20 Best Vpns For Chromebook (2022 Updated)

The touchscreen is an awesome addition but a little sensitive which results in some odd effects if daughter (8) does not wash her hands every time before she sits down to use it. That said when I see another at the price I bought this one I will be buying it for daughter (6) who will need a chromebook next year because I have not seen a better value proposition that has a touch screen, something kids these days will need to grow up truly digital native.

Seemingly at random it will start trying to select things with the long press action. When it does, hold it up to incidental light and there is a fingerprint there. Clean the fingerprint off and it stops, not always even food sometimes just sweat residue.

Minor hassle but it does detract from the experience, ASUS should have used a fingerprint resistant coating on the glass, this is after all a ruggedised unit built for schooling. If ASUS had used a fingerprint resistant surface there and on the mousepad I would have rated this 5 stars.

Keep a tub of screen wipes handy.

Bought this during lockdown for my child to be able to do school work during level 4 and 3. Pros: It starts quickly, looks well built and is compact (footprint is about the same size of an A4 piece of paper) and the battery appears to last for a good amount of time.

Second camera on the same face as the keys allows photos/videos to be recorded and viewed at the same time with the screen folded right back under the keyboard. Good amount of onboard memory. Allows for a guest to use the device for web browsing without having to log in with a password.

Touch screen allows it to be used a bit like a tablet. Cons: The resolution of the screen is not quite as sharp as I would have liked; grey text on white can look a little soft/fuzzy, as can small font text.

The bezel around the screen is a little bit wide which also reduces the overall screen size. Overall I am generally happy with it and think overall it was a good purchase.

We looked at a bunch of Chromebooks and this one was the winner. The ability to convert to a tablet is nice, and it even has a rear-dacing camera in tablet mode. The splash-proof keyboard is something I hope we won’t have to use, but I suspect may be a lifesaver this year.

The keyboard is pleasant to use, with decent travel. The touchpad is also good, supporting some multi-touch gestures out of the box. The only thing I’d knock it on is the large screen bezels, which look a tad old-fashioned, but I understand are a compromise given the ruggedness the laptop is designed for.

This is the first time buying a Lenovo laptop that is not a Thinkpad. It was chosen because of its exceptional durability and very low price. There is no other laptop close to being this sturdy even for double the price! It really feels quite solid which makes it heavier than average but considering this laptop will be taking around day after day, it is an essential feature.

It is also very impressive how full-featured this laptop is for its price point: – The display is full-HD and anti-glare, giving a nice clear view of the screen in varying lighting condition. The downside is that this is a TN display and it very clear has lower contrast and poor color accuracy.

For our use, it is not a problem but anyone doing digital art with this laptop would need an external monitor. Impressively it has a full-size HDMI port for that. – The keyboard is very nice! It feels solid and the keys have a good depth and very linear movement.

It is apparently spill-proof but I didn’t test this feature. There’s no backlight and unfortunately no trackpoint which is too bad but, again , this is not a Thinkpad , which brings me to my next point: – There is a large button-less trackpad which is very difficult to use.

While it is responsive and tracks finger movements well, it is difficult to move with precision and, more importantly the area that responds to clicks is furthest away from the keyboard which is rather annoying.

Definitely buy a trackball (a good one is much better since there is no need to move it along any surface) or mouse at least for this laptop. – It has a good number of ports and charges via USB-C, so there are tons of options to charge it other than the included 45W USB-C charger.

Now for a student laptop, the Lenovo 14w is certainly capable to handle most tasks. While its processor is acceptable and it even comes with embedded Radeon graphics, memory is tight and so much has to be loaded from storage which is extremely slow compared to everything else.

So, expect long boot times and long restore after hibernation. Once an application is loaded, honestly this is Google Chrome for most things lately, it is hard to notice the slow and limited storage.

There is an awful lot to like about this laptop, and the AMD processor offerings in the Slim 7 Pro X are top notch. My units (see below) had the Ryzen 9 6900HS. I benchmarked this processor in Con my units, and after comparing with reviewers’ benchmarks online, they beat pretty much every laptop I saw with an Intel Core i7-1260P (e.

g. , both single core and multi-core benchmarks in Cinebench R23). The battery life also tended to be better. Now for the ugly and why I am giving this laptop one star out of five. I purchased my first unit about two weeks ago from a brick-and-mortar store.

After putting in 6-8 hours to configure it the way I like (including transferring data from my old laptop), the first unit rewarded me for all my hard work by refusing to power up the very next day. No amount of pressing the power button would boot the laptop or turn the power button LED on.

When the unit was plugged into wall, the power/charging LED would turn on, but the power button LED remained off. This situation is a major problem because there is personal data on the SSD drive but no way to remove.

I was forced to pull the SSD out of the laptop and format it clean so I could return it. I hoped that this problem was just due to a single bad unit. So I purchased a second unit about two weeks later.

Much to my dismay, the second unit did the exact same thing. Perhaps the brick-and-mortar store received a bad batch of units. But I have purchased laptops from every major laptop manufacturer and have never experienced the catastrophic failure of a laptop within its first three days of use.

And here we are talking about two laptops. Lenovo, get your act together. I am out a *lot* of time, and you clearly have a quality control problem with the Slim 7 Pro X. Lastly, I would like to make one other comment: The Slim 7 Pro X should have at least one USB4 port.

The AMD processors used for the Slim 7 Pro X have USB4 support built into their circuitry. Yet for some reason, Lenovo’s engineers decided not to enable USB4 on this model. (Compare, for example, with the Legion 7 Gen 7 16″, which does.

) Owners of Slim 7 Pro X have been posting on the Lenovo Community forums and asking if a firmware/BIOS update could enable USB4. Lenovo’s tech support just confirmed that no update was possible. So in summary: AMD provides all the necessary electronics, but Lenovo’s engineers can’t be bothered to enable USB4.

Very rugged, great for study/work/travel. 12″ is nice as it doesn’t take up an entire desk (study or work). I run a dock off of the USB-C — it does handle power delivery (PD), video (a second HDMI port), Gigi-Ethernet, data ports (I have 3 USB-A Gen 1) running of the USB-C.

