The Lenovo keyboard is similarly solid, not flimsy like some other clip-on keyboards, and its smallish keys have excellent depth and a satisfying clacky feel. I've always said the keyboard cover design and build quality are the best things about the Surface line, and that's true for the Lenovo Duet as well. Read more: How to Buy a Budget Laptop in 2022 Keyboard and kickstand And head-to-head, a sub-$500 computer running ChromeOS is usually going to feel speedier and more responsive than a similarly priced Windows PC, because of the lighter OS.

When shopping at this end of the budget pool, a 25% premium to get the keyboard (which is a must-have) makes a big difference.Īs a Chromebook, the Duet is less capable than a Windows device in some respects, but as modern Chromebooks can run almost any Android app, the use cases where this would make a real difference to you continue to narrow. But the biggest practical difference to me is that the Lenovo Duet includes its pretty darn good keyboard cover in the box, while Microsoft forces you to buy its keyboard cover for an extra $100 to $129, depending on the color. It's $400 and runs Windows instead of ChromeOS, and has an Intel processor instead of the Snapdragon 7c here.

Microsoft already makes a budget Surface, the most-recent version of which is called the Surface Go 3. The version tested here has 64GB of eMMC storage, but the model in stores right now has 128GB, which is a plus. In that way, it's kind of like a cheaper Microsoft Surface two-in-one.

That means it can work as a standalone touchscreen tablet, or as a clamshell-like notebook. Currently selling for $379, this is an 11-inch ChromeOS tablet with a keyboard cover and kickstand.

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