Why I’m testing a Flex 3i in preparation for the next Chromebook tablet

It feels like we can’t be too far from the launch of the next wave of more-powerful Chromebook tablets. Yes, I know there’s a new ASUS Chromebook CM30 tablet that launched back in January, but that isn’t what I’m after at this point. The updated MediaTek Kompanio 520 in that device is a nice upgrade from the aging Kompanio 500 found in the original Lenovo Chromebook Duet, but it’s far from the performance we see in the Duet 3 or Duet 5 with their Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 on the inside. And those devices are still a tad slow for what I’m looking for.

For the sort of performance boost needed to make a great tablet and laptop, I’m looking ahead to the eventual launch of ‘Ciri’ that should come from Lenovo bearing MediaTek’s latest MT8188 processor. We’ve discussed it at length before, but this chip should be pretty powerful and will make for a solid experience both in tablet mode and on the desk. An improved AI engine inside should also prove helpful as the MT8188 should theoretically be able to offload a lot of the AI and ML processing to a dedicated core for those sorts of tasks.

So why am I testing the Flex 3i?

So you might wonder why I’ve grabbed the Lenovo Flex 3i from the shelf. Well, the answer is simple: I don’t have a device around with the Intel N200 inside. That chip and the MT8188 share some pretty similar Geekbench scores, and a convertible, touchscreen device with the N200 would tell me a lot about what I should expect from the new MT8188 when it arrives.

So, I went for the next-closest thing: the N100. Between the two of these mobile processors from Intel, the N100 and N200 don’t score that differently. So using a device with the N100 inside should give me a decent idea of what the experience will be like with this sort of power under the hood driving the not-so-efficient tablet mode of ChromeOS.

Between the size, the bright screen and the convertible nature of this device, I think I’ll get a good feel for what using the eventual MT8188-powered tablets will be like. When I first reviewed the Flex 3i, I clearly leaned on it as a laptop/desktop device for the majority of my time. And though I don’t think convertibles make great tablets, for this test I’ll be leaning heavily on the tablet mode portions of the OS.

Here’s what I’m really looking for: Can this level of processing power handle tablet mode gestures well? Will split-screen mode be a smoother experience than what I’ve used in the past? Is this enough power to run some Android apps well? And if those things work, is ChromeOS really an operating system that I’d consider using in place of Android for a tablet?

I’ll know soon enough. I’m not a tablet guy to start with, so it will take a few days to settle in to keeping the Flex 3i around in tablet type situation. Once I get into that rhythm, I’m hoping I find some utility in keeping a large screened device around more often. At home, I tend to reach for a more-standard Chromebook when the phone won’t cut it. For this test, I’ll be trying my best to avoid flipping the Flex 3i around into clamshell mode as quickly. And I’m hoping the tablet parts of ChromeOS I don’t use all that often don’t disappoint.