Lenovo’s refreshed Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 is a highly portable ChromeOS tablet that offers solid battery life and performance despite its modest specs and $359 starting price. So naturally we wanted to test it against Apple’s budget tablet, the 2024 iPad Air (M2).
Both tablets are light and thin, have minimal ports, and cost less than $600. Both tablets offer a series of compromises to get you the best value for your money. We recommend both for students, as you can get even better deals with educational prices and back-to-school sales.
But which tablet is actually better to buy? Let’s break it down.
Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 and Apple iPad Air 13 (M2): Pricing and configurations
Most people don’t have an unlimited budget for a laptop or tablet, and there’s no group of computer buyers like students who need a significant amount of money.
The basic configuration of Chromebook Duet costs just $359.99. This version includes a MediaTek Kompanio 838 processor, integrated MediaTek Mali-G57 MC3 graphics, 4GB of memory, 64GB of SSD storage, a 10.95-inch 60Hz WUXGA (1,920 x 1,200) IPS display, a folio keyboard case, and a Lenovo USI Pen 2. It is installed. You can upgrade to the 128GB model for $379 without the Lenovo USI Pen 2 or $399.99 with the stylus.
The base iPad Air (M2) costs $599 and includes an Apple M2 8-core CPU, an Apple M2 9-core GPU, 8GB of memory, 128GB of SSD storage, and an 11-inch Liquid Retina display. iPad Air also comes in a 13-inch model, starting at $799. Storage can be upgraded up to 1TB and costs $1,099 for the 11-inch iPad Air and $1,299 for the 13-inch version.
The iPad Air has more configurable options, but $599 is a high starting price for a mid-range tablet. Most people don’t like dropping hundreds of dollars on something at once, even if it comes with Apple branding.
winner: Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9
Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 vs Apple iPad Air 13 (M2): Design
Portability is one of the main selling points of tablets for business professionals and students alike.
The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 is surprisingly light and thin. The tablet weighs just 1.12 pounds and is just 0.3 inches thick. Unfortunately, the bezels are a bit thick and only one color is available: Lunar Gray.
The Apple iPad Air comes in two form factors, but our test data is only for the 13-inch model. Despite having a larger display, the larger tablet weighs just 1.36 pounds and is just 0.24 inches thick. It also has slightly slimmer bezels and comes in four color options: Space Grey, Blue, Purple, and Starlight.
Apple always embraces clean, sleek designs, and the iPad Air (M2) is no exception. Also available in two fun quirky colors. So this should be migrated to iPad.
winner:Apple iPad Air 13 (M2)
Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 vs Apple iPad Air 13 (M2): Display
No matter what technology you use, you’ll be spending most of your time staring at the display, so it’s only natural that you want it to look good.
Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 and Apple iPad Air 13 have glossy display panels. However, the iPad Air’s Liquid Retina display has a higher resolution. Chromebook Duet 11 has a WUXGA (1,920 x 1,200) IPS panel, iPad Air 11 has a Liquid Retina (2,360 x 1,640) display, and iPad Air 13 has a Liquid Retina (2,732 x 2,048) display. This means that the iPad has more pixels across the board. Both the Chromebook and iPad displays were easy on the eyes in real-world testing, but there were some differences when it came to lab benchmarks.
The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 covered 83% of the DCI-P3 color gamut with a Delta-E accuracy of 0.33, while the iPad Air 13 only covered 78.6% of the DCI-P3 color gamut with a Delta-E accuracy of 0.27. So while the colors on both tablets are pretty accurate, the Chromebook Duet’s colors are a little more vibrant.
When it comes to brightness, the iPad wins with a peak brightness of 572 nits, while the Chromebook Duet hits a respectable 402 nits.
The Chromebook Duet 11 fits into this category, as it excels in terms of color vibrancy. The iPad Air offers a higher-resolution display with an eye-popping maximum brightness of 572 nits, but most people don’t need more brightness, but the nearly 5% difference in vibrancy is , it’s worth reducing the number of pixels.
winner: Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9
Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 vs. Apple iPad Air 13 (M2): Performance
Tablets are not necessarily powerful machines, but they do need enough energy to complete daily tasks.
The iPad Air’s M2 8-core CPU has more than enough power for a tablet, and combined with 8GB of onboard RAM, it delivers surprisingly fast performance across all benchmarks. The Chromebook Duet 11’s MediaTek Kompanio 838 processor provides decent performance, but it’s not as fast as the iPad. Duet only has 4GB of memory, so you may experience memory bandwidth issues.
