Chromebooks hit the big time with 16in Lenovo IdeaPad 5a
Rapid refresh rates meet beefy batteries
The IdeaPad 5a isn’t just a premium take on the Chromebook formula – it’s also Lenovo’s largest ChromeOS laptop ever. The 16in screen is aiming to keep the whole family happy, with enough CPU muscle for work and image quality to give movies plenty of punch.
It lands as part of Lenovo’s refreshed portable line-up, which includes two Android-powered Tab P11 tablets.
The IdeaPad 5a’s screen has a substantial 2.5k resolution and rapid 120Hz refresh rate, which promises super-smooth scrolling. The bezels are practically non-existent, too. The extra real estate also makes room for a bigger touchpad and a full-size keyboard with number pad.
Underneath there’s Wi-Fi 6E for speedy downloads and performance courtesy of optional 12th-gen Intel Core i3 CPUs, along with a battery that can deliver up to 12 hours between trips to a plug socket. A Full HD webcam with physical camera shutter should come in handy for work calls.
It’s set to go on sale this month, with prices starting from €549 (around £475).
Turn it up to eleven
Staying within the Google-sphere are the second-gen Lenovo Tab P11 and Tab P11 Pro. These twin Android slates are just as multi-purpose as the IdeaPad 5a, with a detachable keyboard (bundled with the Pro) and active stylus support (optional on both) handy for getting work done. They also ship with subscriptions to sketching and notetaking app Nebo, and equation calculator tool MyScript Calculator 2.
Naturally the Pro is the more powerful of the two, with an 11.2in, 2560×1536 resolution OLED display that ticks along at 120Hz and plays nicely with both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ content. It’ll boost to 600 nit peak brightness, and promises 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space for when colour accuracy is crucial.
It’s powered by a MediaTek Kompanio 1300T CPU and as much as 8GB of RAM, which Lenovo reckons makes it more than 100% faster than the OG Tab 11 Pro. It should also manage up to 14 hours of life away from the mains with its 8200mAh battery.
The regular Tab P11 dials things back a bit, swapping to LCD screen tech and packing a less powerful MediaTek G99 processor. The 11.5in screen still delivers a 120Hz refresh rate, though, and is paired with a four-driver, Dolby Atmos-ready speaker setup. The octa-core chip also packs 50% more CPU muscle than the previous gen model, and the top model gets 6GB of RAM for smoother multitasking.
Both tablets land with Android 12, and are promised at least two major Android operating system updates along with three years of security updates. They’ll be arriving in a selection of creatively-named colour choices (Storm Grey, Oat and Sage) later this year. Expect the 2nd-gen Tab P11 Pro from September, at €499 (about £430) and the 2nd-gen Tab P11 from November, at €299 (around £250).
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor