Lenovo Tab K11 Plus review - The family tablet with a stylus, large screen & metal case

The Lenovo Tab K11 Plus is an affordable and well-equipped tablet for everyday use that looks attractive thanks to its narrow bezels and metal case.

When surfing the web and during multimedia applications, the 11.45-inch tablet boasts a PWM-free IPS panel that displays content sharply and smoothly with a 2K resolution and 90-Hz frame rate. Accompanying sound is provided by 4 well-tuned Dolby Atmos speakers.

Other advantages of the Lenovo Tab K11 Plus include a decent camera, plenty of storage space, stylus compatibility and solid battery life. Its optional LTE support is a nice bonus.

On the flip side, the device has to be criticized for its very short update period—even for a budget tablet. According to Lenovo, security updates will end in July 2026, i.e. in just 1.5 years.

At the time of writing, the Lenovo Tab K11 Plus is not yet listed on Lenovo's online store.

It is said to have an MRSP of around $250.

Lenovo's Tab K11 Plus is a new budget surfing and multimedia tablet. However, it is so new that it is still somewhat difficult to find online at the time of writing. Thankfully, though, it's now possible to make a good price comparison when it comes to the 11.45-inch device. And this shows that you get quite a lot of tablet value for a starting price of around $250.

The Lenovo Tab K11 Plus features a 90-Hz IPS screen with stylus support and 2K resolution. It relies on a solid mid-range SoC—the Qualcomm Snapdragon 680—and is equipped with up to 8 GB of RAM. NFC, Bluetooth 5.3 and WiFi 6 are included as standard, and there is additionally an LTE version of the Tab K11 Plus available. With 128 GB storage and 6 GB RAM, it costs around $230 and with 8 GB RAM, it will set you back around $250. A version with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage is also available for just over $300. Internationally, there are also models with 4 GB RAM on the market.

The Lenovo Tab K11 Plus has a grey metal case (colorway Luna Gray) and is relatively easy to hold with a weight of 520 grams. At the top of the back, a plastic strip runs along the entire length of the tablet at the height of the slightly protruding camera module to improve reception. Like the case, the tablet's frame is also made of metal.

Thanks to its well-made aluminum case, the Lenovo Tab K11 Plus is largely resistant to twisting and denting attempts. Lenovo has also given its tablet an IP52 certification. This means that the Tab K11 Plus is protected against dust and splashes of water and can withstand a few drops of rain. However, it isn't quite robust enough that a spilled glass of water, for example, wouldn't harm it.

The bezels around the screen, which are around 9 millimeters wide on all sides, don't make the Tab K11 Plus look bulky and they are wide enough to prevent accidental finger inputs on the IPS panel. Lenovo offers the optional Lenovo Tab Pen Plus stylus for pen input. The manufacturer hasn't provided any information on the protection class of the tablet's display glass.

Using our microSD reference card, the Angelbird AV Pro V60, the tablet's microSD card reader showed a performance typical of its class. Its data transfers were largely stable and about as high as those of most competitors during our test. 

The Tab K11 Plus uses recycled aluminum for its case and frame. Lenovo hasn't specified the extent to which this has been done. Its packaging is plastic-free and consists of bio-based materials such as bamboo and sugar cane. Lenovo has committed to becoming climate-neutral by 2050. The manufacturer also offers a CO² offset service, which makes it possible to compensate for CO² emissions generated during the manufacture, delivery and use of one of its devices.

Thanks to its WiFi 6 support, the Lenovo Tab K11 Plus is above average for a tablet in its price range. It also features modern Bluetooth 5.3 and NFC. However, you won't notice much of its good Wi-Fi equipment in practice, as the tablet didn't run any faster in our test than the comparison devices, which all use Wi-Fi 5. It can't use the 6 GHz band.

This resulted in the Tab K11 Plus achieving typical WiFi 5 transfer rates of around 300 to 350 MBit/s when connected to our reference router, the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000. Its transfer rates weren't particularly stable.

Lenovo offers its Tab K11 Plus with an optional LTE module. We cannot make any statements about its features, as we only had the WiFi version of the tablet available for testing.

In our test lab, the main camera reproduced the colors of the ColorChecker test chart very accurately (max. Delta-E 10.81) when we created optimal lighting conditions. It also captured the test chart completely, but couldn't display it sharply at every point and it struggled with pale colors. The main camera was completely overwhelmed by 1 lux of residual light and then only produced a noisy, dark image.

The tablet's scope of delivery includes a USB-C cable (USB 2.0), a 20-watt power adapter (up to 10V/2A), a SIM tool as well as a quick start guide and warranty information.

Lenovo offers the Lenovo Tab Pen Plus stylus to go with its tablet, which has 4096 pressure and tilt levels as well as a USB-C port for charging. In addition to a Bluetooth keyboard, you can also buy the Lenovo Smart Charging Station 2 docking station from the Lenovo store, which connects to the tablet's 4 pogo pins. The charging station was not available on the Lenovo online store at the time of testing, but you can purchase it from third-party providers.

In the United States, the Lenovo Tab K11 Plus is covered by a standard 12-month warranty.

The Lenovo Tab K11 Plus uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 680, whose performance is fine for everyday use. However, small stutters or delays can occur from time to time during operation. Still, considering its price range, the tablet manages a fairly solid performance and positioned itself in the midfield among the comparison devices during our test.

The Adreno 610 helps out the Snapdragon 680 with graphics calculations. Its power is sufficient for most applications, but it doesn't make the Lenovo Tab K11 Plus a gaming tablet—even if games can run smoothly in lower resolutions. The Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ performs significantly better in this respect.

The Lenovo Tab K11 Plus stepped on the gas during the browser benchmarks, as it landed in second place in the comparison field and was only beaten by the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+. This good result was probably primarily due to its more up-to-date browser version. Nevertheless, you can surf smoothly on the Lenovo tablet and websites are opened quickly.

While many inexpensive tablets rely on slow eMMC flash, the Lenovo Tab K11 Plus takes advantage of faster UFS 2.2 storage. Its high sequential data throughput makes itself noticeable through very short app loading times.

Regardless of the load, the Lenovo Tab K11 Plus stays cool during operation. The 3DMark stress tests revealed that the tablet can practically always deliver its full performance even under continuous load.

The Lenovo Tab K11 Plus can be charged at up to 20 watts. A suitable power adapter is included and in our test, it fully charged the tablet within 2:14 hours. It took 1:35 hours to reach a battery level of 80 percent again.

The Lenovo tablet's power consumption is exemplary. Both in idle mode and under load, it requires significantly less energy than the comparison devices.

Unfortunately, the combination of low power consumption and large battery doesn't translate into long battery runtimes for the Lenovo Tab K11 Plus. They are by no means bad, but they can't quite come close to those of the competition. The tablet lasted for just over 12 hours when simulating web surfing and playing videos in a continuous loop. A day of intensive use should definitely be possible.

The Lenovo Tab K11 Plus is a good and affordable all-round tablet that cuts just as good a figure for surfing and multimedia applications as it does for family use. It's just a shame that its update period is so short.