If you’re using an iPhone, there’s a good chance you’re also a MacBook user, and vice versa. Google is looking to replicate that with their new Googlebook platform, a new category of laptops that is built on Android, with desktop foundations pulled from ChromeOS.
First teased earlier this year in May, the Googlebook is now officially here with flagship-level devices built by hardware partners such as Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo. Google seemed keen to focus on the ‘flagship’ part, highlighting that—perhaps unlike Chromebooks of yore—these Googlebooks will feature all the latest premium features, like up to 2.8K OLED touchscreens, haptic trackpads and, um, backlit keyboards. There will also be a ‘Glowbar’ on all of these Googlebooks, a light bar that can show you battery charge, startup animations and shimmers when you’re talking to Gemini.
Indeed, there’s a lot of Google’s Gemini Intelligence here, with Googlebooks packing features such as Magic Pointer, which lets you quickly bring up Gemini to your screen by wiggling your cursor. Rambler meanwhile is a tool to let you quite literally take down your rambling thoughts, letting the AI structure them into clean notes, checklists and formatted takeaways. You’ll also be able to create custom widgets for your desktop with its Create My Widget tool.
As for the hardware itself, expect to see processors from the likes of Intel and Qualcomm here, all of which will include dedicated NPUs capable of over 45 TOPS. Another key point Google wanted to highlight is that Googlebooks will be able to last up to 14 hours battery life. It’s also the first laptop with a Level 5 security-certified pKVM hypervisor, letting power users safely run Linux developer tools, pull code repositories or execute autonomous agents.
On the software side of things, it looks to be a hodgepodge of Android and ChromeOS, with a ‘desktop-class’ Chrome browser, supported by the Android app library. This does mean that you can technically run native apps such as Adobe Photoshop and CapCut, on top of streaming platforms and even Android games on a Googlebook. They’re also guaranteeing regular updates for Googlebook OS for up to 10 years.
Of course, it’s best feature might be the seamless integration with Android smartphones. Even right at bootup, your Android smartphone’s settings, saved passwords, WiFi networks and messages will all be moved onto your new Googlebook, just like on the iOS/macOS side of things. Additional Android x Googlebook features include:
- Continue On, which lets you continue whatever you were doing on your smartphone on your Googlebook;
- Files, which lets you look through your phone’s documents and downloads directly from your Googlebook; and
- Cast My Apps, which lets you access your apps on your Googlebook, almost like mirroring it on your laptop.
Google says that Googlebooks will start from USD899 (~RM3,664.95), and will come with 12 months of Google AI Pro, 3 months of YouTube Premium, Adobe Photoshop and more. Googlebooks will be available in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, France, Germany and Australia for now.
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