Lenovo’s refreshed Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 is an extremely moveable ChromeOS pill and gives stable battery life and efficiency regardless of its humble specs and $359 beginning value. So naturally we needed to place it to the take a look at in opposition to Apple’s funds pill, the 2024 iPad Air (M2).Each tablets are mild and skinny, with minimal ports, and are priced underneath $600. Each tablets supply a set of compromises to get you one of the best worth in your cash. We regularly advocate each for college kids, as you will get them at an excellent higher value with training pricing and back-to-school gross sales.However which pill is definitely the higher purchase? Let’s break it down.Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 vs Apple iPad Air 13 (M2): Pricing and configurations(Picture credit score: Future)Most folk do not have an infinite funds for laptops and tablets, and no group of pc buyers wants an excellent deal fairly like college students.The Chromebook Duet’s base configuration prices simply $359.99. This model encompasses a MediaTek Kompanio 838 Processor, built-in MediaTek Mali-G57 MC3 graphics, 4GB of reminiscence, 64GB of SSD storage, a ten.95-inch 60Hz WUXGA (1,920 x 1,200) IPS show, a folio keyboard case, and Lenovo USI Pen 2. You possibly can improve to a 128GB mannequin which prices $379 when you forgo the Lenovo USI Pen 2, or $399.99 with the stylus.The bottom iPad Air (M2) prices $599 and contains an Apple M2 8-core CPU, Apple M2 9-core GPU, 8GB of reminiscence, 128GB of SSD storage, and an 11-inch Liquid Retina show. The iPad Air additionally is available in a 13-inch mannequin, which begins at $799. You possibly can improve the storage as much as 1TB, which prices $1,099 for the 11-inch iPad Air or $1,299 for the 13-inch model.Whereas the iPad Air has extra configurable choices, $599 is a steep beginning value for a mid-tier pill. Even when it does have Apple branding, most folk don’t love dropping a number of hundred {dollars} without delay.Get our in-depth critiques, useful suggestions, nice offers, and the largest information tales delivered to your inbox.Winner: Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 vs Apple iPad Air 13 (M2): Design(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information)Portability is among the main promoting factors of tablets, for enterprise professionals and college students alike.The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 is impressively mild and skinny. The pill weighs simply 1.12 kilos and is simply 0.3 inches thick. Sadly, it does have barely thick bezels and is available in only one colorway: Luna Grey.The Apple iPad Air is available in two type components, although we solely have testing knowledge for the 13-inch mannequin. The bigger pill weighs just one.36 kilos regardless of having a bigger show and measures simply 0.24 inches thick. It additionally has barely slimmer bezels and is available in 4 coloration choices: House Grey, Blue, Purple, and Starlight.Apple has all the time had clear, slick designs and the iPad Air (M2) isn’t any exception. It additionally is available in two enjoyable quirky colours. So this one should go to the iPad.Winner: Apple iPad Air 13 (M2)Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 vs Apple iPad Air 13 (M2): Show(Picture credit score: Future)When utilizing any piece of expertise, you spend most of your time staring on the show, so that you clearly need one thing that is fairly to have a look at.TheThe Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 and Apple iPad Air 13 have shiny show panels. Nonetheless, the iPad Air’s Liquid Retina show does have a better decision. The Chromebook Duet 11 encompasses a WUXGA (1,920 x 1,200) IPS panel, whereas the iPad Air 11 has a Liquid Retina (2,360 x 1,640) show, and the iPad Air 13 has a Liquid Retina (2,732 x 2,048) show. So you have received extra pixels on the iPad throughout the board. Each the Chromebook and iPad shows have been simple on the eyes in our hands-on testing, although there have been some variations concerning the lab benchmarks.The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 coated 83% of the DCI-P3 coloration gamut with a Delta-E accuracy of 0.33, whereas the iPad Air 13 coated simply 78.6% of the DCI-P3 coloration gamut with an accuracy of 0.27. So, each tablets are slightly color-accurate, however the Chromebook Duet is only a bit extra vibrant.So far as brightness is anxious, the iPad wins with a peak brightness of 572 nits, although the Chromebook Duet hits a decent 402 nits.This class goes to the Chromebook Duet 11, because of its edge on coloration vibrancy. Whereas the iPad Air does supply a better decision show and has an eye-searing max brightness of 572 nits, most often you will not want that further brightness, although the practically 5% distinction in vibrancy is well worth the lowered pixel rely.Winner: Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 vs Apple iPad Air 13 (M2): Efficiency(Picture credit score: Stevie Bonifield)Tablets aren’t precisely powerhouse machines, however you do want sufficient juice to get you thru your each day duties.The iPad Air’s M2 8-core CPU is nearly an excessive amount of energy for a pill, and mixed with 8GB of onboard RAM, you get blisteringly quick efficiency on all of our benchmarks. The