Google Opens Preorders for Its $899 Gemini-Enhanced 'Googlebook' Laptops (techcrunch.com) 46
Monday Google opened preorders for its "Googlebook" laptops, pricing them at $899. A Google's blog post added that "At launch, you can choose between Intel Core Ultra Series 3 and Snapdragon X Elite processors" (paired with NPUs to power AI features).
"Devices will hit shelves on October 4 in the U.S. and on October 5 in Canada, the U.K., Ireland, France, Germany, and Australia," TechCrunch points out. But "the real pull for the new devices is that they'll prominently feature Gemini's latest capabilities in a new format: the laptop." Google is trying to offer a laptop with unique features like an AI-powered cursor, vibe-coded widgets, and support for AI-enhanced dictation. The latter is a feature called Rambler, which cleans up messy, rambling brain dumps into readable text. The move is a bet that AI, specifically Google's Gemini, could be enough of a draw to get people to buy a new laptop that bakes in AI instead of running them via desktop apps you install or access through the browser... On the Googlebook, Google is trying to reinvent the "point-and-click" experience of desktop computing to now include an AI element: The cursor serves as a conduit to Gemini. The company suggests various ways this could be used, like highlighting content on a web page for Gemini to work with, asking Gemini to see if an email you've hovered your cursor over is suspicious, or selecting images and then asking Gemini to visualize them together...
What's more interesting about the Googlebook is how it's seemingly part of Google's longer-term plan to capture a large part of the K-12 market that currently relies on Chromebooks and push them toward the company's Gemini AI. There are somewhere around 50 million Chromebooks in schools, used by students and educators, Google has said. In May, the company told TechCrunch that its current Chromebooks would continue to be supported, though many would become eligible to transition to the new Googlebook experience in the future...
Flagship devices in the new range are being built by Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo, with materials like aluminum, magnesium alloy, and carbon fiber... Google says the device will offer up to 14 hours of battery life.
Googlebooks will be decorated with an exterior Glowbar "which dances when you boot up, sweeps to show battery level, and supports other playful patterns," according to Google's blog post. "We're also opening Glowbar access to developers to build custom, interactive animations."
After testing actual Googlebooks, The Verge's reviewer first acknowledges that "it might be just another Trojan horse for Gemini." Still, "The hardware is polished (since it's based on current laptops). The OS is familiar (if you've ever used a Chromebook). But most impressive, it integrates your Android phone with your PC so they feel more like one device. It's the culmination of a series of new ideas that blur the two devices together.
"After my first look, I went from doubtful to excited by the prospect of Google pulling it all off..." The Asus was incredibly lightweight; the Lenovo has plenty of ports and an optional mouse with a matching Glowbar light; the Acer's convertible form factor allows some tablet-like use (and it's pretty affordable for a Panther Lake laptop). The HP had a great-looking screen and a latticeless keyboard I surprisingly didn't hate, and the Dell is basically a gold XPS 13 (which is excellent) but with a different chip...
But everything really special about Googlebooks comes down to software... You can cast apps from an Android phone directly to a Googlebook, even without touching your phone. Googlebooks essentially have two app drawers: a G-logo start menu for installed Googlebook apps and a second one beside it that pulls up mobile apps from your phone. Click a phone app and you can fully use that app with the mouse and keyboard or the Googlebook's touchscreen. It's a bit like iPhone Mirroring on macOS, but the apps are individually extracted to the desktop OS instead of showing your whole phone interface.
Googlebooks also have a nifty feature called Continue On where the icons of apps you're currently using on your phone appear in the bottom bar — allowing you to click it on the laptop and hand it off to the Googlebook. These app handoffs can transition to a native app or a web app, depending on how developers have programmed it... The other big way Googlebooks interact with an Android phone is Quick Access, allowing you to see and access all the files stored on your phone right in the desktop Files app... If you have an iPhone then you're limited to a Link to iOS app that just does some message syncing and replying... [W]hen it comes to mainline gaming, Nvidia's GeForce Now service is also coming to Googlebooks, and the first year is free with one of Google's new laptops.