The USB-C seems much faster then the two built-in USB-A Gen 1 ports. I’ve moved the OS to external SSDs – one 500Gb SSD has MX Linux (KDE Plasma) as my daily driver, another 500GB SSD has Windows 11 Pro, a third 500GB SSD has Linux Mint (Cinnamon).

* Came with Windows 10 Pro but upgrades to Windows 11 Pro. All drivers in Linux worked fine, very stable. Some UEFI/BIOS issues as usual using Live keys (I also use Linux Tails off a USB drive) but once you figure them out it’s no big deal.

Excellent keyboard (clicky), Bluetooth works well but it’s range is short, WiFi works well, case is super rugged, charge rate is very fast (2 hours), battery life is fair (8+ hours). TN screen has no pulse width modulation (PWM) so no headaches, VERY sharp text for a HD panel, fair colors and contrasts (movies are fine), fair brightness for indoors (220 nits).

A much better panel then I expected! Power use is low for a 14nm APU – usually about 4 to 10 watts (including the screen) under load, less at idle or standby. Recharging can consume up to 35 watts. As USB-C PD seems standard you should be able to use an external battery pack if you choose carefully).

As the case is super rugged (thick) it’s great for travel, work, study where it might be put into a backpack, briefcase or luggage. Excellent value (like all Lenovo products I’ve ever purchased). If they do such a great job on entry level products like this you know the higher-end products like ThinkPads will be ‘works of art’.

It’s hard to get a 5-star rating unless the product is perfect, but this comes pretty close. For the price you pay, you get a ton of tech. 128GB storage, FHD screen, keyboard, and in my particular unit, a stylus as well.

They’ve all worked well save for a few freeze ups here and there, but so far so good. This is my first chromehook so I’m still getting the hang of things coming from more of an Apple background. Apps load pretty quickly and things all run fairly smooth, but I haven’t tried some of the more intensive apps like gaming.

There’s already a ton of reviews out there on this, and almost all of them are super positive, which is certainly true. The only things to watch out for are the keyboard which is a bit cramped, but again how can you complain when it comes standard with the unit at this price.

It clicks well and works well, you just need to get used to the key spacing. To me the biggest issue was the lack of monitor output support. Most USB-C hubs you attach to it and most monitors will not be able to do 1080P resolution on it for some weird reason.

The thing says it’s capable of 4K @30hz but I could only get 720P resolution. Be warned! If you plan on attaching an external display, you’ll need to pony up big $ to find a USB-C hub with DisplayLink certification to get 1080p or 4K output! Other than that this is an absolute killer deal and great product to boot.

Highly recommended.

On the whole, this is a pretty amazing value in a tablet. You get the tablet itself, a keyboard, and a magnetic case the sticks to the back. Some shortcomings include that fact that the keyboard is a little small and cramped (that’s unavoidable due to the size of the tablet though), but infinitely better than just having to type on the screen.

With they keyboard flipped close, it sort of flops around – like there’s too much slack in the part that connects it to the tablet body. Despite that, it still covers and protects the screen. Similarly, the magnetic rear case contains the kickstand, which is a great feature, but can be really difficult to separate the kickstand from the case body itself (so like, you’ll be prying the case body out when you’re trying to get the kickstand).

A more obvious indentation would help with this. Aside from those complaints, I’ve been very happy with it. It won’t replace a full-size computer, but for a small, portable tablet to putz around the internet or watch videos on, it’s great.

Great little chromebook! Excellent value for a 2 in 1 with pen. The high screen resolution is essential, and works great when connecting external monitors via the USB c port. So far this device has been quick, and has been able to handle everything I’ve thrown at it.

Mostly it’s been used for streaming, browsing, and spreadsheets (excel spreadsheets can now be opened in chrome, and Google sheets is also a great alternative!) The keyboard, and included case/stand works well, and looks good.

Keyboard is on the small side, but works well enough, even for adults. Sound is just ok, as it’s directed up out the top of the tablet, and not at the user. Solid buetooth connection makes this a non-issue for me, as it can easily be connected to ear buds or another speaker.

I’ve read Wifi has been an issue for some, but has been good for me so far. Chrome OS on this device is supported to 2028. Would definitely recommend, if you’re looking for a compact, full featured device, for a good price!.

At the end of this review are benefits and cautions for anyone new to Chromebooks. I’m a retired engineer and very familiar with Chrome OS having used it for many years in laptop form. I bought this tablet mostly for playing media, reading ebooks, doing email and browsing, partly to evaluate it for suitability for my grandchildren.

I did some testing that a normal user wouldn’t, to see what their parents might experience and trying to support it This tablet does everything that my mid-range Acer Chromebook R11 convertible laptop does, just differently and in some cases better.

The Lenovo 10e Chromebook tablet has a better than average display and a quieter than average speaker output. The unit is well built and I believe it will take casual abuse. I bought the protective cover to make it easier for me to handle and the folio keyboard to use when I travel.

With the 10e and accessories currently on sale, they are a good value. The speaker audio is usable by one person with undamaged hearing In a moderately quiet area without using headphones. That may be ideal for the original intended user – a child in pre-K through second grade.

This tablet won’t disturb other people in the same room who are using other devices. As an older adult I found it necessary to use a Chrome accessibility extension to amplify the mid-range to use Netflix or YouTube.

The protective cover adds an extra layer of protection to everything except the screen. I suggest installing a plastic screen protector to keep the glass of the screen inside the case if it should be broken.

The folio keyboard does not convert the tablet into a laptop PC. It works properly only when supported by a hard flat surface and the tablet carefully and firmly seated. It is not usable as a laptop.

If the soft support at the back bottom of the case sags at all, the pogo pins of the keyboard lose contact and the keyboard works erratically. In tablet mode the Shelf is a floating bar, the Launcher app drawer is open, and the Chrome browser acts like the Android version.

When the keyboard or a mouse is connected, the tablet changes to mixed desktop mode, the Shelf is fixed and the Chrome browser is the desktop version. When the setup does an automatic installation, the Play Store is installed and the versions of Google Docs and YouTube installed by the “factory image” are the Android versions.

If you have a Google Chromebook desktop user profile, if you sign in with your normal account you will have two nearly identical icons for the desktop and Android versions. An Android user will probably prefer the Android versions.

