You will, however, notice some dropped frames on 60 FPS videos. It wasn’t too much of a hindrance but something worth noting. Pinch to zoom was also smooth, but I did find scrolling to be a bit jumpy at times.
I tested out a couple of games such as Call of Duty Mobile and Mortal Kombat. These games are fairly graphic intensive, but they loaded quickly and ran smoothly. I was surprised that gaming was this smooth, especially when I had a couple of Chrome tabs open in the background. Most of the Android apps I downloaded worked pretty well too, with little to no crashing — the benefits of having an ARM-based SoC. Additionally, I tested a couple of Linux applications such as LibreOffice and GIMP. They worked pretty well. It takes a little bit for the Linux container to get up and running, but once loaded, the apps opened up fairly fast. You can easily type up a word document or edit a spreadsheet in LibreOffice, as well as touch-up a relative sized image or two in GIMP. Now, if I’m being honest, I wouldn’t purchase the Chromebook Duet if you plan on using intensive Linux applications or running dozens of Chrome tabs. It’s simply just not equipped to be a workhorse. However, if you treat the Chromebook Duet as a secondary companion device for things such as media consumption, Android gaming, and document creation, you’ll find that the device more than keeps up.
With an ARM processor, you expect great battery life out of the Chromebook Duet and Lenovo doesn’t disappoint. Lenovo claims up to 10 hours of battery life. In my usage, I found this to be more than accurate. I easily got 2-3 days of usage out of the Chromebook Duet. On the third day, I found that I still had about 20-30 percent battery remaining. This little thing just did not die! The device also charges via USB Type-C (a 10W charging adapter is included) and supports USB Power Delivery, so you can use any supported charger to quickly get some more juice.
Chrome OS
As I mentioned, Chrome OS has come a long way. Chrome OS on the Chromebook Duet is simple, fast, and secure — just as you would expect on any other Chromebook. The Chrome OS team has adapted the interface to fit the tablet form factor and it is much better than in prior years. When detached, you’ll find that apps open up full screen with no title bar, icons are larger for easy tapability, and you have the ability to multitask by split screening supported apps in overview mode.
Gestures are a big thing on modern mobile devices and Chrome OS now includes gestures out of the box on tablet form-factor devices. A swipe up on the shelf brings up the quick app launcher, another quick swipe up brings you to the home screen/app launcher, and a swipe up and hold brings up an overview of all your open applications. You can also swipe from the left side to go back on a page or within an application. The back gesture doesn’t work by swiping from the right side like on Android. This is intentional so as to not break the page forward gesture in the Chrome browser. I found that gestures offered a natural way of navigating and I was in familiar territory when moving from my phone to tablet. I did, however, wish the gestures were more smooth. I always felt a bit of jank, especially when entering overview mode. With that being said, Chrome OS still has a ways to go on tablets. For example, the app drawer is disorganized and there is currently no way to sort your apps from A-Z.
There are also multiple setting applications — one dedicated to Chrome OS and one for Android. It just makes the Chrome OS-Android experience seem disconnected. The lock screen can also use more fine-tuning when it comes to log-in options. The pin option is secure, but I hate having to type it every time. Perhaps, some sort of pattern lock can be implemented. This is not a knock on Chrome OS itself, but some form of biometric login — whether that be fingerprint or face unlock — should be the default on all Chrome OS devices going forward.
You won’t find the perfect tablet experience on the Chromebook Duet, but with updates every six weeks and the Duet having an auto-update policy until at least 2028, you should see some more improvements as the team continues to fine-tune the experience.
Final thoughts
Should you purchase the Lenovo Chromebook Duet? I went through this entire review without mentioning one very important thing — price. The Lenovo Chromebook Duet starts at $279 for the 64GB model, but you should really purchase the 128GB model that is just $20 more at $299. While I preferred to use the Chromebook Duet as just a stand-alone tablet due to the lightweight form factor, the included fabric cover and keyboard come in handy when you need to do something more productive than just watching YouTube or playing games. If you temper your expectations and use the Chromebook Duet as anything but your primary computing device, then the answer to the question is wholehearted — yes. The Lenovo Chromebook Duet simply offers the best value you can get out of every device on the current market with the same form factor and most would be happy to use it over any other Android tablet.
Purchase Lenovo Chromebook Duet, 128GB from Best Buy (reg. $299)