"It's not every day we get a new player in the desktop operating system and laptop spaces," the reviewer points out. "There seems to be a higher ceiling of potential with Googlebooks than there was with Chromebooks, along with some cool features, but Google has a lot to prove at higher prices than people are used to paying for its laptops."
"Devices will hit shelves on October 4 in the U.S. and on October 5 in Canada, the U.K., Ireland, France, Germany, and Australia," TechCrunch points out. But "the real pull for the new devices is that they'll prominently feature Gemini's latest capabilities in a new format: the laptop." Google is trying to offer a laptop with unique features like an AI-powered cursor, vibe-coded widgets, and support for AI-enhanced dictation. The latter is a feature called Rambler, which cleans up messy, rambling brain dumps into readable text. The move is a bet that AI, specifically Google's Gemini, could be enough of a draw to get people to buy a new laptop that bakes in AI instead of running them via desktop apps you install or access through the browser... On the Googlebook, Google is trying to reinvent the "point-and-click" experience of desktop computing to now include an AI element: The cursor serves as a conduit to Gemini. The company suggests various ways this could be used, like highlighting content on a web page for Gemini to work with, asking Gemini to see if an email you've hovered your cursor over is suspicious, or selecting images and then asking Gemini to visualize them together...
What's more interesting about the Googlebook is how it's seemingly part of Google's longer-term plan to capture a large part of the K-12 market that currently relies on Chromebooks and push them toward the company's Gemini AI. There are somewhere around 50 million Chromebooks in schools, used by students and educators, Google has said. In May, the company told TechCrunch that its current Chromebooks would continue to be supported, though many would become eligible to transition to the new Googlebook experience in the future...
Flagship devices in the new range are being built by Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo, with materials like aluminum, magnesium alloy, and carbon fiber... Google says the device will offer up to 14 hours of battery life.
Googlebooks will be decorated with an exterior Glowbar "which dances when you boot up, sweeps to show battery level, and supports other playful patterns," according to Google's blog post. "We're also opening Glowbar access to developers to build custom, interactive animations."
After testing actual Googlebooks, The Verge's reviewer first acknowledges that "it might be just another Trojan horse for Gemini." Still, "The hardware is polished (since it's based on current laptops). The OS is familiar (if you've ever used a Chromebook). But most impressive, it integrates your Android phone with your PC so they feel more like one device. It's the culmination of a series of new ideas that blur the two devices together.
"After my first look, I went from doubtful to excited by the prospect of Google pulling it all off..." The Asus was incredibly lightweight; the Lenovo has plenty of ports and an optional mouse with a matching Glowbar light; the Acer's convertible form factor allows some tablet-like use (and it's pretty affordable for a Panther Lake laptop). The HP had a great-looking screen and a latticeless keyboard I surprisingly didn't hate, and the Dell is basically a gold XPS 13 (which is excellent) but with a different chip...
But everything really special about Googlebooks comes down to software... You can cast apps from an Android phone directly to a Googlebook, even without touching your phone. Googlebooks essentially have two app drawers: a G-logo start menu for installed Googlebook apps and a second one beside it that pulls up mobile apps from your phone. Click a phone app and you can fully use that app with the mouse and keyboard or the Googlebook's touchscreen. It's a bit like iPhone Mirroring on macOS, but the apps are individually extracted to the desktop OS instead of showing your whole phone interface.
Googlebooks also have a nifty feature called Continue On where the icons of apps you're currently using on your phone appear in the bottom bar — allowing you to click it on the laptop and hand it off to the Googlebook. These app handoffs can transition to a native app or a web app, depending on how developers have programmed it... The other big way Googlebooks interact with an Android phone is Quick Access, allowing you to see and access all the files stored on your phone right in the desktop Files app... If you have an iPhone then you're limited to a Link to iOS app that just does some message syncing and replying... [W]hen it comes to mainline gaming, Nvidia's GeForce Now service is also coming to Googlebooks, and the first year is free with one of Google's new laptops.