I recommend that a parent create a “owner” profile and add another profile for each child. If you do a Powerwash on the 10e, the Launcher groups you created will be lost, but your data and preferences are preserved.

Android apps will be reinstalled from the Play Store and Google One will restore the rest from Drive. Benefits to Chromebooks A computer that “just works” for basic things you need to do. A short learning curve A Chromebook tablet does not work like a Windows, Apple or Android tablet or phone.

😀 I‘ve used all of the alternatives. Some are more powerful, some are easier to use, none are more secure or easier to support for the average person. Unless you choose to be a computer tech, “Chrome updates” are automatic, every 4-6 weeks.

Updates replace the entire operating system and download in the background. There aren’t multiple individual patches for you to worry about. You can work during an update while one downloads to an alternative part of the storage.

Nothing changes until you restart the device. From the user’s perspective an update takes 1 minute to restart and sign in. Antivirus software isn’t needed to protect the operating system( and can’t be installed.

) Cautions about Chromebooks: If the following is a problem for you – please don’t buy a Chromebook. You will have a learning curve to master using Chrome and tablet mode 4-6 hours. Unless you forgo the basic security and stability of Chrome OS, only some Android apps can be installed, and only from the Google Play Store, Windows apps cannot be installed on the 10e A Chromebook tablet does not work like a Windows, Apple or Android tablet or phone.

There are some similarities, but many differences in the UI, and you can only make small tweaks. :-C If you have a problem there are fewer people who understand ChromeOS available to “fix” it for you.

Nice bright 10″ screen, good performance from the 4GB ram and mediatek octocore cpu. Chrome runs its browser, native chrome apps, android apps from the google play store, and the majority of linux apps Since this is a google education directed product, it is expected to get system/security updates through 2028.

So you’ll actually get to use this as long as you want, not until someone stops updating it. Performance is very good, especially if you give it a minute or two after it boots. I set up my pixel phone to unlock it if I’m within range of the phone.

So I don’t have to log in every time, as long as the phone is nearby. You can use this with a compatible USI pen to write on, and pair it with a bluetooth keyboard to make it a full chromebook. I wouldn’t take reviews that say its “chunky” or “too thick”.

It’s literally almost identical in thickness/weight to most of the tablets that I’ve owned. In this case, so much was made of its alleged size that I thought I’d had the wrong one shipped to me when I opened it.

The USB-C slot will use a usb-c micro flash drive. I have one and stuck it in. I left the app storage on the internal 32GB, with media going to the removable storage. This way I can add 256GB of media storage to watch movies and whatnot, for times when its not on the charger.

Negates most concerns about “only” 32GB of storage. I’ve had chrome devices with 8 and 16GB storage and never ran out. The only things I used that were commonly over 32GB were movie files or lots and lots of photos or music.

If cloud storage is unavailable, a ‘travel router’ that accepts a flash drive or the little usb-c flash drives resolve that. Made for the classroom, so should be fairly rugged in everyday adult use. GREAT chromebook option for a kid.

Pretty darn good for this grownup former teacher who used chromebooks in the classroom.

For the money I think this is a fantastic little unit. It is surely slower than many of the Intel or AMD units out there, but what if lacks in speed it makes up for in other ways. First the good: Build quality is awesome for a unit in this price, the body is aluminum with a strip of good looking and feeling plastic along the top (I’d imagine for it’s wireless radios).

The lil thing feels like it should cost more. The use of a usb-c port is awesome as there are no proprietary chargers or anything to worry about, the unit can even be charged with a normal power bank for a phone etc.

The included kickstand, keyboard and mouse cover are nice add-ons. The kickstand portion and the keyboard portion are sperate and can be installed or removed individually. They attach magnetically and it’s super convenient.

They are plastic but feel fairly sturdy, the kickstand has a cool fabric covering while they keyboard has a more normal soft touch plastic, I believe this is to prevent the until from sliding or else I’d love to have seen the fabric.

The screen is really good for the price, the resolution is great, colors are good and it’s an IPS screen so off axis viewing is wonderful. In my year of ownership ive allowed this lil thing to serve as the only “computer” I bring on trips.

The 128gb (nice at this price) of storage allows me to store numerous Disney plus HQ movies and watch them on that great screen. Using Bose Bluetooth headphones works well and I have no audio delay when watching movies.

Battery life has been good and lasts for about 8 hours in my use (screen brightness high to max) Now for the bad. The truncated layout of the keyboard can be a little annoying and takes time to get used to.

I’m noticeably slower on this lil guy, the key travel is okay and the overall feel is fine (if your not trying to use in your lap). I couldn’t get a type-c to headphone adapter to work. Not sure if it’s the adapter or the device.

since BT worked I didn’t dig further. The mediatek APU in this thing is kind of a dog compared to it’s x86 counterparts. Its fine but only just. If they made a revised version with a better keyboard layout and an x86 APU for $50 more I’d be in.

No no no! This laptop makes the smallest tasks feel like pulling teeth. Keyboard issues: It doesn’t have a caps lock key, the symbol shortcuts are terrible (you can’t make an em-dash, being one of many,) there are no play/pause buttons (even the space-bar won’t work as one,) and there are no function keys.

Apple compatibility issues: Doesn’t work with anything apple-related except for the fact that there is an app for apple music. You can’t just access your itunes account where you can do more with your music, or your photos.

Obviously this isn’t an apple product, but there are lots of devices that have that compatibility, even if it’s not exactly the same. Also! When you do play something from your apple music app, the quality is terrible.

The song (or movie) is constantly breaking up/having loading issues and stopping every other second, even if the audio is fully downloaded. Sound issues: The speakers are on the bottom of the laptop so you can never hear anything.

Why?! Image issues: There is NO good angle at which you can position the screen. There’s always glare, dark spots, and some part of the image you can’t see. This is particularly annoying. Performance issues: Slow loading despite good internet connection.

Apps freezing. Files app opening new windows every time you try to get to the original one. Not being able to close out windows of which there are many open from one app. (You have to click on each one and then exit.

