GoKawiilThe first Googlebooks from Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo are up for pre-order today. Google is giving us a clearer picture of what'll set Googlebooks apart from other laptops, which you can read about here, but the other big question is what the company's hardware partners have cooked up. As expected, all five Googlebooks are premium hardware rather than the entry- to mid-range hardware usually found on Chromebooks.
There aren't rigorous spec requirements for hardware makers to hit, but all five of these Googlebooks have at least 16GB of RAM, and Google says their batteries are all rated to hit 14 hours of video playback or 16 hours of web browsing. And while all the laptops have their own design, other internal specs are pretty similar across the board. The Acer, ASUS and Lenovo Googlebooks all include Intel's Core Ultra 5 Series 3 chips (Acer and ASUS say they'll offer Core Ultra 7 models as well), while Dell and HP are using Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chip.
Oh, and every Googlebook has a Glowbar: a light-up array on the back of the lid that provides a nice touch of whimsy. It sweeps as you boot it up and shows your battery level if you swipe it; it also apparently has built-in animations for when you're talking with Gemini. Right now it's mostly just a fun visual cue, but Google says developers will be able to take advantage of it in the future. At the least, it's a fun identifier much like the original Glowbar was on the Chromebook Pixel all those years ago, and neatly aligns with the hardware design on Google's Pixel 11 Pro and its HiLight notification array.
We're likely going to get our hands on many of these Googlebooks in the coming weeks to see how they work day-in and day-out, but for now, here are my first impressions based on quick tests at the press event Google held last week.