Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 review: A portable and versatile ChromeOS tablet

While most users have avoided Chromebook tablets and detachable models like the plague, I’ve been a longtime user of one. I’ve spent much of the past five years writing and surfing the web on my 2018 HP Chromebook x2 12, where I’ve watched the ChromeOS tablet experience slowly improve. While I struggle to find a use case for the tablet functionality other than signing an occasional document, the versatility is nice. I love my HP Chromebook x2 12, but it is starting to show its age, which is why the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 (2024) intrigues me so much.

While it’s not a Chromebook Plus device, the Duet 11 is a smaller, updated take on one of the best Chromebook devices available. It’s portable and great value, but it has some performance issues and size constraints.

Price, availability, and specs

A versatile budget Chromebook option

The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 (2024) starts at $360 for the 4GB model and $400 for the 8GB model. It is available at Best Buy and Lenovo. The compatible Lenovo USI Pen 2, which I did not receive with my review unit, is sold separately and costs $50, but is often on sale for less. Depending on where you purchase it from, you may be able to find the Duet and the Pen 2 bundled together.

What’s good about the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 (2024)?

Great portability with a beautiful screen

First and foremost, I just want to say that I find the Duet 11 innately adorable and fun to use. I can’t really explain why, but every time I look at it, I just want to pick it up and use it. It’s also great that it comes with the cover, keyboard, and charger in the box for no additional charge. It is a little disappointing that the pen is not included, but you can’t win them all.

The Duet 11 has a lot going for it, the most obvious of which is the beautiful screen. It sports a 10.95-inch 2K WUXGA (1920 x 1200) display with a 16:10 screen ratio and a 400 nit peak brightness. These numbers and letters translate into a very crisp display with beautiful colors and great brightness, ideal for browsing, watching videos, and more.

If you want to do tablet things, the Duet 11 is compatible with any USI 2.0 stylus. However, a Lenovo USI Pen 2 will give you a “paper-like writing experience” and extra functionality. The Duet also has a nice spot for the Pen 2 to attach magnetically to the back of the Duet and fit right into the case, which is a nice touch. Unfortunately, I couldn’t test this since my review model did not include the Pen 2.

I’ve often found that Android and ChromeOS tablet cameras are not good. The pictures they take are usually grainy, don’t capture much detail, and only work in the best of light. Really, all I’ve found them to be good for is scanning documents, and even then, the results vary wildly. You could say most of the same about the cameras on the Duet 11, but they’re definitely better than most tablets. Don’t get me wrong — the 8MP rear shooter is certainly not better than your smartphone’s camera, but it can take serviceable photos. It’s also very capable of scanning documents, which I expect to be the main use case.

Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 camera reel

The front-facing 5 MP camera is not the most amazing front-facing camera I’ve ever used. Still, it’s definitely better than average and is more than capable of recording a video or attending a video meeting. It’s pretty comparable to the camera on an Asus Chromebook Plus CX34, which has a great front-facing camera. The stand-out feature here is the physical privacy shutter, which is made of sturdy aluminum and locks into place reassuringly.

The versatility and portability of the Duet 5 is the stand-out feature here. It’s compact and lightweight, which makes it incredibly easy to carry around. The kickstand design is pretty useful since the hinge is thicker on one end than the other. This means it can be used to prop up the device in portrait or landscape orientation. When the device is propped up in portrait orientation, the screen is tilted back slightly due to the design of the hinge, which is very well thought through. Using the device in portrait orientation can be useful for note-taking, playing games, or consuming YouTube shorts or TikToks.

While they’re not the bassiest, the speakers are incredibly loud and sound great whether you’re watching a YouTube video or listening to music on Spotify.

In addition to the hinge enabling different orientations, the placement of the dual USB-C ports is ideal for switching modes. When using the device in landscape orientation, there is a USB-C port on the left side of the device to make it easy to charge. When using the device in portrait orientation, there is a USB-C port on the right side. Having the ports in multiple places means charging the device or plugging in accessories is easy in either orientation and won’t pull the device over. Charging with the USB-C ports won’t be common since I’ve gotten about 12 hours of battery life out of the device, which is great.

