Why Lenovo’s attractive P11 Pro tablet could be similar to what ‘Coachz’ will become

We’ve spilled much digital ink discussing one of the most provacative Chrome OS devices on the horizon in ‘Coachz’. From the 11-inch 3:2 high-res screen to the detachable form factor to the wirelessly recharging USI pen, this device is slated to bring a ton of ‘firsts’ to the Chrome OS market when it does finally arrive. Though I’ve previously speculated this device could be an HP-made affair, I’m beginning to doubt that a bit. I’ll explain why and also reveal why it is I think Lenovo’s new P11 Pro tablet could be something similar to what we’ll eventually get when ‘Coachz’ does ship.

Likely not made by HP

First up, let’s talk manufacturers. While ‘Coachz’ does in fact have an HP battery on the inside, I’m leaning more and more towards this device not being made by them. You see, there are an increasing number of commits for this device in the Chromium Repositories that come with a Huaqin email attached. Though this ODM makes laptops and tablets for a large group of companies, HP is not one of them. There’s no debating ‘Coachz’ is being made by Huaqin, but the case is quite thin that HP would be working with them in any way.

The list of Chromebook makers that Huaqin builds for is vast, so knowing this Chrome OS device is being built by them doens’t help widdle things down at all. In fact, it gives us almost no credible lead at all apart from being certain this most likely won’t come from HP. We’ll circle back to this at the end.

P11 Pro Similarities

I received an email today that pointed out the P11 Pro and it’s the first I’ve really read about it. First up, I must say that in the case of the P11 Pro, the specs are decent and the price is reasonable as well for a tablet that comes with the keyboard, optional pen input, boasts a high-res, bright screen and is crazy-thin at only 5.8mm. However, the email was more of a question of whether or not Lenovo would be working on a Chrome OS version of this tablet, and in considering this I began noticing some similarities to ‘Coachz’ that are worth thinking about.

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First, the P11 Pro is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G that happens to bear quite a bit of resemblance to the Snapdragon 7c we already know is in ‘Coachz’. In fact, of all processors out there Lenovo could have put in the P11 Pro, the 730G is about as close to the Snapdragon 7c as you can get.

Next, we’re dealing with a high-res 16:10 11.5-inch screen. Though ‘Coachz’ is looking to employ an 11-inch 3:2 screen, this is clearly a tablet built in the same vein with the same target audience. Additionally, the P11 Pro has a kickstand, a pen option, a fingerprint scanner, and a pogo-pin attachment for the base keyboard. These are all characteristics of ‘Coachz’ and all things that Lenovo could be working on in Android as they are developing their new Chrome OS tablet.

The standard P11 tablet looks basically identical to the Duet

Here’s the icing on the cake, though. If you look at the P11 tablet from Lenovo, you’ll notice something quite striking about it if you are a Chromebook fan: it looks nearly identical to arguably the most-popular Chromebook from 2020 in the Lenovo Chromebook Duet. I mean, come on:

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With this striking similarity in mind, it is worth noting that while the P11 tablet looks a lot like the Duet, but it isn’t a 1:1 match. In fact, the screen on the P11 is of a higher resolution and is bumped up to 11 inches in diagonal measure. While design inspiration was clearly – CLEARLY – taken from work on the Duet, this device isn’t just a copy/paste job.

Now, take the similarity between the Duet and this standard P11 and think of what it could look like for much of the P11 Pro design aesthetic to transfer over to a Chrome OS version of this same formula. Sure, the screen may be a bit different and the keyboard will change, but much of the formula for what we’ve already uncovered for ‘Coachz’ is already here and ready to go. And it looks fantastic! The P11 Pro is a beautiful, thin tablet that we’d be more than happy to see Chrome OS arrive on.

Now, putting all this together with the fact that Huaqin (remember them from earlier?) makes devices for Lenovo, we start building a compelling case to say that not only is Lenovo the likely maker of ‘Coachz’, but also that we’d expect to see much of the excellent-looking design language from the P11 Pro in whatever ‘Coachz’ ends up becoming. Is there a chance that this upcoming tablet comes from somewhere else, looks like something else, and doesn’t come with these dimensions? Absolutely. But I think there’s a whole lot better chance that we’re onto something here, and you know as well as I that we’ll keep digging until we know for sure.