Lenovo Tab Extreme Review: Exactly The Sum Of Its Parts

It's understandable that someone may look at Lenovo's Tab Extreme Tablet and think of it as just a giant Android tablet. It's a somewhat reductive point of view to take on the device, but at the same time, it's also kind of spot on. Because, yes, it is "just" an Android tablet with a 14.5-inch display, but the size coupled with the included stand, keyboard, and Precision Pen 3 (Lenovo's stylus) all make it feel more like a laptop-tablet hybrid than your everyday average Android slate.

What you're ultimately going to find in the box, if you decide to check inside, is a large tablet with pretty decent processing power. Or a decent Android laptop that's adequately thin and travel-sized. Really it all depends on what you're looking for, and what you want it to be at any given moment. But it's that option to easily switch between the two — a sort of jack-of-all-trades approach if you will — that helps the Lenovo Tab Extreme stand out.

Lenovo provided a Tab Extreme Tablet for the purpose of this review. At the time of writing Lenovo's website states that the keyboard is only included in "select models," so you'd be wise, before you buy, to make absolutely sure that the model you're buying has the accessories we're talking about in this review.

The particular model of Tab Extreme that Lenovo sent over for review included a bevy of accessories, which were altogether heavier than the tablet itself. Aside from the obvious hardware like a charging cable and simple (and elegant, honestly) magnetic fold-out stand, it also came with a Lenovo Precision Pen 3 and a specially-designed keyboard made for the Extreme that doubles as a screen cover when not in use.

Setup is very straightforward and quick if you're familiar with the process of unboxing brand-new modern electronics. However, as with most operating systems, it will require a few minutes of menu navigation in order to get the basic settings in order, Google account, and all.

Sorting out the various attachments is simple, with the keyboard magnetically snapping into place just below the rear camera assembly and the smaller magnetic stand popping on right inside the hole intentionally built into the keyboard's back panel. Then the Precision Pen 3 can just stick to the back of the tablet right above the keyboard connection. Syncing the pen only requires accepting a pop-up prompt once it's stuck to the tablet, while the keyboard simply works as soon as it's attached.

The Lenovo Tab Extreme is, indeed, basically just a really big tablet. When it's all put together with the keyboard, stand, and pen all in position it's maybe a little bit heavier than, say, a MacBook. But it's also wider (taller if the keyboard is attached) while having about the same thickness. Being put together is also when the appeal of the Extreme really clicks — both literally and figuratively. 

Tasks and transformations of this device feel intuitive and natural. That includes opening the tablet (with its keyboard) up like a laptop, using the keyboard for desktop or tabled-sized tasks, or popping the keyboard off to use the tablet as a more traditional slate. The device is slick without the keyboard, courtesy of its smaller kickstand, and the magnetic placement of the Pen 3 makes the transition from touchscreen to stylus simple, as well. It's a setup that's not particularly exciting because it just works — it does what a great multifunctional tablet should do, and it does it well.

Depending on what you're used to in a laptop or tablet, the fact that the Extreme's OLED display isn't edge-to-edge may be a disappointment. However, it's still pretty sizable and impressive for what it is. That, and it supports 3K resolution and makes pretty much any media you're viewing on it look nice and crisp.

Of course, this won't hold a candle to 4K OLED (and up) computer monitors, laptops, and so on but it definitely throws the display of an M1 MacBook Pro or 4th Gen iPad Air in (pardon the pun) sharp contrast. The downside to this is it does make lower-resolution video and games look a bit muddled, but this isn't the tablet's fault — viewing lower-resolution media on higher-resolution screens tends to have that effect due to the inherent disparity.

That said, the Extreme makes for a great video streaming replacement if you have a tendency to watch TV or movies (or YouTube videos) on a tablet, even if you aren't using headphones. The built-in JBL speaker system sounds comparable to (maybe a little better) than what you'd hear from an M1 MacBook thanks to speakers situated on both sides of the tablet (in landscape orientation). They don't quite match what you'll find on the Google Pixel Tablet — but that's largely because the Pixel Tablet comes with its own high-powered speaker dock.

Battery life tends to be one of the most important aspects of any electronic device that's meant to be at least somewhat portable, and thankfully the Extreme doesn't follow in Lenovo's Yoga 9i Gen 8 footsteps. While that hybrid laptop (but still definitely a laptop) liked to eat through its own battery like it was on a feeding frenzy, the Extreme offers a much more respectable amount of wireless functionality.

As is always the case the amount of time the tablet lasts without being plugged in will depend on the activity, but so far it's been able to handle several hours of near-constant use (some video streaming, lots of online game testing) before finally needing to recharge. And once it got to that point, getting back to 100% didn't take too terribly long either — though admittedly the Extreme was left closed up and charging while other devices were used in its stead.

The point is, the Lenovo Tab Extreme's battery performance is fairly comparable to what most people would want from a laptop or tablet. And it's significantly better than the Lenovo Yoga 91 Gen 8. Just so long as you're not blasting full-brightness and running high-end games at full tilt.

Not everything about the Extreme is impressive, of course. There are some minor disappointments to be found, even if your initial impressions are positive. One such issue (which doesn't seem to be fixable via the settings) is the basic functionality of the keyboard. For the most part, it works super well and, as mentioned, it's a snap to connect and disconnect, but oddly the mouse cursor doesn't always behave correctly. This may be dependent on the software being used, but sometimes clicking the touchpad will select what's being pointed at and other times it does nothing. In which case you can just tap the button on the screen, but still, it's odd.

The hardware itself is a bit limited as well, with the internal performance not quite measuring up enough to run something like "Diablo Immortal" on its highest graphics settings. Also, the built-in cameras (both rear- and front-facing) are just okay. They're fine. Photos and video look alright but the 13MP camera array on this Lenovo tablet doesn't compare to most high-end smartphones or the Google Pixel Tablet's media capture capabilities.

Portability is a bit of a problem as well, though not a major one. Since the Extreme is roughly laptop-sized it's not going to travel quite as well as a more average-sized tablet — even without the keyboard.

The Lenovo Tab Extreme doesn't set the world on fire and it doesn't blaze a technological trail for others to follow, and that's okay. What it does do is provide a very effective middle ground between laptops and tablets that acts as both a distillation and refinement of the long-running concept. It's a jack-of-all-trades (master of none), but as is usually the case with the overused analogy it's when you look at all of those good but not masterful aspects together as a whole that it really starts to shine.

Again, it's not a powerhouse so even if you were to push outside of its Android defaults the Tab Extreme isn't going to replace your laptop. But (presumably) unlike your laptop it's big enough to give you a nice display along with the modular nature to shed some weight and dimensions as the situation requires. Whether or not that's enough to justify the $949.99 price tag comes down to you, but if nothing else it doesn't feel excessive. At publishing time the Lenovo Tab Extreme is set to be available at Best Buy.