Picking out a computer to travel with is difficult. You want to have a computer that is powerful enough and big enough, without being too large and unwieldy. It’s also nice if you can entertain yourself, whether it’s through streaming, playing games, or maybe even some drawing.
I’ve tried bringing my 14-inch ASUS ROG gaming laptop or an Acer Chromebook 516 GE with me, but they’re too large and unwieldy to be practical. When I was reviewing the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 with a Lenovo USI stylus, it all clicked. Now, I never leave my house without them.
More Portable Than a Laptop and Just as Capable
Being portable is probably the number one feature of a computer you bring when traveling. However, many people’s main computers are large and heavy because they’re meant for productivity. For instance, a 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro is 12.31 by 8.71 by 0.61 inches and weighs approximately 3.5 pounds.
A 14-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop is 11.85 by 8.67 by 0.68 inches and weighs just under 3 pounds. Laptops that have larger screens, which many prefer for work, are even larger and heavier, which makes them even more suboptimal for travel. This is especially true when flying, since space and weight could be the difference between paying extra money for your ticket or not.
Tablets are a solution that people use to try and get around this issue, since they’re smaller, thinner, and more portable. A 13-inch M4 iPad Pro is 11.09 by 8.48 by 0.20 inches and weighs about 1.3 pounds. A Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra is 12.85 by 8.21 by 0.21 inches and weighs about 1.6 pounds.
However, tablets lack a lot of the productivity capabilities that a laptop possesses. Since tablets use touch as their main input form, their OSes are not usually optimized to work with a keyboard and mouse. They also lack some app compatibility that a full-fledged PC has and do not come equipped with a full web browser, which can make them suboptimal for productivity.
A Chromebook tablet is the perfect marriage of these ideals. It is small and portable like a tablet, but has the productivity capabilities of a laptop. The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 that I use is 10.05 by 6.57 by 0.3 with the keyboard folio attached and weighs 1.12 pounds by itself and 2.43 pounds with the folio and the tablet together.
This Chromebook tablet is smaller than a laptop or large productivity tablet that people would normally take with them. It also weighs less than a tablet by itself and weighs less than a full-fledged laptop when the keyboard folio is attached. This makes it much easier to fit and carry in a backpack than alternatives.
There are certainly some gaps in what a Chromebook can do. For hardcore video editing or running specialized engineering software, a Chromebook will likely not fit the bill. However, for most tasks a traveler will need, like viewing or editing a PDF, answering emails, browsing, editing photos, or consuming content, a Chromebook will do just fine.
Some may say that a convertible laptop (one that flips around into a tablet) will fix this issue, but I disagree. Convertibles work fine as a laptop, but this makes them as heavy and as large as a laptop when being used as a tablet. Their weight is also not distributed as well as a tablet, which makes them more difficult to hold.
Also, when you convert them into a tablet, the back of the tablet is the keyboard, which makes for a noisy and less grippable experience for the user. They also may not dissipate heat as well since they’re designed to be a laptop most of the time, so they may get hot when held. A Chromebook tablet with a removable folio is a much better solution for travel.
A Laptop When I Need it, A Tablet When I Don’t
We tend to have multiple devices in our lives: a laptop for productivity and a tablet for entertainment. This makes it difficult when traveling because you need to choose which of these devices is most important to bring with you or find space for both. A Chromebook tablet combines a laptop and a tablet to make the choice unnecessary.
When I need a laptop, I can simply snap on the keyboard. With a physical keyboard and trackpad, I can draft an article in Google Docs, manage my itinerary on a spreadsheet, and easily switch between dozens of tabs in the full Chrome browser. The experience is seamless and indistinguishable from using a traditional laptop for my use cases.
Once my work is done, and I’m relaxing, I can detach the keyboard and transform it into a tablet. I can prop it up on a tray table to stream a movie from Netflix, or hold it comfortably in one hand to read a book on a crowded train. The ability to use native Android apps like a traditional tablet is what truly sets it apart. Instead of just using web apps or websites like a laptop, I can switch between Android apps and web apps or websites for whatever best suits my needs. This app compatibility makes a Chromebook tablet like a supercharged Android tablet.
It’s Just as Good for Entertainment as a Traditional Tablet
Tablets are the ideal travel companion for entertainment. They are the perfect size and weight to move around with easily, and they have screens that are ideal for consuming content and playing games. Most people probably default to an iPad or a Samsung Galaxy Tab when they think of a tablet. This is due to their great app optimization, beautiful screens, and ease of use.
However, a Chromebook tablet can do all of these things just as well.
