This Little Lenovo Chromebook Is So Good, It's My Cheap Go-To for Work and Play

Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 (2024)

Pros

• Versatile design
• Great battery life
• Improved pen performance
• Camera privacy shutter
• Spill-resistant keyboard cover included

Cons

• Tricky to use on your lap
• Rear cover magnets could be stronger

The 11-inch Lenovo Chromebook Duet is a pen-enabled ChromeOS tablet with a detachable keyboard. It's one of the bestselling Chromebooks of all time, according to Google's John Maletis, vice president of ChromeOS product, engineering and UX. That doesn't surprise me in the slightest, considering its versatility and because of what you get for its $350 starting price. 

The first Duet arrived in the middle of the pandemic, and it was perfect timing. The compact tablet is a perfect, inexpensive secondary computer. It's small, so you can pick it up and use it anywhere to take a Zoom call, dash off a work email, order groceries or pay bills online. When you're done with work, you can pull off the magnetically attached keyboard and binge-watch some shows, play mobile games, listen to music or unwind with an ebook. 

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Also, since many school districts use Chromebooks, kids are familiar with how to use them, and they can easily log into their school accounts if necessary to access assignments (or play games or watch YouTube). Plus, with support for USI 2.0 pens, the Duet can be used for sketching or taking notes. What's funny is the Duet can do all of this with some pretty modest specs.

Also read: Chromebook vs. Laptop: What Can and Can't I Do With a Chromebook?

The 2024 Duet is built around a 2K-resolution 11-inch touchscreen with a 16:10 aspect ratio. Lenovo traded the Qualcomm system-on-chip that powered the last version from 2022 (called the Duet 3) for a new MediaTek SoC paired with either 4GB or 8GB of memory, integrated graphics and 128GB eMMC flash storage. The magnetic spill-resistant keyboard and kickstand cover are included, but the pen may or may not be, depending on the bundle you get. The one I tested came with 8GB of memory and Lenovo's USI Pen 2 for $400. That's full price, and Lenovo regularly runs sales. Lenovo's pen, which also attaches magnetically to the rear, is available separately, but any USI 2.0 pen will work too. 

Home office anywhere

The Duet 11's performance has improved with the new MediaTek chip, but this is still a Chromebook meant for basic, everyday tasks and entertainment. It can multitask, such as handling a Zoom chat while working on a slide deck, but if it has one too many tabs open, it'll start to get a little laggy. It's impressive that you get good, snappy performance in such a compact, lightweight design -- just drop the keyboard down and start working. The battery life is good, reaching 10 hours and 55 minutes on our streaming video rundown test. 

If you want the best ChromeOS performance and all of Google's AI-powered features like a laptop that can be your primary device, you'll want to spend $100 to $200 more for a Chromebook Plus model. Perhaps one like the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus 14, a convertible two-in-one laptop, or for something larger, the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE.

Watch this: Samsung's New Galaxy Chromebook Plus Has a First-of-Its-Kind Keyboard and Lenovo Revives Chromebook Duet

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Again, the Duet makes a killer secondary device, just like you might use an iPad or Android tablet. Unlike those, ChromeOS is a desktop operating system -- despite having access to the Google Play Store and Android apps -- so it's more capable for productivity. Once you remove the keyboard, the OS switches to a more touch-friendly version for use as a tablet. 

The keyboard is reasonably comfortable to use; it is pretty small, after all. If you regularly use a larger keyboard and switch to the Duet, it will likely take a few minutes of slow typing and corrections until you adjust. It's not backlit and there's no Bluetooth, so it can only be used attached to the Duet. The combo of the keyboard and kickstand cover makes it easy to set up and use on any flat surface. Using it on your lap is another story.

To be fair, it's rare that a detachable two-in-one can be used comfortably on a lap. The magnetic connection is strong enough to stay attached to the Duet while you do it but not so strong that you can hold it by the keyboard. The rear cover magnets could also stand to be a little stronger. I typically cross one of my legs and put the kickstand over my leg to keep devices like the Duet stable while typing on my lap. The Duet cover's angled kickstand combined with weaker magnets makes doing that more sketchy. 

Entertainment everywhere

The redesigned rear cover may not be ideal for lap use, but it makes it easy to stand the Duet vertically. This is good for reading or stacking apps, and it's also good for watching vertical videos and shooting them with the excellent rear 8-megapixel camera. (The front 5-megapixel camera is pretty great too, but it's on the landscape side, so it can be used for video chats when used as a laptop.)

The 11-inch full-HD display has good contrast and color, covering 72% of the NTSC gamut, which is about 100% sRGB. The display is also bright, hitting up to 400 nits, and while that won't fight off reflections entirely, it sure does help. The stereo 1-watt speakers are fine for video chats and passable for everything else. They do get loud, but with no bass to speak of, the audio sounds thin for things like movies and music. The good news is, after not having a headphone jack on its predecessor, Lenovo added one on the Duet 11. Plus, there's always the Bluetooth 5.1 connection. 

Paired with a good set of headphones (or Google's Pixel Buds, which will automatically connect with a Chromebook if they're synced to your Google account), the Duet is a sweet little device for streaming video, flipping through social feeds, listening to music and gaming. With gaming, you've got plenty to choose from in the Google Play Store. 

ChromeOS' Game Dashboard lets you quickly map touchscreen controls to a game controller or the keyboard and take quick screenshots. If you want to move beyond mobile games, the Duet works nicely with Nvidia GeForce Now and Microsoft Game Pass Ultimate for cloud gaming. 

The Chromebook Duet also has USI Pen 2.0 support, so if you get tired of all the other entertainment options, you can sketch (or, in my case, color) on it. Lenovo's magnetic USI Pen 2 has up to 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and tilt functionality. It also attaches so firmly to the back of the display that it can be used as a finger grip when holding the tablet. 

Should you get the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11? 

The Chromebook Duet remains an excellent option for an inexpensive basic laptop for travel and at home. As your main computer, its performance and size may be too limiting. If you're looking for something for pure mobility or as a secondary device, this is a smart choice. The $400 price for the bundle with 8GB of memory and pen is high, but it won't be long before Lenovo puts it on sale for less. Likewise, for the Best Buy configuration, which is regularly $380, I would expect it to go on sale eventually for closer to $300.