We weren’t able to run Geekbench 6 on the Chromebook Duet due to limited memory, but that may change in a future OS update. Meanwhile, the iPad Air maintained impressive Geekbench 6 scores with a single-core average of 2,600 and a multi-core score of 10,066. The Chromebook Duet 11’s Geekbench 5 performance was fast for a Chromebook, with an average single-core score of 775 and a multi-core score of 2,025. Although we can’t directly compare Geekbench 5 and Geekbench 6 scores, it’s clear that the iPad Air 13’s M2 chipset has a significant performance advantage.
This was further supported by the Jetstream 2 scores between both tablets. Browser benchmarks were run on Safari on an iPad and Chrome on Duet 11. The iPad Air’s score was 337.419 points, while Duet 11’s score was only 114.301 points.
The Duet’s performance is good for a Chromebook, but it pales in comparison to the iPad Air.
winner:Apple iPad Air 13 (M2)
| tablet | Geekbench 5 single core | Geekbench 5 multicore | Geekbench 6 single core | Geekbench 6 multicore | jet stream 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 | 775 | 2,025 | Not applicable | Not applicable | 114.301 |
| Apple iPad Air 13 (M2) | Not applicable | Not applicable | 2,600 | 10,066 | 337.419 |
Comparison of Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 and Apple iPad Air 13 (M2): Graphics and Games
If you want to play games on the go, a tablet might not be your first choice of gaming platform. There’s a reason handheld gaming PCs are on the rise, but smartphones are better suited for touch screen controls. However, you can still connect a Bluetooth controller or keyboard and mouse to your tablet to play games. Technically, there’s nothing stopping you.
So if you want to play some casual gaming on your tablet, the iPad Air’s M2 9-core GPU is the way to go. The Chromebook Duet 11 has only 4 GB of onboard RAM, so while the iPad Air has laptop-level gaming performance, many mobile games won’t run well.
As for benchmarks, I ran 3DMark Wild Life on both tablets and the results weren’t amazing. The Apple iPad Air 13 (M2) maxed out frame rates of 60fps on the Wild Life benchmark. The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 scored 1,740 points with a frame rate of 10.4fps.
You can use your Chromebook Duet 11 for cloud gaming using services like Nvidia’s GeForce Now and Boosteroid. But if you want to enjoy gaming on your device without the lag of cloud gaming services, the iPad Air is definitely the way to go.
winner:Apple iPad Air 13 (M2)
| tablet | 3DMark Wild Life Score | 3DMark Wild Life Frame Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 | 1,740 | 10.4fps |
| Apple iPad Air 13 (M2) | max out | 60fps |
Comparison of Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 and Apple iPad Air 13 (M2): Battery life
Battery life is one of the important metrics for laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. These devices are designed to be used on the go, so providing sufficient battery life is essential. The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 and Apple iPad Air 13 (M2) both have over 8 hours of battery life, enough to get most people through a full day of work or play.
in laptop magazine For battery testing, we set the tablet’s display brightness to 150 nits and set it to view a series of static, dynamic, and video web pages until the tablet’s battery life ran out. In our web surfing battery test, the Apple iPad Air 13 lasted 11 hours and 30 minutes, while the Chromebook Duet lasted 9 hours and 47 minutes.
Unfortunately, we only have test data for the Apple iPad Air 13 model, which has a larger 37Whr (watt hour) battery. The 11-inch iPad Air has a 29Whr battery, which is the same capacity as the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11. The iPad Air 11’s battery life could be on par with the Chromebook Duet, but it could also last just as long. As a 13 inch model. But as far as we know, the iPad Air 13 wins by over 90 minutes.
winner:Apple iPad Air 13 (M2)
conclusion
There’s a lot to recommend the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9, but when you compare it to the powerful M2 iPad Air 13, there’s no competition. iPad has great design, performance, graphics, and battery life.
So if you have the budget for the iPad Air, it offers the best performance for the money.
However, if you can’t afford a $600 tablet, the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 is a great choice. The Duet 11 has enough performance, solid battery life, and a more vibrant display to meet most people’s needs, and it’s significantly cheaper.
winner:Apple iPad Air 13 (M2)
