![Lenovo Chromebook Duet Stylus Pen, BoxWave [AccuPoint Active Stylus] Electronic Stylus with Ultra Fine Tip for Lenovo Chromeb](https://images-fe.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61FG2HvBKkL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
TLDR: great screen, zippy enough for basic web browsing, but no expandable storage and odd size/keyboard make it a tablet first and laptop second - it is too much of a direct iPad competitor, which arguably does tablets much better.
More detail:
Just got my device delivered today, on the 8th. Unfortunately it has a dead pixel smack in the middle of the screen, so it's not a keeper. Otherwise, it's a pretty impressive quality build, sturdy and pleasant.
As you will see below, the Duet does everything decently well, but ultimately I think users will struggle with how to use it best. Is it a tablet? Is it a laptop? It feels more of a tablet, but if so - why not buy a same-priced lower end iPad which is years ahead on touch sensitivity, responsiveness, and overall user experience?
I think Lenovo really missed out by not including a microSD card slot. I would have loved a slightly more powerful Intel or better MediaTek processor. A higher price could have justified those two things. It's not a device you will want to hook up to a larger monitor and keyboard, and it's too small for real work productivity - it works in a pinch on a flight, but it's no laptop replacement. And as a tablet, it's kind of a mediocre one. Let's break it down in detail:
THE GOOD:
- The screen: it's bright (advertised at 400 nits) and colors look great. Viewing angles are mediocre, you lose a lot of brightness and contrast by tilting it up/down/left/right, but straight on it looks fantastic. Asus, if you are listening, please upgrade your mediocre panels (in $1,000 Chromebooks!) to something like this.
- Build: solid, very pleasant to hold. Lenovo got the right balance between size and weight for the tablet. It even looks like a very high end device, with nice straight edges, rounded corners, and a glass front. The magnets work well, the backing is very solid, and the folding piece is sprung well, very tight. The keyboard attaches firmly, no major issues there.
- Battery life so far seems to be good. The nice bright screen drains a bit when playing video content / browsing the web. On standby it seems to do very well. Need to do more testing in use, but I'd guess Lenovo's claims of 8 hrs web browsing and 10 hrs video playback are probably about right. I charged it once on Friday and have been using it all weekend on and off, it's down to about 50% now.
THE "OK":
- Keyboard/trackpad: good inputs, registers all your keystrokes well, and the trackpad (albeit tiny) is smooth and precise. That said, it's all very small, and requires a solid flat surface to work well (otherwise the hinge wants to fold and make the Duet think it's in tablet mode). You can't really hold this in your lap, aside from a few keystrokes here and there. So this isn't a laptop (and Lenovo doesn't market it as such), but a folio keyboard. My hands are pretty tiny, and I felt cramped on it.... you won't want to write novels on this. Also, the backing and keyboard together are quite thick and heavy, doubling the weight of the entire device.
- Speed: it's a MediaTek CPU, and it performs about as you'd expect. Games worked great (I played Fallout Shelter and SBK16, both of which worked the same as on the much faster i5 Asus C436). For web browsing, it's usually zippy enough for most websites, and the overall experience is OK. It will stutter here and there, but once things load, the scrolling is generally smooth. I had 8+ tabs open, some with video content, and it held in OK. That said, some websites take a long time to load (compared to the Intel-powered Chromebooks). It can't play 4K YouTube content (which is fair, it's a small screen and 1080p looks great), and it doesn't have enough oomph to push pixels to any respectable external monitor - best it could do was 1080p at 24 fps, and 720p at 60 fps, which looked terrible on my Dell 27 inch monitor. But it does plays online and on-storage media just fine, as long as it's 1080p or lower.
- Tablet experience: so so... It seems to be sluggish in tablet mode, pages take longer to load, and sometimes Facebook doesn't know what I clicked and opens the wrong thing (especially with mediocre WiFi connection). Also, tabs are hard to switch as Chrome goes full screen in tablet mode I don't like that. I'm hoping this is early software and the sluggishness may be fixed with further updates, as it seems to be zippier with the keyboard attached.
THE BAD:
- Ports: you get one USB-C port, and that's it. No audio out, no microSD. I think the lack of a microSD reader is a huge miss. I use a microSD card religiously on my Chromebooks - for viewing GoPro footage, and just as expanded storage for media. You are constrained here to 64/128 GB. Which is an odd move, likely one to save on cost. To me, this makes a potentially versatile device very constrained and iPad-like. I don't want to carry a dongle around with me for extra media storage. This won't be an issue for everyone, but then again if you are buying a Chromebook instead of an iPad, you are probably more of a power user - so you may miss having a microSD reader. Also would note that there were mixed reports out there - some said the Duet had a microSD, some said it did not... so I had to check personally.
Nothing else really bad per se... but it's a bummer that we can't push the ports, speed, or tablet experience categories into the GOOD bucket. Let's see if people end up finding a good use for this device.
| Brand | Lenovo |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Lenovo |
| Series | Lenovo Chromebook Duet |
| Colour | Ice Blue + Iron Grey |
| Form Factor | Chromebook |
| Item Height | 0.29 inches |
| Item Width | 6.29 inches |
| Standing screen display size | 10.1 Inches |
| Display resolution | 1920x1200 pixels |
| Resolution | 1920 x 1200 Pixels |
| Processor Brand | MediaTek |
| Processor Count | 1 |
| RAM | 4 GB |
| Memory Technology | DDR4 |
| Computer Memory Type | DDR4 SDRAM |
| Maximum Memory Supported | 4 GB |
| Memory Clock Speed | 2400 MHz |
| Hard Disk Description | Flash memory solid state |
| Hard Drive Interface | Solid State |
| Graphics Coprocessor | Integreted |
| GPU | MediaTek |
| Graphics Card Description | Integrated |
| Graphics RAM Type | L2 cache |
| Graphics Card Interface | Integrated |
| Wireless communication technologies | Wi-Fi |
| Wireless Type | 801.11ac |
| Power source type | Battery Powered |
| Hardware Platform | Chrome |
| OS | Chrome OS |
| Average Battery Standby Life (in hours) | 10 Hours |
| Average Battery Life (in hours) | 10 Hours |
| Are Batteries Included | Yes |
| Lithium Battery Energy Content | 7000 Milliampere Hour (mAh) |
| Lithium Battery Packaging | Batteries contained in equipment |
| Number Of Lithium Ion Cells | 2 |
| Manufacturer | Lenovo |
| Item model number | ZA6F0031US |
| Product Dimensions | 23.98 x 15.98 x 0.74 cm; 449.06 Grams |
| ASIN | B0856QVM2F |