There is no hovering or anything. ) This is not the right device for me; I will definitely just take the hit and buy a more expensive but better-working computer next time. This is not only not worth the money but causes constant inconveniences because of how hard it is to operate.

I’ve probably forgotten a handful of other annoying things about this chromebook. Ew, Michelle!.

It’s cheap and has a big screen. That’s what I wanted, and that’s what I got. The screen isn’t particularly bright, but it’s fine for most uses. It’s a little slow – a little bit more RAM would have made a big difference, but it’s not too big of a deal.

At this price point, I wasn’t expecting all that much. HOWEVER. the touchpad is truly terrible. Get a wireless mouse if you plan on purchasing this chromebook. The touchpad is not very responsive (I’ve tweaked the touchpad settings, it isn’t an issue with that), so scrolling and trying to move the cursor around the screen is often frustrating.

The worst part is the touchpad buttons. It sticks nearly EVERY time I try to click something. So I am CONSTANTLY accidentally clicking and dragging rather than just clicking. Super annoying, but I’ll survive.

I bought this chromebook for $209 during a black friday sale. I won’t say that I regret the purchase, but if I could go back in time I’d probably drop an extra $100 or so for something significantly better.

Still, not bad for a $200 purchase. I DEFINITELY would not recommend this at the $320 list price.

I give it 5 stars because it truly entitles to that much, it’s so practical! All google office tools such as gmail, google sheets, google drive, everything all in one built-in with the computer for work, school, or just productivity.

It’s fast. I love that it’s so light to carry which makes it portable to anywhere you want to take it, hassle free and it doesn’t take up so much space if you carry it in an all essentials duffel bag or a spacious travel bag of your choice.

I love it for Netflix too, movie watching on this is so cozy. Web surfing, Facebook, keeping a few tabs open, is super multi tasking to the things you are doing all at once. It has very decent camera quality, as you know it is a Samsung so it has somewhat at its best the Samsung phone camera quality, zoom meetings with this camera is a treat to me.

Music on this is pretty legit too, I mostly listen to music on here through my Airpods Pro, but without a headset/headphones is a candid quality of music I can attest to this because I watch Netflix without my ear pieces and I can enjoy it as much as I do with them on,,also usually you have to listen to Youtube with its tab open otherwise music goes away, with chrome on the chromebook you can close all tabs with music still playing and it’ll play in the background you can work on stuff while music continuously plays which I find awesome “spotify premium who?:D”.

As for photos google photos you can download on your phone it’s a powerful tool if your icloud is cluttered, get it on your chromebook and if you want it to be your main source of backup of your photos you can which I find savvy because desktop google photos has lengthy options of what you can do with them in exportation and you can edit them studio-style with apps that already come with the computer.

I hope all of this thorough narrow down helped 😀 :-).

The Chromebook itself is an attractive unit: quick start up, good battery life. The screen is pretty mediocre but I knew that before I bought it. If this is your first computer, you’ll be just fine. But I am a sixty-something computer dummy, just switching over from using Mac for the last 10 years.

And it’s an exercise in frustration. A few examples: after spending over 2 hours with Acer tech support, I learned that the Bluetooth on this Chromebook will not pair up with my good Marshall portable speaker (it works fine with my iPhone).

And I just learned that I cannot send Google Doc files as attachments to Gmail (this makes no sense to me since both are on the Google platform). Bottom line: if you’re a Mac user thinking of switching over, and can afford the $1000 to stay with Mac, I would seriously consider it.

I’m looking at many more hours and probably a lot more frustration to complete the switch over to Chromebook.

What I Liked:• ChromeOS (obvious, but a tablet having ChromeOS gives you a slight edge over Android tablets, having almost the whole Android app list in addition to a desktop experience)• Aluminum chassis w/ nice textured top-half• Very sturdy folio stand with a lot of angle options!• Good overall keyboard for the size and thickness (I’ve always loved Lenovo’s keyboards, even this smaller version)• Great screen (very bright, too!)• Tablet size (small enough for holding, big enough for content and a bit of multitasking• Cameras (quality isn’t fantastic, but it’s good enough for video calls)• Dual adequate speakers (one left and one right, didn’t expect some sort of surround sound on a tablet!)• USI 2.

0 pen support!What I Disliked:• Flexible chassis (can flex fairly easy, should be okay if you’re not rough with it)• The touchpad is a little too firm with texture, depending on how moist your fingers are they may grip a little more than desired.

Take this dislike with a grain of salt, it’s mostly on here cause I need to find more cons haha!)Overall Opinion:I love this tablet! It’s a perfect size for my use case, I’ve been wanting a tablet for a while.

But I needed a tablet that can also have an attachable keyboard and one that runs ChromeOS. This tablet is fast and packs a lot of features for its price tag, and that aluminum chassis is just icing on the cake, making it feel much more premium!If you’re looking for an affordable tablet with some flexibility, this can definitely be a candidate!.

It has a great screen, excellent form factory and exceptional battery life. About 4 months in though it started crashing 4-5 times every evening. Lenovo customer support had me powerwash it. It crashes during setup and than continues the behavior after it gets through set up just as before.

They have me send it in for repair. After it had arrived I was getting notifications that I needed to send it in before my support ticket expired, even though it had been there for about 5 days. After a few weeks I got it back and it crashed immediately on setup, just as before, and crashed 4-5 times that night.

So I contacted support and did the power wash. They set it up to send it right back the same day I had received it back. This time thought the customer service rep started telling me drop damage or water damage wasn’t covered so they might have to bill me to fix it.

Mind you it had no damage previously so now all of the sudden they start with that line and attempt to upsell me a new warranty on a product they still haven’t fixed. I decided not to send it back in because they hadn’t bothered to fix it the first time, and lets be honest I felt like they were saying they would make up an issue and bill me for it this time.

I have ran Lenovo products in the past but this was my first chromebook from them and will be the last. I will be shopping for its replacement and will pay the extra to go with a better unit.

I purchased the Chromebook as an alternative to getting a new Android tablet after the Lenovo sales support person assured me that it would run all Android apps. Though I’m very experienced with Windows PCs and Android phones and tabs, setting up the Chromebook for my Google Workspace account so that it could download Android apps was extremely complex and it was necessary for me to be on a long chat session with Google support (setting it up for a free Gmail account was a snap, just sign in with your Gmail address and you’re ready to go).

