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Lenovo Has Revamped Its Flex, Duet Chromebooks For MWC 2022

Featured image for Lenovo Has Revamped Its Flex, Duet Chromebooks For MWC 2022

Lenovo isn’t holding back in conjunction with this year’s MWC 2022 event, launching no fewer than three new Chromebooks in its IdeaPad Flex and Duet lines. That, of course, means not only new 2-in-1 folding Chrome OS laptops dubbed the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i and IdeaPad Flex 3i Chromebook. But also a brand new Duet-branded Chrome OS tablet from the company — the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i and 3i Chromebooks cover the gamut of use-cases

As might be expected, there’s plenty to love about the new gadgets as follow-ups on their award-worthy predecessors. Especially with regard to the prospects of a new entry in the Duet line. But the new Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i and Flex 3i Chromebooks are certainly going to be the most versatile of the bunch.

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In fact, there are quite a lot of similarities in the devices. Each comes with up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM, just for starters. And with memory being among the most important aspects of Chrome OS gadget, that means each is going to be relatively heavy-hitting. They also share other attributes. Such as up to 10 hours of use on a single charge, two front-facing 2-watt speakers by MaxxAudio, and a similar design centered around a 360-degree hinge. Meaning they can be used in clamshell, tent, stand, or tablet mode.

There are some fairly big differences too, however. The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook, for instance, is powered by serious underpinning hardware. With up to a 12th generation Intel Core i5 processor and up to 512GB of SSD storage. That’s as compared to up to an Intel Pentium N6000 processor in the IdeaPad Flex 3i. Which itself is paired with up to 128GB of eMMC storage. And, of course, the new Flex 5i comes in a 14-inch format compared to the Flex 3i at 15.6-inches.

Additionally, the smaller of the two comes with a 1080p webcam while the smaller IdeaPad Flex 3i comes with just a 720p camera. While the smaller gadget also comes with an HDMI port and two USB Type-A ports with an additional USB Type-C port. Compared to the two USB-C ports and single USB-A port on the Flex 5i.

01 0 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebook 15 Arctic Gray
01 1 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebooks 15 Speciality Shots Number Pad title for flex duet mwc
01 2 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebook 15 Abyss Blue Front Facing JD
01 3 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebooks 15 Abyss Blue Speciality Shots Family title for flex duet mwc
01 4 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebook 15 Arctic Grey Front Facing Left
01 5 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebooks 15 Abyss Blue Front Facing Right for flex duet mwc
01 6 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebook 15 Arctic Grey Stand Facing Left
01 7 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebooks 15 Abyss Blue Tent Facing Left for flex duet mwc
01 8 13 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebook 15 Abyss Blue Clossup
01 9 13 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebooks 15 Arctic Grey Clossup for flex duet mwc
01 91 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebook 14 Stone Blue Front Facing
01 92 03 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebooks 14 Stone Blue Front Facing Left for flex duet mwc
01 93 05 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebook 14 Stone Blue Stand Facing Left
01 94 06 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebooks 14 Storm Grey Stand Facing Right for flex duet mwc
01 95 07 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebook 14 Stone Blue Tent Facing Left
01 96 09 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebooks 14 Storm Grey Tablet Horizontal Facing Right for flex duet mwc
01 97 10 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebook 14 Stone Blue Top Profile
01 98 13 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebooks 14 Storm Grey Clossup for flex duet mwc
01 99 14 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebook 14 Stone Blue Rear Facing Left
01 0 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebook 15 Arctic Gray
01 1 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebooks 15 Speciality Shots Number Pad title for flex duet mwc
01 2 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebook 15 Abyss Blue Front Facing JD
01 3 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebooks 15 Abyss Blue Speciality Shots Family title for flex duet mwc
01 4 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebook 15 Arctic Grey Front Facing Left
01 5 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebooks 15 Abyss Blue Front Facing Right for flex duet mwc
01 6 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebook 15 Arctic Grey Stand Facing Left
01 7 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebooks 15 Abyss Blue Tent Facing Left for flex duet mwc
01 8 13 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebook 15 Abyss Blue Clossup
01 9 13 Ideapad Flex 3i Chromebooks 15 Arctic Grey Clossup for flex duet mwc
01 91 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebook 14 Stone Blue Front Facing
01 92 03 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebooks 14 Stone Blue Front Facing Left for flex duet mwc
01 93 05 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebook 14 Stone Blue Stand Facing Left
01 94 06 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebooks 14 Storm Grey Stand Facing Right for flex duet mwc
01 95 07 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebook 14 Stone Blue Tent Facing Left
01 96 09 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebooks 14 Storm Grey Tablet Horizontal Facing Right for flex duet mwc
01 97 10 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebook 14 Stone Blue Top Profile
01 98 13 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebooks 14 Storm Grey Clossup for flex duet mwc
01 99 14 Ideapad Flex 5i Chromebook 14 Stone Blue Rear Facing Left

IdeaPad Flex 5i & 3i Chromebook Specs

Now, those who want a full rundown of specs for the new Lenovo Chromebooks can find those below, as provided by Lenovo.

