The microphone sounds loud and clear with only a slight amount of background static, and the webcam video quality is great. Sadly, the touchpad doesn’t track very well, and the keyboard feels claustrophobic. Additionally, there are no 3.5mm headphone jacks and only two USB-C connections. Web browsing and text formatting are basic chores that its Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC (System on a Chip) can accomplish, but it isn’t the best choice for demanding workloads like photo or video editing. The Qualcomm Snapdragon SC7180 SoC, Qualcomm Adreno 618 integrated graphics, 4GB of memory, and 64GB of storage are all features of our Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5. The SoC cannot be customized. If you merely use your computer for light chores like watching videos and reading the web, 4GB of RAM should be sufficient. However, 8GB of RAM is recommended because it gives you more headroom if you frequently use many tabs or applications at once. also you can check our article on Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 review.
Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 review: Design
With its Alcantara-wrapped Surface products, Microsoft owes a lot of credit for popularizing fabric-based designs, but last year’s Lenovo Chromebook Duet and the Asus Chromebook Detachable CM3 took that appearance to a more accessible price point. The Duet 5, despite having a keyboard and a back cover made of magnetic cloth, doesn’t quite pull off the aesthetic as well. The stitched finish of the original Chromebook Duet or Detachable CM3, which was a large part of their appeal to us, is likewise absent from this dark “Abyss Blue” color. Despite having a stippled surface that reminds me more of denim, the Duet 5 fabric is still considerably more comfortable to wear than cold aluminum. Putting aside aesthetics, the keyboard and cover do a remarkable job of converting this Chrome OS tablet into a fantastic laptop. The display can be set up at virtually any angle thanks to the hinged support on the back cover, which also securely holds it in place. We’ll go into more detail about the keyboard later, but with the Duet 5 on our lap, we were astonished at how nicely this setup performed. We had no trouble typing with the Duet 5 in that posture, despite the fact that detachable 2-in-1 laptops typically have that drawback.
Audio
The Duet 5 has four 1W speakers—two on each side—that provide stereo sound. Given the size restrictions, it won’t blow you away, but if you have realistic expectations, it’s a good experience. 5 Seconds of Summer’s “2011” filled our 12′ x 18′ testing room without distorting when we listened to it. Having said that, these speakers barely produce any bass response. More bass-heavy songs suffer as a result, even while the instrumentation and lyrics sound sharp. It’s great to listen to ambient music or watch films, but for more intensive activities, you should have some cordless headphones. also you will learn our article on Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 review.
Keyboard and touchpad
One of the main issues with the HP Chromebook x2 11 keyboard attachment is that it would never lay completely flat on the table, causing the entire deck to flex or wobble with practically every key press. Fortunately for Lenovo, the IdeaPad Duet 5’s keyboard attachment doesn’t have the same problem, providing a firmer and more consistent typing experience. However, compared to other laptop keyboards, its keys are still softer and shallower. Future upgrades should definitely include lighted keys with a clickier feel. The clickpad on the HP Chromebook x2 11 is a little bit smaller (10.5 x 6.2 vs. 11 x 6 cm). We don’t like how spongy and loud the feedback is. Drag-and-drop operations are made more challenging than necessary because it is easy to push down on the clickpad surface without the system detecting a click.
Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 review: Graphics
The Duet 5 was no exception, with its Snapdragon CPU outperforming the MediaTek ARM chip in the Asus and competing with the Celeron chip in the Samsung while being completely outclassed by the Core i3 in the Flex 5 Chromebook. It’s fine for opening a dozen tabs in a browser or running a single 1080p video or Android game, but it’s not powerful enough for multitasking on a serious level. Two additional Android tests concentrate on the CPU and GPU, respectively. Geekbench from Primate Labs simulates real-world applications like PDF rendering, speech recognition, and machine learning using all available cores and threads, whereas GFXBench 5.0 stresses-tests both low-level tasks like texturing and high-level, game-like image rendering that tests graphics and compute shaders. While GFXBench counts frames per second, Geekbench provides a numerical score (fps).
