The tablet that goes to work

What is it?

It’s not often one encounters a tablet that could truly replace a laptop. The Lenovo Tab P11 Pro goes some way towards filling this gap. It has a vivid display, quad-stereo speakers, and fantastic battery life. It also has a few goodies in the box: a magnetically attached keyboard and a stylus with palm rejection, which tells the difference between a stylus and a palm or fingertip.

The magic comes with the keyboard cover, which has a chiclet-style keyboard and a small trackpad. When connected via magnets, the tablet transforms into Productivity Mode, which looks similar to a Windows 11 interface. The cursor is responsive to apps, the trackpad supports typical gestures, and (our favourite) the right-click brings up a cursor-friendly menu.

All of these fine-tuned software optimisations make it feel like one is using a 2-in-1 Windows laptop.

Its strong software is backed by some serious performance, with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G Octa-Core processor that is power-efficient, yet capable of running most apps. This made the tablet a great all-rounder. It ran Word all day and streamed Xbox Game Pass games all night.

The 11.5″ OLED HD+ display is the star of the show when the workday ends. When one unclips the keyboard and starts up Netflix, the vivid OLED display comes into its own. To complement the visuals, the Dolby Atmos speakers quad speakers fire forward to create a surround sound experience without one having to rely on headphones. Atmos is the current standard in bringing a cinematic sound experience to home devices.

On the downside, it doesn’t come with a headphone jack – although it is compatible with wireless earbuds or plug-in headphones via type-C USB adapters.

Adequate security is provided by a fingerprint sensor on the side-mounted lock button and a front-mounted infrared time-of-flight sensor for accurate face detection.

The machine features LTE for those who need an always-on connection, and Wi-Fi 6 support for a more stable connection.

What does it cost?

It’s available from R10,000 and via import only from stores like Grooves Land.

Why should you care?

This is the first Android tablet that gets “laptop mode” right. The flow of having a windowed environment with Android apps inside those windows is unmatched by any other tablet, and this is backed with the better battery life one can expect from premium tablets.

Artists can also appreciate this tablet, since it comes with the Lenovo Precision Pen 2 stylus. We’re no artists, but it works well for signing documents and note-taking. The pressure sensitivity of the stylus makes it feel like a real pen.

This makes it a solid competitor to the iPad Air. Despite it not being available in this country, it meets so many needs that it could be worth the effort of importing.

What are the biggest negatives?

• The “desktop mode” isn’t perfect with every app – mileage may vary.
• The fabric case is great to look at, but may gather dirt in its fibres.
• No earphone jack.
• No local availability.

What are the biggest positives?

• Long battery life that can get one comfortably through a workday.
• Good performance – no slow apps here.
• Great speakers and vivid display make it an excellent media device.

* Goldstuck is founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter on @art2gee. Bryan Turner is data analyst at World Wide Worx. Follow him on Twitter on @tranquilbigfoot