A MediaTek Kompanio Ultra version of the Chromebook Duet 5 is the thing of dreams

The new Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 has established a bit of a new reality for ChromeOS: we now have a proven, high-performance ARM chip that delivers both incredible speed and staggering battery life. The MediaTek Kompanio Ultra is an absolute beast, and it has me thinking about what’s next. Now that this amazing, fanless silicon exists, where else could it go?

For me, the answer is simple, and it’s the one Chromebook I find myself dreaming of right now: a large-screen Chromebook tablet or detachable powered by this new chip.

What made the Duet 5 great

My mind immediately goes back to the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5. That device was a game-changer, proving that a larger 13.3-inch Chromebook tablet could be a fantastic machine. Its gorgeous OLED screen made it one of the best media consumption devices around, and its included keyboard and kickstand made it a surprisingly capable light productivity tool with epic, all-day battery life.

The Duet 5’s only real drawback, especially now, is its aging Snapdragon processor. It’s a device that is still beloved, but it’s begging for a true successor with a modern, powerful SoC on the inside.

The perfect marriage of form and function

Now, imagine taking the brilliant form factor of a device like the Duet 5 and dropping the powerhouse MediaTek Kompanio Ultra inside. The result would be, in my opinion, the perfect no-compromise portable Chromebook.

You would get the silent, fanless design and incredible longevity that ARM chips are known for, but you’d also have the raw, desktop-class performance of the Kompanio Ultra. It would be a device that could handle heavy multitasking, demanding Android apps, and future AI features without breaking a sweat. It would be the ultimate go-anywhere machine—perfect for kicking back to watch movies on a stunning screen, but also more than capable of being a primary work device when you snap on the keyboard.

While I have no insider info or commits from the Chromium Gerrit to point to just yet (trust me, I’m looking), this feels like such a logical and necessary next step for the Chromebook tablet market. The Kompanio Ultra has proven itself in a clamshell, and its efficiency and power feel tailor-made for a premium, large-screen detachable.

A true successor to the spirit of the Duet 5, armed with the power of the Kompanio Ultra wouldn’t just be a great device; it would be an instant contender for the best Chromebook on the market. Here’s hoping it’s on the way.