Lenovo unveils three interesting new tablets with three different OSs
Just like the rest of the world, technology trade shows are (slowly) getting back to normal, and to the surprise of no living soul that's moderately familiar with the industry, Lenovo is making a big splash at the 2022 Mobile World Congress (physically) taking place in Barcelona this week.
Last year's top PC vendor is naturally focused primarily on expanding its already broad and diverse roster of "traditional" laptops and 2-in-1 convertibles running Windows 11 on the software side of things, but apart from the many ThinkBook and ThinkPad upgrades unlikely to excite our mobile-minded readers, the company has just unveiled three interesting new tablets powered by three different operating systems as well.
A blazing fast Surface Pro 8 rival with a reasonable starting price
First up, we have the latest threat for Microsoft's popular Surface Pro lineup from inside the Windows ecosystem. Billed as "stylish and super slim", the 12-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5i is actually slightly taller and thicker but also considerably narrower and lighter than the "ultra-portable" Surface Pro 8 powerhouse released less than six months ago.
At a starting weight of 810 grams, of course, this undoubtedly productive computing machine is still a lot heavier than Apple's iPad Pro 12.9 (2021) and even Samsung's 14.6-inch Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra.
Although sharp, the 2.5K (2560 x 1600 pixels) IPS screen of the Duet 5i looks set to lack the smoothness of its three aforementioned rivals, seemingly opting for a "conventional" 60Hz refresh rate rather than going with 120 or even 90Hz technology.
Then again, this 12.35-inch Windows 11 tablet is slated (no pun intended) to cost just €749 and up in Europe... with a productivity-enhancing keyboard folio included. That's going to make the IdeaPad Duet 5i significantly more affordable than the Surface Pro 8 and even the 12.4-inch Galaxy Tab S8+ starting July.
Impressively, the budget-friendly detachable will come with up to 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processing power on deck, thus outpacing the 11th Gen-based Surface Pro 8. Naturally, the entry-level variant won't be quite so fast, packing a middling Intel Pentium 8505 chip.
An even cheaper Chromebook with plenty of raw power of its own
Remember the 10-inch Chromebook Duet? Lenovo definitely remembers it, owing a good chunk of its (semi) recent rise in the global tablet market to the Chrome OS-running mid-ranger rather than the company's large portfolio of similar Android models.
At long last, it's time for a sequel, and the IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook brings a whole bunch of important upgrades and big changes to the table without driving the price point through the roof.
Based on its €349 European MSRP, we can assume this larger and faster device will start at only around 50 bucks more than the $300 and up Chromebook Duet stateside.
The upgraded spec sheet includes everything from a "near-borderless" 11-inch LCD screen with 2K resolution to a Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 processor, a robust battery life rating of up to 12 hours, 45W charging capabilities, two USB Type-C ports, and stylus support (with the actual pen to be sold separately).
A decent low-cost iPad alternative with Android 13 on the horizon
Just in case you haven't caught on yet, the name of the game here is affordability, and the Lenovo Tab M10 Plus (3rd Gen) is the culmination of said game, designed to displace Apple from the top of the global tablet industry... someday.
Priced at €249 and up, this is no humble Amazon Fire-like device, sporting an attractive dual-tone design with relatively thin bezels, a high-resolution 2K 10.61-inch screen, and perhaps most impressively, Android 12 software promised for its April launch, as well as an Android 13 update officially coming at some point next year.
Those are not things many companies can commit to in this price bracket, but believe it or not, there's more.
Specifically, a quad speaker system aimed at providing a premium audio playing experience on the go, a large 7,700mAh battery equipped with 20W charging speeds, octa-core processing power, up to 6 gigs of RAM paired with 128GB internal storage space, and both an optional stylus and keyboard. All at a fraction of the 10.2-inch iPad's price.
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