What you need to know
- Lenovo might be working on a successor to the Chromebook Duet 5 from 2021.
- A new device, codenamed "Ciri," is being tested with the same Lenovo battery as the Duet 5.
- This device would be powered by an unannounced MediaTek chip as opposed to a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip.
When you look across the market of best Chromebooks, there are only really two options if you want a device that doubles as a tablet. Lenovo's Chromebook Duet 3 and Duet 5 continue to lead the "detachable" charge, but even those are starting to show their age. However, recent Chromium Gerrit commits suggest that we might finally get a successor to the Duet 5.
Robby from Chrome Unboxed has been tracking a new baseboard, codenamed "Geralt," that is powered by a MediaTek MT8188 chipset. Along with that, he has also found several mentions of Lenovo working on a potential successor to the Chromebook Duet 5. Before now, there were references to a device being tested with the MT8188 and the same screen as the one found in the current Duet 5.
Unfortunately, in early October, support for that display with the MT8188 was removed from the Gerrit. This left us wondering if Lenovo had just canceled the project altogether, as tends to happen from time to time. However, we can ramp up the excitement again, as Robby has now found a Chromium Gerrit commit mentioning a device that uses the same model Lenovo battery as the Duet 5.
We wouldn't blame you if this felt like it just really wasn't much to get excited about, especially with how rapidly the Chromebook development market changes. But, when considering that the Duet 5 is almost two years old, and a device pops up using the same battery as a previous device, it feels like more than just a coincidence.
On one hand, it's great to see many of the best Chromebooks feature a convertible design, giving you the illusion of a tablet when you want it. But on the other, there's nothing quite like being able to just detach a screen from a keyboard and use a Chromebook as a tablet, similar to Microsoft's popular Surface Pro lineup.
It's possible that we won't have much longer to wait before hearing about this potential successor to the Chromebook Duet 5. MediaTek is slated to host its next event on November 6, where it could introduce at least one new Chromebook-focused processor.
Until then, we'll just be keeping our fingers crossed.
