After years of half-hearted attempts, we’ve finally got a Chrome OS tablet that can go all the way.<\/p>\n
Chrome OS has had a tablet mode for a really, really long time, but dedicated Chrome OS tablets<\/a> have been few and far between. There have been some ugly, low-spec Chromebook tablets for the classroom, and then we had the HP X2 and the Google Pixel Slate. The X2 was a detachable, but it worked well, and while the Slate is powerful and (these days at least) stable, it was expensive, even more so once you added the kickstand case and keyboard you need to actually get work done at a reasonable speed.<\/p>\n This might be why when the Lenovo Chromebook Duet debuted at CES at the beginning of this year \u2014 I know, January feels like a century ago \u2014 it drew a lot of attention because it seemed like someone finally got it right and gave us the Chromebook tablet we deserved. It didn’t skimp on the storage like the education-oriented models. It came with a keyboard and kickstand in the box.<\/p>\n Best of all, it came at the reasonable price we expect for a mid-range Chromebook or tablet: $279-$299 depending on your storage option. The only question most of us had left is whether or not it could deliver the proper Chrome OS tablet experience we’ve been waiting years for.<\/p>\n I’m happy to say that, yes, the Duet is the Chrome tablet I’ve been dreaming of, and it’s the perfect couch companion for some casual research, reading, and Reddit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span> Bottom line<\/strong>: Leave your laptop in the home office and relax on the porch or the couch with this nifty little tablet. The battery will absolutely never leave you hanging and the screen is great, but there will be a few minute hangs and stutters every now and then.<\/p>\n $299 at Best Buy<\/a> The Duet is a 10.1-inch tablet with a relatively slim profile and bezels around the entire screen that are the perfect size for holding the tablet as you breeze through Twitter while relaxing on the couch or on the back porch. The screen can get bright enough to read outside so long as you’re not in full Florida sunshine, but I spent most of my time with the brightness either around 40% or down at minimum brightness when using it as an e-reader in bed.<\/p>\n I like the two-tone look to the back of the Duet, not that you’ll see it much. While I was more than willing to ditch the detachable keyboard for my reading and game sessions (I’m a sucker for Microsoft Solitaire Collection<\/a>), I usually kept the kickstand on because the fabric back offered a more comfortable grip for hours and hours of reading. This also allows for propping the kickstand up on my knees so that I don’t have to hold the tablet up the entire time.<\/p>\n This battery life is a dream come true.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Inside this tablet sits a 7,000mAh battery. I wasn’t sure that size battery would be able to keep up with me \u2014 I came from Chromebooks that usually have a 40Wh battery and last 8-11 hours on a charge \u2014 but I have been completely blindsided. Duet sips battery like a fine cognac; I got 3 days of use out of the box, and have consistently gotten 2-3 days per charge since then.<\/p>\n And I’m not talking light use with one or two tabs open and maybe an Android app when you’re not in Chrome. No, this was with 6-10 Chrome tabs consistently open, 1-3 apps in regular use, with 6-9 hours of use a day, with brightness ranging from 15-50% depending on which room I’m in at the time. If you intend to use this as a casual device \u2014 a few hours of reading here, a few hours of video there \u2014 you may see the battery last the better part of a week, but I can’t keep my hands off the Duet long enough to prove that yet.<\/p>\n The keyboard has been compared a lot to the keyboards we’ve see on a Microsoft Surface series detachable, but that’s being a bit too generous. The bar between the keyboard’s POGO pin attachment and the actual keys is too floppy, leaving the keyboard to slide around rather than neatly covering the keyboard when you have the Duet all folded up. This floppiness can also lead to some awkward angles when you’re using the keyboard attachment on your lap, but most of the time, it’ll be flat and straight as intended.