In fact, the Google support person agreed that it shouldn’t be that difficult. After finally setting up the device, I tried to download Microsoft Office apps, only to discover that they were not available on Chromebooks (other apps that I commonly use were not a problem).

Once I discovered the problem with Office, I immediately set up the return of my Chromebook and intend to get a new Android tablet for which Office is available (I’ve been using MS Office on Android phones and tablets for several years).

Horrible, kept disconnecting and closing apps, like Outlook and Word, and shutting computer down.

I think it works good but how would I know. It seems to be of greater quality than others.

Received the digital product as described. Great service.

I’ve been working in education my entire life, and have always focused on technology. I have mostly hated school Chromebooks. They’re cheap, and they feel cheap. The kids and teachers don’t want to use them because it’s an unpleasant experience.

I wanted a Chrombook for myself so I did the work to find what I needed. This is the Chromebook schools need! 1. It has a little weight, and actually feels like a solid device. It does not feel like I’m going to break it by opening it and closing it.

2. The keyboard is right up there with most keyboards I like. They have just enough resistance as to not feel like the keys might pop off. 3. A backlit keyboard at this price is crazy! 4. Mine has the Intel chip, and that has to be a requirement for Chromebooks.

I’m rarely waiting for anything. Chrome takes a lot of resources, and the right about of RAM and the Intel chip, makes it work SO well! 5. The touch screen works as it should, and the lid is not too wobbly when touching it.

BTW: The lid doesn’t wobbly when I type like other Chromebooks! 6. The privacy slider for the web cam is an appreciated addition. 7. The speakers are functional. They are great, but they also aren’t offensive.

8. If I was going to complain about anything, it would be the very cheap feeling and sounding click of the touch pad. However, I usually just tap to click, so I don’t hear it that often. I really like this device.

It’s the first Chromebook, out of three I’ve owned, that I’ll actually want to use. I wish schools would find this too!.

I am 5 months down the track now with this Chromebook and very pleased with the device. I was unfamiliar with the processor, but happy to say it is just as snappy as my i5 laptop although I have mainly office style uses.

The included keyboard is good to type on and the larger screen also means a larger keyboard which allows things to be nicely spaced out. The trackpad is a little small but perfectly functional. I use a mouse anyway which works like it should work.

Using the tablet is fine if you are on the couch or sitting, but if in bed don’t drop it on your nose. The extra size means extra weight and could do some damage. It is supported with updates both security and features till June 2029, so if the hardware holds out it spells a happy future with the device.

Overall, I am glad I purchased the Duet 5 with the upgraded memory, I think the 8GB really helps the computer to zip along.

This is my first Chromebook purchased for software development and testing purposes. The tablet is relatively large / heavy and not well suited for use as a hand-held tablet. The kickstand arrangement isn’t all that comfortable nor stable on a lap.

Its great on a table. The quality of the components overall are however excellent. The keyboard action is great. Although has no tilt function. although you can prop somethig undeneath at. the back if you want that.

The keys are slighly textured for grip which is a little odd at first. But not uncomfortable. Just noticably different. Generally a laptop style design would be more ergonomically useful. The tablet does not include a Headphone Jack, which is a minor fail.

Purchased a USB C dongle for that. The audio quality from the tablet is average at best. Overall tho this is a powerful and good Chromebook/Tablet. Works well as a loungeroom/coffee table device, always on and to run as a Google Assistant device.

Kids would probably love this for School if they use Chromebooks.

The Duet 5 is a nearly perfect companion device – and by that I mean a device you can just pick up and take along with you, whether walking around the house or taking a trip out and about to do what you need to get done.

Now, some of that is specific to my use case so read on to see if it’s right for you. First off, the pros (and there are many): – EXTREMELY LONG battery life (I can see 12+ hours of active use, much much longer on standby) – Wonderful screen – the OLED really makes the contrast pop – Thin and light but NOT flimsy – minimal bezels around the screen – Great keyboard feel and a nice trackpad – screenside camera is top quality for video conferencing – Zippy in day-to-day use, ChromeOS doesn’t need much but the 8GB of RAM really helps And the cons (not much): – No expandable storage – Would love a backlit keyboard option – Not a desktop replacement powerhouse (but it’s not supposed to be?) Some key background here is how I use the Duet 5 – I was looking for what I refer to above as a companion device.

This will be my every day carry laptop – carrying around the house, using it on the sofa while watching TV, in bed to close up things before bed, etc. along with taking it for (eventual) travel or to work.

The key thing there for me is that I use a variety of remote and cloud services throughout the day – so most of my heavy usage is using a remote desktop or remote server and having that system do the processing.

So I don’t need a “beefy” local machine – I need one with a great screen, great battery life, a great keyboard and form factor (thin/ight) and just enough local resources to get by in those few times I don’t have internet access.

And this is a wonderful device for that purpose. When using remote resources, I can get over 12 hours (probably over 15 if I pushed it) of battery of actual USE. The screen, keyboard, etc are all great.

I do wish the keyboard was backlit for working in a dark room – that and a microSD card for storing media for consumption while on a plane would be great additions for a v2. If you’re buying this primarily to use as your main laptop it can serve that role as long as you don’t expect to do processor-intensive activities like video editing or AAA gaming.

You can easily browse the web, email, do office work (if your office suite works – Microsoft Office would be web-based here), run Linux and Android apps. Streaming media is great on this screen and you can play light Android games and emulators.

I can run Visual Studio Code and do some development/debugging just fine. If you need one computer that can do it all AND you need to do very intensive things, then probably this isn’t right for you.

This also isn’t right for those looking just for a tablet – ChromeOS can support a tablet view, but it’s not as mature as iOS even with the addition of Android apps. Also, tablets of this size (and I’ve used both this and the 12.

9 iPad Pro) are just unwieldy in use. If you want a 2-in-1 that you can sometimes take the keyboard off of to watch movies or read on, this is perfect. If you want a tablet that you can sometimes add a keyboard to for longer emails, look elsewhere – an iPad variant (Pro 11, Air, etc.