Chromebook Duet 11’s MediaTek Kompanio 838 processor will get you a reasonably first rate little bit of efficiency, but it surely is not practically as snappy because the iPad. As a result of the Duet solely has 4GB of reminiscence, chances are you’ll run into reminiscence bandwidth points.Due to its restricted reminiscence capability, we have been unable to run Geekbench 6 on the Chromebook Duet although future OS updates might enable that to alter. In the meantime, the iPad Air maintained spectacular Geekbench 6 scores with a single-core common of two,600 and a multicore rating of 10,066. The Chromebook Duet 11’s Geekbench 5 efficiency was on the short aspect for a Chromebook, with a single-core common of 775 and a multicore rating of two,025. Whereas we will not do a direct comparability between Geekbench 5 and Geekbench 6 scores, it is fairly apparent the iPad Air 13’s M2 chipset has a significant efficiency benefit.This was additional supported by the Jetstream 2 scores between each tablets. The browser benchmark was run on Safari on the iPad and Chrome on the Duet 11. The iPad Air scored 337.419 factors whereas the Duet 11 scored simply 114.301 factors.Whereas the Duet’s efficiency is sweet for a Chromebook, it completely pales compared to the iPad Air.Winner: Apple iPad Air 13 (M2)Swipe to scroll horizontallyTabletGeekbench 5 single-coreGeekbench 5 multicoreGeekbench 6 single-coreGeekbench 6 multicoreJetstream 2Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 97752,025N/AN/A114.301Apple iPad Air 13 (M2)N/AN/A2,60010,066337.419Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 vs Apple iPad Air 13 (M2): Graphics and gaming(Picture credit score: Apple)If you happen to prefer to recreation on the go, a pill is not possible your first alternative of gaming platform. Handheld gaming PCs are on the rise for a cause, and smartphones are higher suited to touch-screen controls. Nonetheless, you possibly can join a Bluetooth controller or a keyboard and mouse to your pill for gaming. There may be technically nothing stopping you.So when you do wish to do some informal gaming on a pill, the iPad Air’s M2 9-core GPU is the best way to go. As a result of the Chromebook Duet 11 has solely 4GB of onboard RAM, loads of cell video games do not run effectively whereas the iPad Air has laptop-level gaming efficiency.So far as benchmarks go, we ran 3DMark Wild Life on each tablets and the outcomes did not come as a shock. The Apple iPad Air 13 (M2) maxed out the Wild Life benchmark with a body charge of 60fps. The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 scored 1,740 factors with a body charge of 10.4fps.You need to use the Chromebook Duet 11 for cloud gaming utilizing companies like Nvidia’s GeForce Now or Boosteroid. However if you wish to recreation on-device with out the latency of cloud gaming companies, the iPad Air is certainly the best way to go.Winner: Apple iPad Air 13 (M2)Swipe to scroll horizontallyTablet3DMark Wild Life Score3DMark Wild Life Body RateLenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 91,74010.4 fpsApple iPad Air 13 (M2)Maxed Out60 fpsLenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 vs Apple iPad Air 13 (M2): Battery life(Picture credit score: Future)Battery life is among the key metrics for laptops, tablets, and telephones. These gadgets are designed for use on the go, so it is crucial they provide an honest quantity of battery life. Each the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9 and Apple iPad Air 13 (M2) supply greater than 8 hours of battery life which might get most individuals via a full day of labor or play.On the Laptop computer Magazine battery take a look at, we set the tablets to 150 nits of show brightness and set them to surf via a sequence of static, dynamic, and video internet pages till the tablets ran out of battery life. The Apple iPad Air 13 lasted for 11 hours and half-hour on our internet browsing battery take a look at, whereas the Chromebook Duet lasted 9 hours and 47 minutes.Sadly, we solely have testing knowledge for the Apple iPad Air 13 mannequin, which does have a bigger 37Whr (watt-hour) battery. The 11-inch iPad Air has a 29Whr battery, which is similar capability because the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11. It is doable the iPad Air 11 could be extra comparable in battery longevity with the Chromebook Duet, but it surely may simply as simply final so long as the 13-inch mannequin. However, primarily based on what we do know, the winner is the iPad Air 13 by over 90 minutes.Winner: Apple iPad Air 13 (M2)Backside line(Picture credit score: Apple, edited with Canva)Whereas there’s a lot to advocate the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 Gen 9, when in comparison with the powerhouse M2 iPad Air 13, there’s simply no competitors. The iPad has higher design aesthetics, efficiency, graphics, and battery life.So, when you’ve got the funds for the iPad Air, it gives one of the best efficiency for the cash.Nonetheless, if a $600 pill is not within the playing cards for you, the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 is the best way to go. The Duet 11 has sufficient efficiency to fulfill most individuals’s wants, stable battery life, a extra vibrant show, and is considerably cheaper.Winner: Apple iPad Air 13 (M2)Extra from Laptop computer Magazine