While the Chrome OS world anxiously awaits the arrival of more Duet Chromebooks, Lenovo’s rugged sibling is currently available and it’s dirt cheap at the moment. The 10e Chromebook tablet doesn’t have the eye-appeal of the Duet but make no mistake, it is just as capable as its sleeker sibling. In their tablet forms, these devices are practically identical as it pertains to performance. Yes, Best Buy’s variant of the Duet comes with 128GB of storage but the processor, RAM and display are exactly the same. That makes it difficult to say which is the better tablet because it really boils down to use case.
If I wanted a secondary device to throw in my bag or take on vacation, I would choose the Duet. It’s sleek, light and an absolute pleasure to behold. That said, my experience with the 10e is very similar sans the happiness factor you get from the Duet’s aesthetics and build and that’s exactly what makes the 10e Chromebook tablet perfect for a different segment of users. The kiddos. We have two 10e Chromebooks at our house. One for each of our children. They’re inexpensive enough that you don’t have to cringe every time one of the kids goes running down the hallway with it in hand but rugged enough that, even if they do drop it, it can take the abuse. The only real drawback of the 10e is that the upcoming folio keyboard lacks a trackpad. That’s not a problem for my kids. They use it as a tablet. If my daughter needs to do some school work, we have plenty of other, more viable Chromebook options.
Right now, Lenovo has dropped the price of the 10e Chromebook down to $239 which is $30 off of the retail price tag. If you use the promo code “EXTRAFIVE” at checkout, you’ll score an extra $11.95 off bringing your total to $227.05 before tax and shipping is free. That’s a killer deal considering the fact that we’ve tested more-expensive Android tablets that don’t perform nearly as well as the 10e/Duet and the Android tablets can’t offer a full desktop experience. You can find the rugged 10e Chromebook at the link below along with Lenovo’s protective case for $26 if you want some added security. If you need a keyboard, we recommend going with something from Logitech or even Dell’s new wireless Chrome OS keyboard.