"It's not every day we get a new player in the desktop operating system and laptop spaces," the reviewer points out. "There seems to be a higher ceiling of potential with Googlebooks than there was with Chromebooks, along with some cool features, but Google has a lot to prove at higher prices than people are used to paying for its laptops."
Yuck (Score:2, Insightful)
Toy OS.
Have they chucked out that steaming pile of crap that is SurfaceFlinger yet? Try plugging in more that one screen, it never used to do extended desktop. Or the HAL that you plug in a bluetooth mouse and it thinks it's a keyboard.
ChromeOS was at least clean architecturally. Everything was rendered using DRM and the 'exo' wayland compositor. Crostini they say is superior to AVF.
The worst bits of Android? No thank you.
educational buddy (Score:2)
I am sire some people want this (Score:2)
Not me though.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm struggling to figure out who those people are.
Re: (Score:3)
Students.
This will tick all the boxes for a HS or college student (not majoring in tech). It is an appliance for doing school work.
Re: I am sire some people want this (Score:2)
Not depending on degree. There's still a lot of windows only educational software out there.
Re: (Score:2)
But the pool is getting smaller. So many Windows-only applications are moving to browser-based portals that the underlying OS is becoming less relevant.
You can now run online versions of CAD, designing software, video editing, image editing, programming IDEs, 3D slicers, CRM, accounting, and the whole document management suite (word, excell, powerpoint, etc.) regardless of OS. All you need is a standard browser. The website doesn't care if you are running from Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, or ChromeOS.
Pixelbook Go (Score:2)
I wish Google was making the hardware. The Pixelbook Go was a great device. I'm still using mine.
Re:Pixelbook Go (Score:5, Informative)
None of these companies, including Google, are "making" the hardware.
They're taking a reference design from Google, tweaking it a bit for marketing and BoM purposes, and having it built by one of the big ODMs such as FoxConn, Quanta or Compal.
And (Score:1)
AI cursor? Wasn't Clippy bad enough? (Score:5, Funny)
You seem to be hovering over someone's crotch. Would you like to see porn?
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe we'll get a pull-down menu for a right-click on a cursor over a person:
1. Remove 1 item of clothing
2. Remove all clothing
3. Add 1 item of clothing
4. Please cover that person up before I vomit
5. Add antennae to person
6. Add tail to person
7. Copy person
8. Drop copied person o
Too expensive (Score:3)
Google also hasn't helped itself by having ChromeOS *and* Android and trying to mush them together so badly. I have no idea if "Googlebook" is where the two finally become the one, or not, but the company must have wasted hundreds of millions in development, customer confusion / dissatisfaction by having this disconnect.
Re: Too expensive (Score:2)
Google made ChromeOS because at the time chrome for Android was trash
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Too expensive (Score:3)
I think it was clear that they had to have a better strategy than Android because development of Chrome for Android wasn't going well. We know it didn't go well because it was absolute crap until just a couple of years ago.
Re: (Score:2)
They've been fighting between Android and ChromeOS for years. Each wanting to win. Toss in Fuchsia from the remnants of the PINK a project with Apple.
IMHO there are teams inside Google that are creating products(OSes etc) searching for a market.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah disappointed with Fuchsia. IIRC, they tried porting Chromium, Dart, Linux virtualization and the android runtime to run on the Zircon.
Aside from that Nest thingee, not sure why it never reached maturity, even as a flashable ROM for the Pixel 10, say.
I guess the future of microkernels is hobby projects like RedoxOS and SculptOS.
Re: (Score:2)
What happened to Fuscia?
Finally the year of Android on the desktop (Score:2)
Re: Finally the year of Android on the desktop (Score:2)
I for one welcome our new (same as the old) cloud (mainframe) overlords.
