Lenovo IdeaPad Duet

5owners with an opinion

80%of verdicts positive

2/1positive/negative since 2024

0happy after 3+ years

Praised for display and performance; criticized for reliability.

Where people moved

Came here from

Google Nexus1

What people wrote

Likes it

Note that postmarketOS is proper Linux . It runs almost-perfectly (sans camera) out-of-the-box on most Duets, and has for a while. Once you enable developer mode in ChromeOS, the install process is just like a PC laptop. The article seems like more of a sidequest to (promote AI and) install Ubuntu specifically by getting uboot and a UEFI environment, but postmarketOS doesn't need that because it can boot from ChromeOS' bootloader. Installing postmarketOS on my Duets (homestar and wormdingler) was probably the best decision I've made with those devices, and they might be some of the best arm64 devices of that form factor to run Linux on.

Likes it

Cool but my Duet is the later generation with MediaTek Kompanio 838 :( I really like the form factor. I use my PC at home and corp laptop for work, and I don't need another powerhouse laptop. A lightweight 2-in-1 tablet works well for me. But I never found an OS doing well in both desktop and tablet modes. Most Windows and Linux apps are for desktop. ChromeOS with ArcVM is supposed to work but the performance is terrible. I hope Android desktop mode would do better.

Doesn’t like it

My personal (probably non-representative) experience with ChromeOS vs. Android: my ChromeOS device (a Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 2-in-1 Chromebook) tends to get extremely unresponsive (i.e. hangs itself up for minutes before responding again, or just spontaneously reboots) the longer it runs without being rebooted, to the point that I eventually have to hard reset it after about a week of on-and-off use. I basically only use the browser on it (but with lots of tabs open). This never happened to me on any of the many Android phones/tablets I had. Maybe it's some bug in how newer ChromeOS versions work on this by now pretty old device, but it's still annoying as hell...

Likes it

I use the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook (picked it up for $279 from Best Buy) and it is pretty amazing. OLED screen, ARM performance that's pretty good, a tablet that comes with a keyboard. It's a great Chromebook for on the go stuff.

Recommends it

Lenovo Duet: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/student-chromebo... This became my primary tablet after my Nexus 7 died. It's $300 1080p 10.1" tablet/convertible ChromeOS device. For reading books & comics, detaching the cover & keyboard gives me a lightweight e-reader. A 1440p screen would be nicer, but the 222 dpi screen is good enough for me. Depending on the density of text in your docs & your eyesight, you may need zoom in at this resolution. Since it's a Chromebook with a keyboard & Linux, I can use it as my only travel device instead of bringing a laptop with me. It also has Android app & stylus (+$40) support so it's my primary video & sketching device.