GoKawiilWhen it comes to my daily devices, I live in two worlds. For work, I use a MacBook Pro and an iPhone. My personal devices, on the other hand, are a Chromebook and a Pixel phone. Now that I’ve used a Googlebook and seen what it can do, I’ll likely swap out my Chromebook for one. That’s because, much like the MacBook and iPhone work well together, the integration between an Android phone and a Googlebook is absolutely fantastic.
What is a Googlebook?
Essentially, a Googlebook is a premium laptop running on Googlebook OS, which brings together Android, Gemini AI and the desktop functionality and robust security of ChromeOS. While Google Chromebooks and ChromeOS were made for life on the web, Googlebooks are about how we work today. They’ll let you seamlessly move between your phone and your laptop, while also giving you access to powerful AI-based tools. You’ll also have full access to the Google Play Store, including apps and games developed for mobile and desktop use.
When Google announced Googlebooks back in May, it didn’t say much about the actual devices. Mainly, just that they’d be premium laptops — a departure from Chromebooks’ budget-friendly identity. Check out the video below for a better look at the features of Googlebook OS and the laptops. Specs for the first five Googlebooks are also below.
You can order the Googlebooks now, or you can wait until Oct. 4 when they arrive in stores in the US (Oct. 5 for Canada, the UK, Ireland, France, Germany and Australia). Prices start at $899, but these are premium devices, so you’ll find things like high-quality materials, haptic touchpads, backlit keyboards, OLED touchscreens and Intel Panther Lake and Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processors.
Every purchase also includes 12 months of Google AI Pro, which normally costs $200 and comes with 5TB of cloud storage and Gemini Advanced tools. You’ll also get three months each of YouTube Premium and Adobe Photoshop, plus one year of Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service. And, like current Chromebooks, Googlebooks will get new features and OS updates for 10 years.
Dell XPS Googlebook
Josh Goldman/CNET
... continue reading