Lenovo’s IdeaPad Duet 3 is a mid-sized Chrome OS pill

Lenovo has introduced a brand new Chrome OS pill at Mobile World Congress 2022 that looks like a stellar worth, together with a wave of different promising Chromebooks in its IdeaPad productiveness lineup. The IdeaPad Duet 3 pill appears to ship extra of what we preferred in regards to the 13-inch Duet 5 pill, however smaller. It’s an 11-inch pill, which ought to make it simpler to lug round, and to carry in your fingers. Lenovo says it’s the successor to the favored 10.1-inch Duet from 2020.

Compared to the bigger Duet 5, the Duet 3 bumps the display screen’s decision from 1080p to 2K, whereas offering a barely taller side ratio at 5:3 in comparison with 16:9 within the Duet 5. This ought to make the Duet 3 really feel slightly extra pure to carry and think about in portrait mode. The most notable distinction between the 2, other than measurement, is that the Duet 3 has an LCD as an alternative of an OLED — one of many Duet 5’s most alluring options.

Internally, a lot in regards to the Duet 3 is just like the Duet 5. It runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 processor, and it may be configured with as much as 8GB of RAM and 256GB of inside area. It has two USB-C ports with video, information, and charging capabilities, although you continue to gained’t discover a headphone jack right here. Lenovo claims that the Duet 3 can final for 12 hours per cost.

In the field, you’ll get a removable keyboard that Lenovo says has waterproof, anti-pry keys. Sadly, the corporate nonetheless isn’t together with a stylus within the field, although its touchscreen show helps them.

Lenovo plans to launch the Duet 3 in May 2022, beginning at $399.99.

Chromebook energy customers who need 2-in-1 flexibility ought to preserve tabs on the 14-inch Flex 5i and 15.6-inch 3i. Their designs have so much in widespread with Acer’s Chromebook Spin 713, the reigning champ on this planet of Chromebooks, and the Flex 5i looks like an acceptable competitor, with a 16:10 side ratio IPS show, a generously sized trackpad, and what seems like promising efficiency: the 5i can go as much as Intel’s Core i5-1235U processor (the bottom configuration shares the Pentium 8505). The Flex 3i has a 16:9 side ratio display screen, and begins with a Celeron N4500 processor, however it may be bumped as much as the Pentium N6000.

The 5i presents fingerprint biometrics, together with a 1080p webcam (720p within the Flex 3i). Given the Flex 3i’s bigger display screen measurement, its chassis has room for extra keys, together with a full quantity pad. Each mannequin is available in a blue or silver colorway, although the precise hues fluctuate relying on the mannequin.

Image: Lenovo

While neither is flush with ports, the Flex 5i and 3i embody one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, a USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port, and a microSD card slot on the left aspect (it’s baffling that Lenovo didn’t embody at the very least one Thunderbolt 4 port for the higher-spec configurations). The 5i options yet one more USB-C (3.2 Gen 1) port on its proper aspect, subsequent to its energy button and quantity rocker, whereas the 3i contains one other USB-A port and an HDMI port.

The Flex 5i might be launched in June 2022, beginning at $499.99. The larger Flex 3i will come out slightly earlier, in May, and can begin at $399.99.