<\/p>\n Microsoft also recognized that even if the keys end up being a little smaller, it’s still better to keep the same proportions for the keyboard rather than shrinking some columns more than others, the way Lenovo has. The keys on the Duet’s keyboard are about 85% of the size they’d be on other Chromebook keyboards \u2014 which in a 10-inch form factor was unavoidable \u2014 but Lenovo scrunched in the punctuation keys on the right side.<\/p>\n If you’re typing a lot of numbers that have a 0 or 9 \u2014 like prices \u2014 and use a lot of punctuation and brackets, then those super-narrow keys are going to prove annoying for the first few weeks of adjustment. If you were going to use a Duet as your only computer, I very strongly recommend getting a full-size keyboard<\/a> to use when you’re at your desk; I have a mechanical keyboard hooked up to my super-small docking station<\/a>, and it makes the Duet much more comfortable for longer periods of typing.<\/p>\n The trackpad here is small, but it’s big enough to do my two-finger right-clicks and three-finger gestures. It’s responsive, it’s the right amount of clicky when you press it down, and it does the job. I use the touchscreen most of the time because it’s just more intuitive, but the trackpad is there when I need it.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/sites\/androidcentral.com\/files\/styles\/large_wm_brw\/public\/article_images\/2020\/05\/lenovo-chromebook-duet-review-comics-couch.jpg?itok=ciCZQG7Q\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/sites\/androidcentral.com\/files\/styles\/large_wm_brw\/public\/article_images\/2020\/05\/lenovo-chromebook-duet-review-batgirl-leather.jpg?itok=pEL8yx-z\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAt a glance<\/h3>\n
Lenovo Chromebook Duet<\/h4>\n
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\n<\/span><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/sites\/androidcentral.com\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/article_images\/2020\/05\/lenovo-chromebook-duet-render-with-keyboard-kickstand.png?itok=-mo2NKy1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Good<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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The Bad<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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\nFrom $279 at Lenovo<\/a><\/p>\nFinally, a Chrome tablet done right<\/h4>\n
Lenovo Chromebook Duet Tablet shape, Chromebook smarts<\/em><\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/sites\/androidcentral.com\/files\/styles\/large_wm_brw\/public\/article_images\/2020\/05\/lenovo-chromebook-duet-review-back.jpg?itok=rFxTKQ8I\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/sites\/androidcentral.com\/files\/styles\/large_wm_brw\/public\/article_images\/2020\/05\/lenovo-chromebook-duet-review-kickstand-on-knees.jpg?itok=MOQwDPmv\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/sites\/androidcentral.com\/files\/styles\/large_wm_brw\/public\/article_images\/2020\/05\/lenovo-chromebook-duet-review-cover-and-keyboard.jpg?itok=4JjaXPuP\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/sites\/androidcentral.com\/files\/styles\/large_wm_brw\/public\/article_images\/2020\/05\/lenovo-chromebook-duet-keyboard-shrunken-keys.jpg?itok=L2x7xPFw\")
<\/a><\/p>\nLenovo Chromebook Duet Performance prowess and pitfalls<\/em><\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/sites\/androidcentral.com\/files\/styles\/large_wm_brw\/public\/article_images\/2020\/05\/lenovo-chromebook-duet-standing-desk-ac-homepage.jpg?itok=5-8mW78p\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/sites\/androidcentral.com\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/article_images\/2020\/05\/lenovo-chromebook-duet-review-new-tab-strip.jpg?itok=m2AfvDaB\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/sites\/androidcentral.com\/files\/styles\/large_wm_brw\/public\/article_images\/2020\/05\/lenovo-chromebook-duet-review-ports-kickstand.jpg?itok=BT7yChU6\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/sites\/androidcentral.com\/files\/styles\/large_wm_brw\/public\/article_images\/2020\/05\/lenovo-chromebook-duet-review-kolaches-for-scale.jpg?itok=Vgtd3jq8\")
<\/a> It’s quite the compact companion device.<\/p>\n![\\\"IT\u96fb\u8166\u88dc\u7fd2](\\\"http:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/logo2-2.png\\\"){kind=logo}