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Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3i Chromebook
Display 14″ 16:10 FHD IPS, 300 nits, 45% NTSC
14″ 16:10 FHD IPS, 400 nits, 100% sRGB; Touchscreen
15.6″ FHD IPS 300 nits; Touchscreen
Hinge 360° 360°
Processor Intel Core i5-1235U
Core i3-1215U
Pentium 8505
Intel Pentium N6000
Celeron N4500
Memory LPDDR4X: 4 GB/8 GB LPDDR4X: 4 GB/8 GB
Storage SSD: 256 GB/512 GB
eMMC: 64 GB/128 GB
eMMC: 32 GB/64 GB/128 GB
Camera 1080p FHD 720p
Input/Output (I/O) Ports MicroSD Card Slot (SD 3.0)
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 22 (Type-C)
Kensington Nano Security Slot
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 12 (Type-C)
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 12 (Type-A)
Combo Audio Jack
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 12 (Type-C)
2 x USB 3.1 Gen 12 (Type-A)
MicroSD Card Reader
Audio Combo Jack
HDMI
WLAN & Bluetooth 2×2 WiFi 6E
Bluetooth 5.0 Combo with WiFi Card
Up to Intel WiFi 6 (802.11 ax 2×2 MIMO)
Bluetooth 5.1 Combo with WiFi Card
Battery Up to 10 Hours Up to 10 Hours
Audio 2 x 2W Stereo Speakers by MaxxAudio 2 x 2W Stereo Speakers by MaxxAudio
Optional Features Lenovo USI Pen
Colors Storm Grey
Stone Blue
Abyss Blue
Arctic Grey
OS Chrome OS Chrome OS
Preloaded Software Google Assistant
Google Play Store
Android Studio
Google Assistant
Google Play Store
Android Studio
Dimensions (mm) : 315.5 x 229 x 19.7
(inches) : 12.4″ x 9.0″ x 0.8″
(mm) : 362.02 x 248.00 x 18.94
(inches) : 14.25″ x 9.76″ x 0.75″
Weight Starting at 1.62 kg (3.57 lbs) Starting at 1.91 kg (4.20 lbs)

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook

The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook takes things in a more portable direction than the Flex series foldable Chromebooks. Starting with a build that’s just 11-inches and slimmed down to just 7.9mm. The fanless design is, perhaps unsurprisingly, powered by the second generation of Qualcomm’s laptop processors. Specifically, the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 Compute Platform.

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That means the latest entry in the Duet lineup is more battery-efficient than ever, lasting as long as 12-hours on a single charge while streaming video. That should also mean that it’s more efficient than ever on the performance end too. With full support for an optional stylus for the TÜV-certified 2K resolution display panel. Matching another tablet launched by Lenovo in conjunction with this year’s event.

Meanwhile, the new detachable keyboard disables automatically in tablet mode to prevent accidental clicks or typing. It’s also water-resistant this time around with pry-resistant keys.

Faster connections, an extra USB-C port — compared to the last generation — and two color options are among the other big changes. And, of course, an 8-megapixel rear camera is included as part of the build. Accenting the front-facing 5-megapixel snapper. But the biggest change of all may just be the available 8GB RAM option coupled with up to 256GB of storage. Arguably making this the most powerful Duet Chromebook tablet to date.

02 0 Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook 11 QC Hero Misty Blue for mwc flex duet chromebooks announcement
02 1 Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook 11 QC Misty Blue A cover Screen
02 2 Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook 11 QC Misty Blue Back for mwc flex duet chromebooks announcement
02 3 Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook 11 QC Misty Blue Front Back
02 4 Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook 11 QC Misty Blue Tablet Mode Front View for mwc flex duet chromebooks announcement
02 5 Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook 11 QC Storm Grey Front Back
02 6 Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook 11 QC Storm Grey Tablet Mode S for mwc flex duet chromebooks announcement
02 7 Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook 11 QC Storm Grey
02 0 Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook 11 QC Hero Misty Blue for mwc flex duet chromebooks announcement
02 1 Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook 11 QC Misty Blue A cover Screen
02 2 Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook 11 QC Misty Blue Back for mwc flex duet chromebooks announcement
02 3 Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook 11 QC Misty Blue Front Back
02 4 Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook 11 QC Misty Blue Tablet Mode Front View for mwc flex duet chromebooks announcement
02 5 Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook 11 QC Storm Grey Front Back
02 6 Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook 11 QC Storm Grey Tablet Mode S for mwc flex duet chromebooks announcement
02 7 Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook 11 QC Storm Grey

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook Specs

For a full rundown of the new Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook, Lenovo has shared all the details. Those are included below.

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook
Display 11.0″ 2K LCD 5:3; Touchscreen with Stylus support
Processor Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 Compute Platform
Memory LDDR4: 4 GB/8 GB
Storage eMMC: 64 GB/128 GB/256 GB
Camera 5MP front-facing
8MP rear-facing
Input/Output (I/O) Ports 2 x USB 3.0 Gen 1 (Type-C)
Pogo-pin
WLAN & Bluetooth WiFi 5 802.11 ac
Bluetooth 5.1 Combo with WiFi Card
Battery Up to 12 Hours
Audio 2 x 1W Stereo Speakers
Colors Storm Grey
Misty Blue
OS Chrome OS
Preloaded Software Google Assistant
Google Play Store
Android Studio
Dimensions (mm) : 258.04 x 164.55 x 7.90
(inches) : 10.16″ x 6.48″ x 0.31″
Weight Tablet – Starting at 516.5 g (1.14 lbs)
Folio Case – Starting at 429.3 g (0.95 lbs)

Pricing and availability for the new Flex and Duet Chromebooks from Lenovo

In terms of pricing and availability, both the new Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i and Duet 3 Chromebooks will be on sale starting in May. And both will start out at just $399.99. The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook will start out at $499.99. And the company says configurations will go on sale starting in June.