) or Samsung line for Android tablets. If your use case is right, this is a “near” perfect companion (Lenovo, please come out with an after market/sold separately backlit keyboard!!).

Lenovo surprised me with this. I had read good things about the Duet 3 but wanted something a bit larger for consuming media and surfing the web. Lenovo nailed it again with this. The OLED display is great.

Some people may not like the switch from 16:10 to 16:9 but the larger, higher quality panel makes up for that. You get inky blacks and vibrant colors with the display; it really blows away any other tablet or Chromebook in the same price range.

The screen is bright, the resolution is good for a 13. 3″ display, it really is a high-quality panel. The overall design has improved so that the tablet feels more substantial. The magnetic back covers doesn’t move and the front keyboard cover is now held closed to the tablet with magnets.

This feels like it’s a $600 tablet package. There’s more than enough RAM to handle multi-tasking and dozens of tabs in Chrome. The updated SoC, now a Snapdragon SC7180, isn’t going to turn any heads for its performance but it is beyond the MediaTek SoC used in the last system.

The Snapdragon chip can handle anything thrown at it without issues. There’s plenty of built-in storage with a 128GB SSD, this isn’t slower eMMC storage. Apps load quickly, the system cold boots in seconds, and it instantly wakes from sleep.

Lenovo also did something great: increase the battery life. I will go 2-3 days of heavy usage before needing to plug this in. Overall battery life is rated at 15 hours (which is beyond any iPad) and I’ve easily been able to reach 18 hours by turning the screen brightness down to 75%.

I highly recommend this for anyone wanting a light Chromebook and tablet that can go anywhere and easily handle anything a Chromebook can. The tablet is easy to handle, comes with a great keyboard cover, and features one of the best displays in a sub-$900 system.

My only gripe is I wish Lenovo threw in the pen. I get why they didn’t (cost), but there’s an empty slot on the back cover for their pen.

On the good side ○ ChromeOS with 8 years of updates ○ Outstanding OLED Full HD 13. 3″ touch screen – bright, color accurate, and crisp ○ Peppy feeling 8 core processor with only occasional brief slowdowns, and excellent power efficiency ○ Great battery (real world 10+ hours) ○ Great feeling keyboard with positive and accurate trackpad ○ 8gb RAM / 128gb SSD [not eMMC] perform well and have plenty of capacity for ChromeOS / Android ○ Slim and light with good materials, fit, finish for main tablet On the bad side ○ Thin bezels and failure to reject spurious inputs from holding as a tablet, problems with software keyboard in tablet mode, and power switch position/feel that lead to accidental activation make for a terrible user experience as a tablet.

Extremely disappointing given the quality of all the major components. A firmware or driver update could likely fix most of these things but we’ll have to see if one becomes available and how well/if it works.

Until then I just wouldn’t recommend this for tablet use at all. ○ Two piece magnetically detachable kickstand (with sharp edges) and keyboard (with no backlighting) make for only fair laptop use – on a desk its fine, but goes downhill somewhat on your lap, and forget it lounging/laid back.

This could really benefit from a one piece keyboard/cover like an iPad Air uses – that would dramatically improve the laptop experience in any position. Much stronger magnets might help as well. ○ Linux use may push Processor/Ram/Storage capacity and speed Conslusions ○ I used a Microsoft Surface Pro tablet with magnetic keyboard for years and it was a great tablet, and a good laptop convertible from most positions.

○ This Chromebook Tablet with magnetic keyboard and kickstand has many great components, a great form factor, and its reasonably priced, but tablet issues with thin bezels and spurious inputs make it a terrible tablet experience, and the two piece magnetic kickstand and keyboard only make for a fair laptop convertible in limited positions.

○ So in general I would not recommend it until the issues can be resolved. If things get fixed (and I don’t return the tablet) I’ll post an update to this review.

If you are looking for a sign to buy this little baby. BUY IT! I am an Apple lover and I have majority all Apple products but I was looking for an option to not spend all my money and still get a device that can do Microsoft Word for work/school and be able to surf the web without breaking the bank.

When I tell you I am beyond amazed with Lenovo I am beyoned amazed! This is actually my first product outside of Apple and I was happy with this product I went back and bought 4 more to pass out for Christmas! I bought the Flex 3 Chromebook HD touch 11.

6 yesterday on sale for 99. 99 and it will be the best 100. 00 you’ll ever spend! Looks and feels like its more than $100! The keyboard actually feels great! it reminds me of my macbook air that I purchase last year! Its feels premium versus all the other tablets, chrome-books, or affordable computers in its range! it does not have a back-light but that doesn’t concern me one bit! Its very spacious to type and have no issues hitting all keys and it typing properly! I actually bought another computer in the $100 range and the keyboard was horrible so to have bought this for $100.

JUST WOW! I will say there are drawbacks as far as being able to add simple apps to this device that maybe I could have added on a tablet but to be honest for only $100 it doesn’t really bother me. It took me forever to figure out how to add the Microsoft app which was my main concern and I figured out how to do that, THANKFULLY! Overall, the build is great, doesn’t feel cheap and doesn’t feel like I spent $100 I honestly would have thought this device would have at least cost 250 or more! The Chrome OS Processor is pretty fast for its range so I have no major complaints.

I can’t find a few apps but I can access them on the web! So no big drawbacks back for me. The screen is decent and for it to be 11. 6 it actually feels like the screen is bigger than I thought and when I watched a movie last night it actually was pretty vivid! I actually enjoyed the feature of folding the computer/chromebook and touching the screen to stop or check messages on social media! The speakers are actually pretty loud which surprised me! So, if you are looking for something affordable so you can browse the web, do some shopping, pay bills, watch tv or a device to give to your kids for school this is a great option just for 100.

00!.

It feels like a quality product, with a nice texture on the keys and a heavy glass touchscreen. The touchscreen seems functional. I’m not sure that the tablet aspect is practical (it’s a surprisingly heavy device!) but it might work OK while resting on a table.

It has a regular SD card reader (not MicroSD as advertised). I was disappointed that the SD card sticks out about halfway, so you can’t just keep it in when you put it in a bag, like I could with a MicroSD in my last ChromeBook.

