Lenovo reboots Chromebook Duet with 13.3-inch OLED display

More than a year after its unveiling, Lenovo’s class-defining Chromebook Duet gets a sequel. The Chromebook Duet 5 (as the Chromebook IdeaPad Duet 5 outside of North America) is a head-to-toe reinvention of the budget-focused removable Duet, with a higher price tag, new processor, and more interestingly, a 13.3- inch OLED screen.

Lenovo says the Duet 5 is likely the first of several additions to the Duet lineup, in an ambitious effort to bring the detachable form factor to multiple price points. The company will continue to sell the 10.1-inch Duet (for now).

The new OLED display covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, according to Lenovo, and will emit “70% less blue light” than an LCD display, in an effort to deliver “incredible entertainment experiences.” OLED has long been a symbol of luxury in the PC space, and with a starting price of $ 429.99, the Duet 5 will undoubtedly be one of the most affordable laptops ever to feature this technology.

This Chromebook is one of a wave of thin and light OLED laptops recently unveiled in the industry. Lenovo has also added Windows-powered OLED models to its IdeaPad line, and Asus has equipped a number of its consumer and business lines (including its budget VivoBook and ultraportable ZenBook) with this technology. The OLED craze didn’t come out of nowhere; Samsung (the world’s largest OLED supplier) announced in January that it will start mass-producing 90Hz OLED displays the size of a laptop computer this year.

Image: Lenovo

The Chromebook Duet 5 will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 compute platform, announced in May. This chip is designed for entry-level laptops and recently appeared in Samsung’s $ 349 Galaxy Book Go. Reviewers have found it to be a bit slow so far, but Chrome OS is less demanding to run than Windows.

The detachable form factor, most commonly associated with Microsoft’s Surface Pro devices, has appeared on a variety of laptop lines this year. Asus is now selling the Detachable CM3 Chromebook, a direct (albeit more expensive) competitor to the Duet with a built-in pen garage and a kickstand that folds both vertically and horizontally. At the opposite end of the price spectrum is HP’s $ 1,629 Elite Folio, also powered by a Snapdragon processor (but running Windows and covered in leather). Earlier this year, Lenovo tried out the form factor in a ThinkPad X-Series with the X12 Detachable, packing a beefier Intel Core i5.

Still, much of what made the original Duet such an attractive buy was the combination of its low price, portability, and exceptional lifespan. (We got over 11 hours of continuous work in our testing.) The Duet 5 is heavier than the smaller Duet and significantly more expensive. (The predecessor starts at $ 279.) The Duet 5 has a different processor than the Duet and a traditionally more power-hungry display, so battery life is a question mark. (Lenovo’s most recent attempt at a detachable OLED, the ThinkPad X1 Fold, has had a few … issues in this area.) A 13.3in OLED display is certainly a nice prospect, but let it be good value. – price will be another story.

The Chromebook Duet 5 is expected to be available in October.