A smart little 2-in-1 detachable Chromebook
Shedding the stigma of small, cheap Chromebooks, the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 is a compact 2-in-1 detachable Chromebook that offers both laptop and tablet functions, though its battery life is disappointing.
The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook is a handy 2-in-1 twist on the Chromebook, updating the original Lenovo Chromebook Duet with new hardware, and taking much of what we love about the 13-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook and packaging it into a smaller 11-inch design. The Chromebook category has grown immensely in recent years, expanding with the growth of online schooling during the pandemic and encompassing more-premium designs that have helped shed the stigma of the small, cheap Chromebooks of years past.
But the 11-inch Lenovo Duet 3 Chromebook may help revitalize that compact, budget-friendly niche, combining a totable, 2-in-1 detachable design with the expanded capabilities of the latest version of Chrome OS. We just wish the battery life were better.
The Lenovo Duet 3 Chromebook eschews the standard laptop clamshell form factor that's so common among Chrome machines. Instead, it's a 2-in-1 detachable design, pairing an 11-inch tablet with a magnetically attached keyboard that doubles as a screen cover.
The keyboard cover is included with the tablet, which is a pleasant surprise given that many 2-in-1 designs, such as the Microsoft Surface Go 2, sell their keyboard separately. But the bigger surprise is that the keyboard, while small, offers a pretty great typing experience.
The keys are comfortably spaced and thoughtfully shaped, and the switches offer a bit more vertical travel than the average keyboard cover. It's similar in most respects to the keyboard covers used on more expensive Microsoft Surface tablets, like the Microsoft Surface Pro 8, with convenient magnetic attachment and square tiled keys that offer a surprisingly good typing feel.
The touchpad is quite small—not unexpected given the dimensions of the keyboard cover—but it seemed to track all of my gestures and taps accurately. And with a touch screen close at hand, the touchpad isn't the only option for touch interaction.
The Duet 3 also has a back cover with a built-in kickstand, providing you support for the tablet in lieu of a regular laptop hinge. It's a design that borrows more from the Microsoft Surface line of tablets than it does from the average Chromebook.
There's also a hole in the back cover, which accommodates a rear-facing camera. Embracing the unique aspect of the tablet design, Lenovo has outfitted the Duet 3 with front and rear cameras. The user-facing camera, which will be used for video chatting and other webcam functions, is a 5-megapixel camera. The rear facing camera, which can be used for capturing photos of the world around you, has a higher 8-megapixel resolution.
The Duet 3 is outfitted with a pair of USB-C ports, one on either side of the detachable-tablet half of the machine. But that's the extent of physical ports.
Those USB-C ports can be used for power, or can be used with an adapter for USB, HDMI, or Ethernet. And, you'll need to use those same USB-C ports for headphones. This means that you can either use a USB-C to headphone adapter, or you can use USB-C headphones. But simply plugging in a spare set of wired headphones is out of the question.
Additionally, the Duet 3 has support for both Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1 for wireless connectivity. (So, Bluetooth headphones are also an option.)
The 10.9-inch Duet 3 tablet has a glossy IPS panel featuring 2,000-by-1,200-pixel resolution, which looks quite good given the small size of the screen. The resolution is enhanced with a 400-nit backlight, which makes for vibrant colors and good visibility in all sorts of lighting conditions. It’s no match for the OLED display used on the larger Lenovo Duet 5, but it’s a fine showing given the size and price of the Duet 3.
As a tablet, the Duet 3 has a touch screen with multitouch support, and Lenovo does one better by offering stylus support as well. Unfortunately, though it supports USI 2.0 stylus pens, it doesn't come with one. Oddly enough, Lenovo doesn't list any compatible pens in its accessory finder tool, though it does sell one older USI pen(Opens in a new window) for Chromebooks for $34.99.
A pair of 1-watt stereo speakers offers adequate sound, so you can enjoy streaming a show on YouTube or Netflix. But the overall quality isn't fantastic, and we'd recommend a pair of wireless headphones—bearing in mind, of course that there is no headphone jack on the Duet 3.