Pixel phone (Score:2)
After testing actual Googlebooks, The Verge's reviewer first acknowledges that "it might be just another Trojan horse for Gemini.
Yeah if you long-press the power button on my phone now it opens Gemini instead of turning off the phone. Intuitive UI.
Collecting AI training data from students (Score:3)
Down to how they move their mouse. Orwellian dystopia again, it would be boring and predictable, if it wasn't so creepy ... for kids, really?
Does the AI work without an Internet connection?
I had thought ... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
It's sad when Apple has you beat on price with the Macbook Neo.
Re: (Score:2)
Seriously. Apple can just about take back the classroom if they made an effort at these prices. They just need to push decent companion software for teachers.
Bunch of eye candy, but what are the specs ??? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Pushing a lot of AI stuff, but can it handle it. Specs ?
From the page, "a baseline of 16GB of high-speed RAM across the entire portfolio, and some models go up to 32GB."
It also lists Intel, Qualcomm and MediaTek as partners with Intel and Qualcomm as launch CPU options.
Perhaps they'll ship a MediaTek-powered variant in the new year?
Re: (Score:2)
Pushing a lot of AI stuff, but can it handle it. Specs ?
From the page, "a baseline of 16GB of high-speed RAM across the entire portfolio, and some models go up to 32GB." ...
AFAICT, those "some models" that go up to 32gb don't exist yet. I looked at every one of them on google's site and none had a 32gb option.
They're advertising the local NPU. I know RAM is a shitshow right now, but if you're going to use it for local stuff, 32gb should at least be an option on all of these.
Huge Advertisement (Score:3)
This breathless gushing over a piece of hardware from the likes of Google is just over-the-top advertising.
And it's taking as much space as 3-4 regular stories? Shame on the editors!
This could be good... (Score:2)
These remind me of the early Chromebooks - I bought one from Asus, jailbroke it, and installed Linux. If somebody figures out how to do that with this latest offering, I could see a lot of people doing the same thing.
I wouldn't pop for one, because I'm addicted to Trackpoints and hate touchpads almost as much as I hate iPhones. But it might be good for other folks. And I like the idea of Google providing cheap, capable hardware that doesn't participate so heavily in their privacy rape.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Rather, I think the real intent behind this is clear - It's a lame attempt to force Gemini onto yet more uninterested customers. "You all refused to download it as an app, but how about if we charge you twice as much and make it a required component of the OS itself? Now do you wan
One config is $899, its really $1k+ (Score:2)
You will own nothing and be happy (Score:3)
After 12 months the subscription to AI Pro is $26.99/mo.
You can cancel the subscription and still use the laptop, but some features that were built into it go away without AI Pro. Such as autonomous agent support, and of course you look 5 TB of cloud storage when you drop Pro.
Re: You will own nothing and be happy (Score:2)
This piece of shit aught to be free for that kind of subscription price. Who would buy this thing other than a clueless sucker?
Re: (Score:2)
It's got AI *slaps hood*
This AI stuff is like 90% marketing. What's extra silly is selling computers with NPUs in them as if you can run local models but then bundling a subscription that tacitly admits that the hardware isn't good enough to run local models of any importance.
Re: (Score:2)
The NPUs are probably used to help with audio language processing and that's about it. The rest is marketing.
Want what China Has (Score:1)
MacBook Neo (Score:2)
Still more expensive than a MacBook Neo.
I'm looking forward to this (Score:1)
I run Linux on my desktop computers, but have used a Chromebook when I travel, and for a lot of people, ChromeOs is a pretty sensible option for a laptop. It's fast, secure, and the available hardware is good. What will the Googlebook offer that is different? The first offerings might not figure out what the value added will be, but I'm guessing if Google sticks with it, for many users, it will resonate.
If anything... (Score:2)
Gemini preload should be the grounds for a massive discount.