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

Lenovo has introduced a brand new Chrome OS pill at Cell 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 concerning 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.

In comparison with the bigger Duet 5, the Duet 3 bumps the display’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 could make the Duet 3 really feel a bit of extra pure to carry and look at in portrait mode. Essentially the most notable distinction between the 2, aside from measurement, is that the Duet 3 has an LCD as a substitute of an OLED — one of many Duet 5’s most alluring options.

Internally, a lot concerning the Duet 3 is much 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 house. It has two USB-C ports with video, knowledge, and charging capabilities, although you continue to received’t discover a headphone jack right here. Lenovo claims that the Duet 3 can final for 12 hours per cost.

Within the field, you’ll get a removable keyboard that Lenovo says has water resistant, 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 Could 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 loads in widespread with Acer’s Chromebook Spin 713, the reigning champ on the planet of Chromebooks, and the Flex 5i looks like an appropriate competitor, with a 16:10 side ratio IPS show, a generously sized trackpad, and what appears 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, 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 measurement, its chassis has room for extra keys, together with a full quantity pad. Every mannequin is available in a blue or silver colorway, although the precise hues range relying on the mannequin.

Whereas neither is flush with ports, the Flex 5i and 3i embrace one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, a USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port, and a microSD card slot on the left facet (it’s baffling that Lenovo didn’t embrace at the 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 facet, subsequent to its energy button and quantity rocker, whereas the 3i consists of 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 a bit of earlier, in Could, and can begin at $399.99.