This machine does have an HDMI port, which seems to be pretty rare anymore. So it might be a good pick if you want to plug and play with your TV, though I haven’t tested that functionality yet. One thing about ChromeBooks is that they all have an Auto Update Expiration date, after which the machines will stop getting security and functional updates.

I was very disappointed with this ChromeBook because Google’s Auto Update policy site says that the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 (which is the name on the packaging and labels) will receive auto updates until June 2028, but when I checked the actual machine I received, I discovered that it will only receive updates until June 2025.

It sounds like Lenovo re-uses product names, so there might be a newer IdeaPad Flex 3 that gets updates for an extra 3 years, but this one doesn’t. I’m rather frustrated that a machine advertised as lasting for up to 6 years will actually only get updates for 3.

(It seems wasteful, too–the machine was manufactured in July 2021, so even at the time of manufacture, it had fewer than 4 years left!).

Bought this as a replacement to my old laptop that was beat up and well used. This thing is doing everything I want it to do (surf the web, watch videos, yadda yadda), and sites it well. The screen is excellent, at 1080p with crisp colors and pretty good viewing angles.

I was genuinely surprised with how nice the screen 14in is. And it’s a touch screen, so bonus. The 8 core MediaTech ARM processor and 4 gigs of RAM give this thing enough juice to provide smooth experience when going about your business.

The advantage of using a lightweight operating system like chrome os also is a factor here. The speakers are serviceable, if slightly muddy. They are loud enough without having to crank the volume to full, but if you would prefer to use your own headphones, no one would blame you.

The speakers are no doubt the worst part of this laptop. The IO is very light, consisting of one USB-A port and one USB-C port (which also doubled a the charger plug in). There is also one 3. 5mm jack for headsets and one micro SD port for expanding on the default 64 gigs of eMMC storage.

The USB-C does support video out, so using a hub to hook this baby up to a monitor or TV isn’t out of the question. If you’re wanting to play games, you’re not totally SOL here. Stadia comes pre installed and using the built in Bluetooth, you can pair a controller and away you go with all your cloud gaming needs, helped by the 5 gigahertz wifi connection.

Android games work well enough, and emulating retro games shouldn’t be much of a challenge. All in all, sub par speakers aside, this light little thing will fit the needs of several people, be it the student who needs to type of their report using the decent enough keyboard and track pad, grandma who just wants to go on the Facebook and look at what her friends and grandkids are up to, or the lighter user who wants to stream something off of Netflix or browse the web.

This chromebook comes with this random Best Buy costumer’s full recommendation.

Okay, I’m a tech guy here so yall can trust what I’m about to say. I got this Chromebook because my windows laptop decided to crap out on me over winter break. I’m a college student so I need to have a computer.

I needed to get something cheap as like many college students I’m pretty strapped for cash. That’s why I turned to Chromebook. I could find any other 14in with an 8-core CPU in it. If yall are getting this for college work make sure that you check the CPU specs as Chromebooks can run on pretty crappy CPUs since the operating system is lightweight.

Don’t bother with any Dual-core machine if you’re going to be doing any amount of multitasking. Overall switching from windows to chrome OS wasn’t that bad and it does everything I need it to for college.

Yes, it cant run some of the high-end software that some classes will need but those are few and far in between. If you come across yourself needing proper desktop software for a class just use your university’s online remote desktop which should allow you to get access to any software your university has license for and use it through a virtual machine on the browser.

Overall, the screen is okay, smashes through multiple browser taps & apps open at the same time, has great battery life (I have to charge mine every other day or so), speakers are just eh, and the price is great.

I recently received the Chromebook and upon connecting it to an external monitor, there is no option for 1920 x 1080 resolution- only 1440 x 900 at most. I have two other Windows laptops I’ve connected to this monitor, and both display 1920 x 1080 without issues.

I’ve also connected both laptops to another monitor I have with no issues. But when connecting the Chromebook to the second monitor, the highest resolution is again 1440 x 900. The biggest issue is that there is no support whatsoever to try and fix this problem.

I called Lenovo tech support, and was told someone would call me back within 24-48 hours. This seems a bit ridiculous, as I may be at work, running errands, and doing other things when the call comes- not sitting at home in front of the Chromebook waiting for a callback.

I would assume a huge company like Lenovo would have a dedicated center you can call into, even if only during certain hours, and even if the wait ends up being an hour. In either case, it’s been 48 hours, and still no call back from tech support.

There is no option to submit a ticket online, and the manuals, forums, and troubleshooting options are severely lacking. It’s almost as if the only thing they are giving you the option to do is to return it.

Love it! Sure, some people are stuck in the world of thinking smaller is better but for media consumption, browsing, etc. this is a fantastic screen size. The amount of ram could have been more for some of my uses but I can still do everything that I need to on it.

I enabled Linux day one, installed VS Code, Geany, and Thonny for when I want to play around with coding / web dev while not at my home computer. I am not sure how long it would go if I used it continuously but I do get around 2 hours per day on the go and then another hour and a half at home for story time before bed.

I charge it every few days so I think it would be getting around 10 hours or so. Video streaming is just fine at 1080p with no hick-ups like on lower CPU Chromebook. This is a pretty good bang for the buck, especially if you can get it on sale or an open box sale, I paid $189 open box.

I’d probably pay up to $300 for another one. Would I really buy another one? Maybe to replace this one if I lost it. If I was buying another to supplement this one or for my wife I would step up to an 8GB ram model.

If your needs are simple, a chromebook is a great way to go. If you are a bit of a computer nerd that doesn’t need windows, Chrome OS is great for going most things and you can just enable linux so you can install any other tool you need.

Aside from AAA gaming the Chromebooks these days are getting pretty good. I would consider these specs (4GB ram, 64GB storage) to be the minimum for anything beyond Google Docs, email, streaming media.

For what it is, what I do with it and everything else considered, great machine, not at full price but if you can get it under $300 for sure get one. I still am giving it a 5 star even though the price is a bit rich but as well as it runs and I don’t miss Windows at all when I am at home.

great machine.

I was having problems with my then current computer. I was running Linux Mint on it, and long ago I had added the maximum recommended amount of RAM, but it was going slow, and I was having trouble with the sound system.