Display
We noticed something different as soon as we turned on the IdeaPad Duet 5. The 13.3-inch Full HD OLED display on the IdeaPad Duet 5 is another example of how much more lively and attractive OLED screens are than IPS displays. The display was more than bright enough for all of our working conditions, and the colours were pleasing and natural. The contrast was strong with deep, inky blacks. Our first issue is with its 16:9 aspect ratio, which seemed compressed and, as we previously said, isn’t nearly as useful in portrait mode as 16:10 and 3:2 displays. Even while there are still many 16:9 laptops and tablets being produced today, this is less than ideal. Next, the 13.3-inch display’s Full HD resolution was only passably good. A clearer screen would have been beneficial, especially for the writing because while black letters on a white backdrop stood out, it only did so partially. Although a higher quality monitor would have been nice, for $500, it’s hard to find fault. However, the majority of consumers will adore its display. The colours and contrast will appeal to even creative people who desire a Chromebook for viewing images and films. All save the most discerning pixel-peepers and those who frequently take notes with a pen will be pleased with this display.
Heat
The motherboard is positioned at the top edge of the machine, as is evident from the temperature maps. Hotspots on the front and rear can reach temperatures of up to 35 and 42 degrees Celsius, respectively, which is not dissimilar to the readings we took with the HP Chromebook x2 11. you can read our article on Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 review.
Performance
The Duet 5 has a stronger processing power than the model we looked at last year thanks to that combination of specifications. The Duet 5 scored 1677 on Geekbench 5, a benchmarking application that measures performance using mathematical puzzles. The most recent Android smartphones (which usually score over 3,000) are some distance ahead of that, but other Chromebooks are comparable. While it is slower than a Windows laptop, we discovered that it is more than adequate for daily work. It ran Chrome OS apps with ease and had no trouble playing back HD videos from either storage or YouTube. The majority of Android apps can also operate on it, albeit some only function in portrait mode since they don’t like the altered screen resolution. Popular programmes are also missing from Chrome OS: Office 365 on Chrome OS no longer receives support from Microsoft, which encourages users to use the online versions.
Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 review: Battery life
When it comes to battery life, OLED panels sometimes spell doom. But mostly because 4K resolution is what the majority of OLED laptops utilise. The 1080p screen used by the IdeaPad Duet 5 is coupled with a low-power Snapdragon CPU. Additionally, it included a 42 watt-hour battery, which is more than the 32 watt-hours of the HP Chromebook x2 11 and is a respectable number for a computer of this size. The duration of the detachable tablet’s charging piqued our interest. We received a welcome surprise. The IdeaPad Duet 5 outperformed the Chromebook x2 11 with a score of 15.5 hours in our web browsing test, which cycles through a number of well-known and taxing websites. With its 27 watt-hour battery and MediaTek Helio P60T ARM processor, the 10.1-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Duet lasted almost 13 hours. The IdeaPad Duet 5 was one of the longest-lasting devices we’ve tested, lasting a remarkable 21.75 hours in our video test that plays a local 1080p movie trailer. It outperformed the IdeaPad Duet’s 12.5 hours and the Chromebook x2 11’s 11 hours.
Configuration options
The Lenovo Duet 5 Chromebook is available in two different configurations. The standard model, which costs $429, has an OLED display, integrated graphics, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 1 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of eMMC storage (1920 x 1080 pixels). Our review item is the $499 model, which has the same display but more modern hardware, including an 8GB RAM and 128GB eMMC storage unit and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 processor. Storm Grey is the colour of the lower-end model; Abyss Blue is the colour of the higher-end model only. The snap-on keyboard and cloth back cover of the tablet share the same hue as its metal body.
Conclusion
Media consumption on the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 is excellent. It is a relatively portable device, and its battery can play video for well over seven hours at a time, which is long enough to watch a few full-length movies. It has an OLED panel that exhibits a clear image with deep, inky blacks, making it an excellent option for watching in a dark environment. The speakers are loud enough, but they have an artificial sound. You must use wireless headphones or a third-party adapter because there isn’t a 3.5mm headphone jack or a USB-C audio adaptor in the box. Also, although supporting wide gamut, it cannot play any HDR content.