Speaking of the sides of the Duet, there is also a 3.5mm audio/microphone jack on the left side of the device and 1W speakers on the left and right of the device. With a device this small, I was worried that the speakers would be one of the trade-offs for the sake of portability, but that is not the case. While they’re not the bassiest, they’re incredibly loud and sound great whether you’re watching a YouTube video or listening to music on Spotify.

What’s bad about the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 (2024)?

Portability has its downsides

While I am a fan of the portability of the Duet 11, it does have some trade-offs. The keyboard, while solid and compact, has a difficult size and layout for someone with large hands like me to type on. I often find myself mistyping words or keyboard shortcuts because my hands are so cramped on the keyboard. I understand that being portable means that the keyboard has to be small, but I honestly find it hard to believe that an adult can type for long periods on this keyboard. It has almost the opposite issue of the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE (2024), which I felt had too large a keyboard for me to use reasonably.

It’s nice that the keyboard, pen, and cover case attach via magnets, but I haven’t found them strong enough to be reliable. I can’t even count the number of times that I’ve gone to open the kickstand and accidentally popped off the cover. Snapping it back on again is easy, but it shouldn’t pop off as easily as it does. I had a similar issue with the keyboard. If you pick up the tablet and shake it even a tiny bit, like when walking across a room, it falls off pretty easily. These items need to be connected to the tablet to prop it up or type with it, so it’s important that they’re connected as solidly as possible.

Another minor annoyance is how difficult it is to open the device. There’s no convenient handle or notch to help open it. Given the tablet’s weight and the cover’s looseness, getting a good grip is hard. I’ve tried opening it from various angles, but it requires a lot of force, making it challenging to open with just one hand.

My biggest frustration with the Duet 5 is using it on a non-flat surface. The sturdiness of the kickstand and keyboard quickly fall apart when used on a lap or while lying down with my legs propped up, which is how I most often use my computers. Tablet-first two-in-ones have historically struggled with this, but I can’t help being disappointed anyway. If I’m lying down with my legs propped up, the 50-degree range of motion of the hinge makes it difficult to use the Duet 11 without straining my neck or knocking the device over. If the hinge worked more like the Microsoft Surface Pro’s, I think it would be much more useful. I also find the flexible connecting fabric between the keyboard and tablet to add to the frustration with the device, much like the Pixel Slate years ago.

I have also run into periodic performance issues with the Duet 11. The MediaTek Kompanio 838 is a great processor that works well most of the time, but it’s not without performance issues. I’ve often found it a bit laggy and slow when doing complex tasks and switching between apps frequently. There have also been numerous instances where I’ve turned on the device, tapped on an app or pinned website on my Shelf, and nothing happened. No matter how many times I clicked or tapped on the app or website and tried to open it, it never worked. After a restart, the device started working as expected, but it still happens more often than I’d like. This could be a ChromeOS software issue, but the device has the most recent stable update, so I’m not sure exactly what’s causing it.

Should you buy it?

Good value for the money

ChromeOS tablets are a hard sell because there’s not a great use case for them. I personally have not found a lot of use for a tablet, especially a ChromeOS tablet, so it’s not my form factor of choice. But if you’re an artist, sign a lot of documents, or just plan to consume a lot of content, then maybe a tablet makes sense. If you’re one of these people, the Duet 11 is probably the best Chromebook tablet out there.

If you don’t have a strong use case for a tablet, then I’d probably stick with a more traditional Chromebook. You can get some great Chromebooks with similar performance and specs for a similar price, like the Acer Chromebook Plus 515. You may be able to snag a slightly more expensive Chromebook Plus model with extra AI features on sale for a similar price, like the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus. Either way, a traditional Chromebook laptop will have a lot more usable keyboard and will be much easier to use in your lap than the Duet 5. While I find the Duet 5 to be a charming device, I suspect a clamshell Chromebook will be a better option for most people.