For most of Throughout my adult life, the thought of using a laptop with a screen smaller than 13 inches made me reflexively recoil. It may seem a little unfair, but I came of age when shoddy netbooks (with their tiny screens, low prices, and horrible performance) were popping up everywhere. That experience, in addition to having to talk to several family members looking for a good deal to buy one, left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I say all this to convey how wrong I was (and maybe give a lesson in letting go of old prejudices, but I digress). It’s not that there has been a glut of sub-12-inch laptops since the netbook market died, but its main standard-bearer, the Lenovo Chromebook Duet, has received high praise since its first version in 2020. Now, the latest version from the company The version is here and it completely convinced me.
Photography: Daniel Thorp-Lancaster
The idea behind the Chromebook Duet is simple: it’s an ultra-portable Chromebook with a detachable keyboard that lets you quickly switch between tablet and laptop modes. The 11-inch Chromebook Duet Gen 9 takes that idea forward, trading in a MediaTek Kompanio 838 processor for a little more power. This isn’t meant to be your main computer, but rather a compact machine that you can quickly throw in a bag and use anywhere without much fuss.
Beyond the MediaTek processor, the Chromebook Duet Gen 9 comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for $370 or 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for $400 (my review device is the latter). In any case, you’ll get an 11-inch LCD screen flanked by dual speakers, along with an 8MP rear camera and a 5MP front-facing camera with a privacy shutter. The display is wrapped in a sturdy metal chassis, while the detachable keyboard has a metal top deck with a gray leather-like material on the back.
Photography: Daniel Thorp-Lancaster