I must admit the problem with it running slow was probably my fault, but the problems with the sound system seemed to be beyond me, and I couldn’t find any solution to my problems with the sound system by searching on the internet.

I had an important talk coming up via Zoom, what should I do? The easy answer was to buy a new computer. but what? Looking at the price of computers, it seemed to me the cheapest computers ran Chromebook.

I decided to take a look at the computers running Chromebook. I wanted a computer with a screen size at least as big as what I currently had (15. 5 inches), and it needed to have a proper keyboard with a numbers pad on it.

Obviously I was expecting to be able to use it on Zoom, but also to be able to watch sports online too. I wanted to be able to do things like spreadsheets and write stuff. Some of my spreadsheets are quite large (more than 10 MB), but I don’t look at them very often, so I decided I could keep my old laptop nearby if I had to look at them.

Looking at the PB Technology website, there were two computers with a 17 inch screen that caught my eye. The reviews for the first one seemed to suggest that wasn’t the computer for me, so I decided on the ASUS Chromebook CX1700CKA.

As far as I could tell the reviews weren’t bad, so I took a punt on it and bought one. After about 3 weeks or so of frequent use, my other laptop is now sitting in a desk draw. So what is Chromebook like as an operating system, and how well does it work on the ASUS CX1700CKA? I found the laptop very good.

Chrome browser is where you spend most of your time, so pretty much everything is done using that. I used Google Docs to prepare my speech. Google Docs had already become my default word processing package, so I didn’t need to change there.

Since I was using Linux Mint on my old computer I had been running the LibreOffice Suite (Microsoft don’t supply Microsoft Office for Linux operating systems), but had found Google Docs was better for word processing.

I can also create links with Google Docs which allowed others to look at my talk while I was preparing it. Docs has fairly good grammar detection and you can check the meanings of words too. I did try Microsoft Word online, but Docs seemed to be better for me.

The laptop has two regular USB ports, so I bought a USB junction box so I could attach more devices onto it. I bought a wireless mouse too and put the receiver onto the junction box. So far it has worked well.

While I did try the touch pad, I feel more confident using the mouse. I also attached a graphics drawing pad, and that seemed to work well too. The only problem I have had was one of my own making. I had shifted the charger from the power charging port to another port to reduce clutter around the computer, and it seemed to work okay, but one day, after spending most of the day on the computer the battery went flat.

I don’t know the exact reason for the battery going flat, but one can’t be surprised to get a flat battery if you don’t connect the charger to the charger port. I don’t know if I couldn’t charge the computer from that other port or whether it could sort of charge the battery from that other port, but anyway after connecting the charger to the correct port, I haven’t had any problems.

Lesson learnt! In regards to watching things online, the colours seemed to me to be better, maybe more vivid or more colourful, than my old laptop. Typing is comfortable too. There is one thing you should be aware of, which is the idle screen timeout.

This is fixed to something like 8 minutes (but doesn’t turn off the screen during an online movie) and it isn’t changeable. It seems there are apps you can get that supposedly can change the timeout period, but I haven’t tested any yet.

When I looked at the prices of comparable computers with the usual operating systems Chromebook computers do appear to be cheaper. With that in mind, I don’t suppose you can complain if there’s a few minor issues like the screen timeout.

I gave this review the title of “A minimalist computer” because it does all the functions I wanted it to do, it does them well, but there’s no sense of luxury. The computer doesn’t come with lots of doohickeys, but if you need something like a calculator you will find one available on Play Store.

So how does it score? Zoom? Tick. Watching Sports and other programs on line? Tick. Decent keyboard? Tick. Value of money? Tick. Would I recommend one to a friend? Yes.

At last got my Lenovo USI Pen 2. 0, so I can finally write a review for the Duet 3! The new Duet 3 is a very significant improvement over the original Duet (10. 1 screen). Just about everything is better.

The slightly larger screen allows for a much nicer keyboard which is a treat to use for any long lengths of time. Screen is also nice. I would have liked a 3:2 format vs. 16:10. An OLED screen, like the Duet 5, also would have been nice.

But that might affect battery life and price. The new processor makes the Duet 3 significantly snappier. Although it can be a bit slow on waking up (like the original Duet). I don’t know how this sluggishness would improve with more memory.

However, like the original Duet, the Duet 3 uses 32-bit version of ChromeOS which limits the RAM to 4GB. I am not sure why Lenovo would stick to this version of ChromeOS. The only other “weakness” of the Duet 3 is the USI Pen.

By now it should be well known that Duet 3 only works with a USI version 2 stylus which currently only Lenovo makes. A USI version 1 pen WILL NOT work. To date, I haven’t noticed a huge difference using the USI version 2 pen with the Duet 3 versus the USI pen version 1 with the original Duet.

But it does work fine overall. I did have an issue using the USI version 2 pen with the Duet 3 in the “beta” OS channel which I could fix going back to the “stable” channel. I am not sure if it was something specific to my setup.

Overall, for the price, this is a fantastic upgrade! The Duet 3 has become the machine that I carry around most of the time.

Although I’ve bought over 20,000 Chromebooks in my life (I work in School District IT), I’ve never owned one myself for personal use. This was a great first Chromebook – the kickstand and keyboard are really high quality, and I love disconnecting them and using it as a tablet; I probably do that about half the time I use it.

I have a USB-C dock for an external monitor when I really need to get serious, and that works great on this little guy. It mostly performs very smoothly, but every once in a while I do see it lag or slow a bit and wish it had a little more oomph–not unexpected for a device at this price point, but it does make me worry about longevity.

But overall, I’d definitely recommend it and may purchase more in the future (though maybe the 8GB version, just to keep things smooth.

So, I had the original Duet Chromebook and liked it a lot, but as I started to use it longer, it felt flimsy and slow. Then I had to work on it during COVID and realized it is just to small to be on for extended time.

Then the Duet 3 came out and I went for it! Fantastic upgrade! If I would have started on this one, I never would want another. The 1″ larger screen is more significant than I expected, plus it also makes the keyboard larger! It is faster, and much sturdier when closed than the last one.

I am beyond thrilled. This will be my home laptop/tablet for years. If you can find it on sale, it is a no brainer!! I typed this review on it!.