Lenovo has always floated the idea of creating a proper Microsoft Surface competitor, but despite coming close multiple times, they never really hit the mark. I think they might’ve done just that with the new Yoga Duet 7i.
Why the name? I couldn’t tell you, but it’s definitely meant to be a Surface competitor. It has an aluminum design with an aluminum kickstand on the back. There’s a 13-inch IPS 2K display on the front (no word on its aspect ratio but it’s probably 16:9 given Lenovo’s history), and under the hood you get up to to a 10th-gen Intel Core i7 processor. Paired to the processor are 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of SSD storage. The device can last up to 10.8 hours on a full charge.
For security, Lenovo includes IR-powered facial recognition. You also get Glance by Mirametrix to protect yourself from screen peepers. Alexa comes built-in Wi-Fi 6 is included, and you even get 4G LTE connectivity.
The biggest advantage to buying a Yoga Duet 7i over the Surface, however, would definitely have to do with what you get in the box. While you have to buy a keyboard and pen separately for a Surface, you get both of them bundled with the 7i. Granted, you don’t get the variety of colors for your keyboard like you would with a Surface, but I’m not sure if that matters very much since you’re saving over $100 by getting it in the box.
Speaking of colors, Lenovo is going to ship the Yoga Duet 7i in two finishes: Slate Grey and Orchid. It’ll launch in June for €1,199.
In addition to the 7i, Lenovo is also debuting the 2-in-1 IdeaPad Duet 3i. It’s meant to be an affordable Windows 10 machine for people such as students and those who don’t do much with their PCs. It opts for a 13.3-inch Full HD display, Intel Pentium processors, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. It does manage to keep LTE support, however, alongside two USB-C ports and a bundled keyboard/pen combo. Battery life will only stand at about eight hours, unfortunately, so you’ll wanna keep this guy on a charger more often than not.
The IdeaPad Duet 3i will retail for €429 and start shipping in July.
