Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 (11, Gen 8) Review – Is This the Windows Mini You’ve Been Waiting For?
Design and construction
When the keyboard is detached, the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 (11″, Gen 8) looks like a typical modern tablet. The bezels around the screen are made of a mix of glass fiber and polycarbonate and the latter is the material for the back (PC-ABS if we have to be more specific). The device is only available in Abyss blue color.
The rigidity is very good. We tried to twist the machine and we didn’t observe any bends or cracks (thank god!). The profile is 8.95 mm and this gadget stops the scales at 697 grams (in tablet mode). The keyboard adds another 450 grams and this results in a 1.147 kg weight in laptop mode.
The bezels around the 2K display aren’t among the narrowest we have seen.
There is a 5MP camera with a fixed focus above the display.
The optional keyboard lacks a backlight. The keycaps are big and they offer decent travel at best but the feedback is clicky. Not bad, given how thin the board is. It’s also sturdy, you have to apply a lot of force to bend it. The optional Lenovo Digital Pen 3 can be found in two iterations – with or without a replaceable AAAA alkaline battery. The unit pairs well with the glossy display. The stylus can be used for taking notes or sketching something onscreen.
The touchpad with a Mylar surface is rather small (46 x 87 mm) but that’s fine because the unit is part of a compact Folio case. Still, the pad is okay for normal usage but don’t expect miracles. An external mouse is a better choice if you are going to use the machine for long hours in laptop form.
The back reveals the two-tone design of the device and the 8MP camera with autofocus.
Ports
On the left side, you get two USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 1) ports. The former supports PowerDelivery 3.0 and DisplayPort 1.2 (for up to 3840×2160@60Hz external displays). The bottom side houses the Pogo pins with guide pins. On the right, you can see the Power button that doubles as a fingerprint reader and an Audio combo jack.
Author: Nikolay Palaozov
Author: eng. Kroum NikolovHead of Engineering at LaptopMedia.com, inventor and innovator with 40+ years of experience in electronics and high technology.
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Hey guys thanks for the review. Has this laptop been released to the public? I’m having trouble finding it to purchase online.
Same! I’m really struggling to find this available anywhere. I only find the Duet 3 with ChromeOS or the old one with Windows and a Celeron CPU.
Yeah I have the old one cause I found it for very cheap (180€) a few months ago from a major electronics retailer but haven’t seen this model anywhere. It’ll probably have the same fate as the old model.
I have it, here in South Africa. Intel N100, 8GB LPDDR5, 128GB UFS drive. It’s a fantastic little machine, quicker on the CPU than I ever expected.