While the display may be a bit small, the 2-in-1 tablet design offered on the Duet 3 may be the best collection of features for the modern ChromeOS experience. With a keyboard and touchpad for navigation, it works great for online-heavy laptop use, but the tablet functionality makes it especially great for Android apps, whether those are games or productivity tools.
When looking at systems to compare the Duet 3 against, we looked at both similarly configured 2-in-1 detachables, like the Asus Chromebook Detachable CM3 (CM3000), the HP Chromebook x2 (2021) and the Editors' Choice-winning Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook. But we also looked at another great 11-inch Chromebook, the kid-proofed Dell Chromebook 11 (3100) clamshell. All four of these options sit in the same $300-to-$400 price range, and several feature the same Qualcomm processing hardware as the Duet 3. Yet, despite the similarities, there were some notable differences in performance.
For Chromebook performance testing, we rely on three benchmarks—one native to Chrome OS, one Android-based, and one purely online. The first is Principled Technologies' CrXPRT 2, which measures everyday performance in a variety of common tasks such as applying photo effects, graphing a stock portfolio, analyzing DNA sequences, and generating 3D shapes using WebGL.
The second test, UL's PCMark for Android, runs a number of productivity benchmarks in a smartphone-style window. Finally, Basemark Web 3.0 is a browser-based test that combines low-level JavaScript calculations with CSS and WebGL content to measure the online productivity that's so central to the Chromebook experience. Higher scores are better in all three...
In both Chrome and Android tests, the Duet 3 pulled ahead of most competitors, leading the pack in CrXPRT 2 and falling just a half-step behind the bigger Lenovo Duet 5 Chromebook in PCMark. Curiously, this trend wasn’t reflected in Basemark, where the Duet 3 scored a respectable (but hardly leading) score of 255 points.
Next, we test a Chromebook's CPU and GPU performance directly using Primate Labs' Geekbench and GFXBench 5.0 respectively. The first simulates real-world applications ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning to stress multi-core processors. The second leverages a laptop's integrated graphics to test graphics and compute shaders in both low-level routines like texturing and high-level, game-like image rendering, with results measured in frames per second (fps).
Again, the Duet 3 offers slightly better-than-average performance in Geekbench and matching the best performance in GFXBench, making it a strong performer where it matters most.
Finally, we test Chromebook battery life with a looped video file, setting the screen brightness to 50% and disabling Wi-Fi, playing back a 720p video continuously until the battery is drained. We usually play this from a locally stored file, but when there isn’t enough local storage, we’ll play the video from an external SSD plugged into a USB port.
In our testing the Duet 3 lasted just over 6 hours, only a few minutes behind the HP Chromebook x2, but several hours behind the Asus Chromebook Detachable CM3 (CM3000) or the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook.
The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook isn’t the only 10- or 11-inch detachable 2-in-1 you can buy running Chrome OS, but it is a great option to consider if you’re in the market for a smart little tablet that doubles as a laptop. The system’s Qualcomm CPU delivered solid performance, and the overall design is versatile and portable.
We do wish it had some better connectivity options, like a headphone jack and at least one non-USB-C port, and the battery life isn’t much to brag about, but the overall package still manages to be better than expected, especially with such an attractive low price.
Shedding the stigma of small, cheap Chromebooks, the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 is a compact 2-in-1 detachable Chromebook that offers both laptop and tablet functions, though its battery life is disappointing.
Sign up for Lab Report to get the latest reviews and top product advice delivered right to your inbox.
This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
If you’re after laptop buying advice, I’m your man. I’ve been reviewing PCs and technology products for more than a decade. I cut my teeth in PC Labs, spending several years with PCMag.com before writing for other outlets, among them LaptopMag.com and Tom’s Guide. While computers are my main focus, I’ve also written at length about topics ranging from fitness gear and appliances to TV and home theater equipment. If I’ve used it, I have opinions about it, whether somebody’s paying me to write them up or not.
PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering lab-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.
© 1996-2022 Ziff Davis. PCMag Digital Group
PCMag, PCMag.com and PC Magazine are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of PCMag. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product or service, we may be paid a fee by that merchant.