Google Opens Preorders for $899 Gemini-Enhanced Googlebook Laptops

Google's blog post said buyers can choose between Intel Core Ultra Series 3 and Snapdragon X Elite processors at launch, paired with NPUs to power AI features. TechCrunch pointed out that the devices will hit shelves on those dates, but that the real pull is that they will prominently feature Gemini's latest capabilities in a new format: the laptop. Google is trying to offer unique features such as 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.

On the Googlebook, Google is trying to reinvent the point-and-click experience of desktop computing to include an AI element: the cursor serves as a conduit to Gemini. The company suggests various uses, such as highlighting content on a web page for Gemini to work with, asking Gemini to see if an email you have hovered your cursor over is suspicious, or selecting images and then asking Gemini to visualize them together.

The Googlebook also appears to be part of Google's longer-term plan to capture a large part of the K-12 market that currently relies on Chromebooks and push it toward the company's Gemini AI. Google has said there are somewhere around 50 million Chromebooks in schools, used by students and educators. 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, according to Google's blog post, dances when you boot up, sweeps to show battery level and supports other playful patterns. Google is 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 reviewer writes that the hardware is polished since it is based on current laptops, the OS is familiar to anyone who has used a Chromebook, and most impressive, it integrates your Android phone with your PC so they feel more like one device. The reviewer describes this as the culmination of a series of new ideas that blur the two devices together and says that after a first look, the reviewer went from doubtful to excited by the prospect of Google pulling it all off.

The Asus was incredibly lightweight, according to the review. 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 the reviewer notes it is pretty affordable for a Panther Lake laptop. The HP had a great-looking screen and a latticeless keyboard the reviewer surprisingly did not hate, and the Dell is basically a gold XPS 13, which the reviewer calls excellent, but with a different chip.

But everything really special about Googlebooks comes down to software, according to the review. 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. The review compares it to iPhone Mirroring on macOS, but says the apps are individually extracted to the desktop OS instead of showing your whole phone interface.

Googlebooks also have a feature called Continue On, where the icons of apps you are 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, the review says you are limited to a Link to iOS app that just does some message syncing and replying.

When 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. The reviewer points out that it is not every day we get a new player in the desktop operating system and laptop spaces.