Having apps that work well is important, because if you can’t get an app to work, then you can’t use that service. Apple and Google have done a lot of work to make sure their tablet operating systems have a plethora of compatible apps, like Netflix or YouTube, and games, like Asphalt 8: Airborne or Alto’s Adventure, to make the user experience smooth and compelling. You also simply need to download the apps and, in most cases, they just work, no finagling required.
Chromebook tablets can take advantage of this app compatibility too. Chromebook tablets have access to the Google Play Store just like Android tablets and can access the majority of apps on the store. This means they can run the same great apps, albeit sometimes not quite as optimized. However, where they shine is that they can run a service through the Chrome browser as well if there isn’t an app or the mobile site is poorly built. This means that you have access to a good experience with almost every service or game, no matter what.
In terms of screens, other tablets may have superior screens. Chromebook tablets are usually lower in price than an iPad Pro or premium Android tablet, so they will have a less premium screen. However, that is not to say their screens are bad at all.
My Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 has a beautiful 10.95-inch IPS screen with a 1920 x 1200 resolution (nearly 2K) and 400 nits of brightness. It may not have mini-LED technology or anything like that, but frankly, I can’t really see much of a difference between the quality of it and a more premium tablet. Pixel peepers may be able to but, for me, it looks bright and vibrant with great colors.
In terms of gaming, in addition to running Android games, Chromebook tablets are also great systems for running cloud gaming services such as Xbox Cloud Gaming or NVIDIA GeForce Now. Google has done a lot of work to make these services run well on Chromebooks, so much so that there are now dedicated gaming Chromebooks like an Acer Chromebook 516 GE (Gaming Edition).
While a Chromebook tablet is not dedicated to gaming, the work Google has done to make these services run well extends to these devices, making them ideal for cloud gaming.
A USI Stylus Increases Usability
Beyond the hybrid form factor, Chromebook tablets’ compatibility with USI styli rounds out the experience. USI stands for Universal Stylus Initiative, an open standard designed to make styli and touchscreen devices universally compatible. This initiative means that a single USI-certified stylus can work across any compatible Chromebook, making proprietary styli unappealing. For the traveler, this is more than just a tech spec—it’s an added layer of versatility that can elevate the entire experience.
For many, a stylus might seem like a niche accessory, an extra item to carry that only an artist or hardcore notetaker would use. While it won’t be life-changing for everyone, it unlocks a series of practical and creative use cases that are particularly well-suited for life on the road.
My favorite use case for the stylus on a trip is for hands-on, intuitive note-taking and planning. Instead of fumbling with a keyboard to type out a list of attractions or a quick thought, I can use the stylus to jot down notes in an app like Google Cursive or Microsoft OneNote.
It feels almost as natural as writing in a physical journal, but with the added benefits of being able to easily search my notes, back them up to the cloud, and move text around with a simple drag-and-drop. It’s much more practical than keeping track of a physical notebook or making sure your pen has enough ink or your pencil is sharpened.
For the more creatively inclined, professional or casual, the stylus opens up a world of artistic possibilities. A Chromebook tablet, paired with its stylus, can become a digital sketchbook. I am not a great artist myself, but I’ve certainly used the stylus to attempt to draw beautiful scenery when the moment strikes me.
The Google-developed Chrome Canvas web app is a simple, no-frills drawing tool that’s built right into ChromeOS, but more powerful options like Sketchbook are also available via the Google Play Store.
Beyond creative and note-taking endeavors, the stylus has become an indispensable tool for a common travel-related headache: managing documents. How many times have you been on a trip and received a rental agreement, an activity waiver, or a legal document that needs to be signed? Usually you could draw a poor signature with your finger on your phone or find somewhere to print and scan the document, but neither is an ideal solution.
With a Chromebook tablet and a USI stylus, the process is a breeze. I can open the PDF, use the stylus to fill in forms and sign my name with precision, and send the document back, all within a matter of minutes. This single capability eliminates a major source of travel stress.
While a stylus isn’t a core component of a Chromebook tablet’s basic functionality, its addition turns an already versatile device into a true all-in-one powerhouse. It might not be the primary reason you choose a Chromebook tablet for travel, but it helps round out the experience and open up a world of possibilities.
Ultimately, the best travel computer isn’t the most powerful or most beautiful, but the one that disappears into your backpack until you need it and can take a bit of a beating. A Chromebook tablet with a USI stylus isn’t a laptop replacement or a tablet clone: it’s a unique series of devices that offers the best of both worlds and frees you to focus on the journey, not the gear.