Lenovo Chromebook Duet or Lenovo C340 2-in-1 Convertible Chromebook

Is The 11.6" or 10.1" Chromebook Better? | Lenovo C340 2-in-1 Convertible Chromebook Vs. Lenovo Chromebook Duet

Which one is a better option for travel and day-to-day needs: the 10-inch or 11- to 12-inch Chromebook Convertible Laptop Tablet? Today, I will answer this from my own experience, without going into too many tech details.

When I first bought my Lenovo C340 11.6" Hybrid Convertible Chromebook, my purpose was to make it a travel laptop and use it here and there, mostly when I don’t want to move my main Windows 10 Asus ASUS ZenBook Flip S UX370UA laptop.

However, 11.6 inches felt big, at least for me, and I was not using it daily as I was expecting to. It just sat there on one side of my kitchen counter and I kept charging it once in a while to keep the battery powered.

Then one day I was at Best Buy to get a set of earbuds. I accidentally saw the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 10.1-inch Chromebook. It caught my attention right away because of its smaller and eye-catching design.

I came home and did some research. I was convinced that this is what I have been looking for and ordered one the same night.

Both the Lenovo Chromebook Duet and the Lenovo C340 are hybrid convertible 2-in-1 laptop tablets. The Chromebook Duet has a detachable keyboard, which the C340 doesn’t. However, the little 1.6-inch difference in size makes a lot of difference in terms of portability and convenience.

The Lenovo Duet is so easy to carry and slips into any small bags or backpacks without weighing you down, so much so that I am using it a lot more than the C340. The Lenovo Duet can sit on a tight and challenging space so I feel comfortable using it anywhere and more often.

The Lenovo Duet also looks very high end, although its price isn’t. It offers a lot more practicality when you’re traveling and don’t want a bulky or bigger laptop or tablet.

I am surprised that now I use my Lenovo Duet more often than my Lenovo C340 and I am happy about my using experience. Currently, I am working on a review of the Lenovo Chromebook Duet and I will publish it on my YouTube channel shortly.

What to Look for When Buying Chromebooks

What to Look for When Buying Chromebooks

Features You Need for Your Chromebook

If you are shopping for a Chromebook, look for these features first. Chromebooks offer portability and a user-friendly experience, but without these features you won’t enjoy using your Chromebook as much.

Storage – If you find a Chromebook that is very cheap, it most likely has very little storage, such as 16 GB. Do not go below 32 GB storage on your Chromebook. 16 GB will fill up very fast after installing a few apps from Google Play. Running apps from a memory card is not convenient, so the lowest storage I recommend is 32 GB and go higher if you are able to.

USB C Ports – Stay away from Chromebooks if they are not USB C. It offers universal compatibility and you can charge via a USB C port without any additional power adaptor. You don’t want to go back to the old days with a Micro USB port and these old Chromebooks usually have a separate power adaptor input, which is a lot of hassle.

Convertibility - Convertible Chromebooks or Hybrid 2-in-1 Chromebooks offer various modes, such as laptop, tent, presentation and tablet modes. These modes can come in handy when you travel, need to do a presentation or just use as a tablet. The extra cost incurred from buying a Hybrid Chromebook could be worth it if it serves your needs.

Touch Screen – I don’t mind not having a touchscreen for a Windows laptop, but a touchscreen comes in handy on a Chromebook because Chromebooks are meant to be versatile and travel friendly.

Besides, with its capability to install apps from Google Play it makes sense to have a touchscreen feature because these apps really come alive on a touchscreen. Touchscreen Chromebooks might cost a little more, but it’s worth having a look.

The above article is available in video on my YouTube Channel here:

Do Not Buy Chromebook without These 3 Features | Chromebooks Tips & Tricks

Is Chromebook Going to Be A Bridge to The Future of Computers?

Google’s Attempt to Change Our Behaviour

First Published Date : May 18, 2011 ADawnJournal.com

Google just unveiled its new cloud-based laptop that runs on Google’s Chrome operating system. Acer and Samsung will the first to bring netbooks based on the Chrome OS platform. Bringing a computer based on a brand new concept is Google’s newest attempt to change how consumers use their computers and possibly build a bridge from the present to the future world of computers. However, will Google be successful building this bridge? Today, I am going to discuss some advantages and disadvantages of web-based computers like Chromebook and then you can decide whether it will succeed or will be a failure.

Advantages

You can forget about installing and updating software, running anti-virus, and so on. It’s all done automatically.

Takes 8 seconds to boot.

It’s always connected to the Internet, as Chromebook uses the Internet as its hard drive.

Low-power consumption and the battery lasts much longer than a traditional laptop

Runs much smoother than a traditional Windows-powered laptop

Disadvantages

People are not yet comfortable enough with cloud computing. It will be hard to overcome the psychological barrier of surrendering personal data on Google servers.

You will not be able to download and install programs you have known and used at length onto Chromebook. As you will not be able to use many programs you require on a daily basis, having a Chromebook will be meaningless.

As Chromebook is powered by the Internet, it will be dysfunctional (most of the applications) if there is no Internet access. However, as far as my understanding goes, some of the apps may work without the Internet. So, you are buying something for which you need to have an Internet connection 24/7 – which is not practical for many of us. For example, if you use the Toronto subway to commute or having a coffee at a coffee shop in the world’s largest underground shopping complex PATH in downtown Toronto, a Chromebook netbook will be useless.

Priced at $350 to $500, it’s not cheap and available only from two manufacturers.

Last Word

The main thing to overcome here is the psychological barrier. A product made to change our traditional computer experience will not be a smooth transition for sure. If you would like to get a feeling of what Chromebook will be like, try using only Google Chrome browser and all the applications only accessible via Chrome for a week – and you will get a feel for it. Coming back to our question – is Chromebook going to build a bridge to the future? It all depends on how consumers react.

Is There a Chromebook Expiration Date?

Where Do I Find It When My Chromebook Expires?

Whether you call it an Expiration Date, End of Life Policy, or Auto Update Policy, Chromebooks do have a date beyond which Google does not guarantee updates.

In the past, it used to be called End of Life Policy, but then Google changed the term to Auto Update Policy. Also, Google has changed the timeframe to Auto Update Expiration several times. For example, before it was 4 years, then 5 years, and now 6 and a half years.

The Auto Update Expiration countdown starts from the date of the release, not from the date when you bought it. However, although Google’s Auto Update Policy does not guarantee to provide updates beyond expiration (6 and a half years, currently), it does not necessarily mean you will not receive updates.

There is no firm policy on this or nothing written in stone. You might keep getting updates even once your Chromebook expires. Some of the very old Chromebooks, Google’s CR-48 and Samsung’s Series 5, for example, (and many others) received updates beyond their expiration dates.

You can find your device’s Auto Update Expiration Date following the link provided. Should you continue using your Chromebook beyond its expiration date if no updates are provided? It depends on how comfortable you are in terms of your Chromebook’s security vulnerability.

Google recommends getting a new Chromebook after expiration because it will be vulnerable to unpatched exploits.

My Asus Chromebook Flip C302 will expire in November of 2022. So I still have about 5 years to go and that’s a very good life in my opinion. I will be happy to upgrade to a new one because there will be more new features and enhancements at that time. Besides, unlike Windows laptops, Chromebooks won’t break your wallet.

Chromebook Expiration Policy