Linux

Forget Linux for a second. What you need to be aware is that both the variants come with only 4GB soldered-on RAM and eMMC storage. That means, even if you do manage to get Linux going on them, it's going to be super slow for any sort of practical Web/GUI needs. 4GB RAM is barely enough to run a browser these days, and if you tack on a full-fledged DE and multitasking with other apps, you'll be pushing memory pages to the disk (ie, swapping). And when that happens, you'll really feel the slowness. Trust me, you don't want to be swapping to eMMC - that's super old tech, something like 3x slower than UFS, which in turn a LOT slower than m.2 NVMe (the current standard used in "proper" laptops/convertibles).

Also, consider this for perspective - even budget smartphones these days come with at least 6GB RAM and UFS storage. So this laptop/convertible - a device meant for productivity - is a complete ripoff.

If money is an issue, then just buy a used laptop (from eBay, or whatever you guys use there). If you're aiming for good Linux compatibility then ThinkPads are a safe bet. But since you're after a Surface-like device, then you could just get any older Surface device. Why settle for an imitation when you can get the real thing? In any case, most older x86 laptops from mainstream brands should work fine in Linux in general, just do a google for it to see if there are any quirks or issues.

Regardless of your choice, avoid the Duet 3. 4GB RAM is completely unacceptable for a laptop in 2024.

I'll start this by saying I'm not familiar with either model, but as a general rule, always go x86 when you can. The Intel processor is going to be much better supported. You might get the snapdragon version to run, but it likely isn't supported by mainline Linux.

That being said, touch screen support on Linux is improving rapidly, but still isn't quite there. Make sure you're aware of the user experience before buying so you won't be disappointed.

Also, my unsolicited 2 cents, I would try to avoid buying lenovo. I've had the unfortunate responsibility of fixing a few of their products (an all-in-one and a few laptops, including a new thinkpad) and can confidently say their reliability, and repairability have greatly diminished. They use cheap parts and are in general, poorly designed.

Snapdragon is an ARM CPU which means if you can find a distro to run on it, it'll likely be an Android custom ROM, whereas Celeron is x86 and should run most Linux distros without issue.

4 GB of RAM is enough only if you install something like Debian+XFce (not gnome/kde/cinnamon or ubuntu/fedora), and only if you only use up to 3-4 tabs of web browser at the same time along 1 more app. Basically, you will need to always be conscious about the things you have open. But it is doable if you are the conscious user type like I am. Definitely not enough for things like 4k video editing, or multiple apps open with many tabs open each. Also, always go for the x86 version, it's better supported.