Follow ZDNET: Add us as a favorite source On Google.
ZDNET Highlights
- The new Googlebooks look promising, but questions remain about justifying their cost.
- Chromebooks had a clearly defined use case that reflected a real consumer need.
- The brand I most expected to see was absent from Google’s announcement.
Google just announced A new product line: the Googlebook, marketed as a successor to the Chromebook with more capable hardware and an attractive promise: merging Android and ChromeOS into something better.
This as-yet-unknown operating system has been cited as “AluminiumOS” by various media. leakBut it has not been officially announced by Google yet. Details on the devices are also scant, but Google says they will be more premium products with higher-end hardware.
Also: First look at Googlebook: A premium Chromebook alternative for Android users
So far, Google has shown off a limited set of features, but one of the primary ones is a reimagining of the mouse cursor. On Googlebook, shaking it opens a contextual menu of whatever’s on your screen, powered by Gemini Intelligence, the on-device AI.
Another feature we noticed is the ability to use apps on Googlebook directly from your Android smartphone, with no additional downloads required. In the demo, it showed the user opening Duolingo in a window that looked a lot like MacOS’s phone mirroring. This is clearly just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to deep integration between smartphones and Googlebooks; But if that’s the case, I have a big question.
big shoes to fill
A big reason Chromebooks were so successful was their well-defined niche: affordable hardware with a fast OS that excelled at everyday tasks in Google’s ecosystem. Even the most premium Chromebooks haven’t broken the $1,000 price barrier (except for the HP Dragonfly, but that was a unique device); More importantly, you can buy Chromebooks at the lowest prices.
it acer chromebook 315For example, at Walmart it will run you $179. Sure, you’re dealing with less RAM than your smartphone, but it’s still a laptop with a full-sized keyboard and an Intel processor that works for kids or seniors.
So, Chromebooks were cheaper and a little more restricted, but they did what they could do well – and reflected a real consumer need. With the introduction of Googlebooks, this price edge has become more blurred. For $1,500, what are we really getting? So far, Google has remained tight-lipped about the details.
a notable absence
Google has confirmed that all five major PC makers will be releasing their own Googlebooks later this autumn: HP, Acer, Lenovo, Dell, and Asus. Within those five brands, we can expect a range of devices with different sizes and prices. For example, Lenovo released the Chromebook Plus 14 last year, which features an OLED display and 16GB of RAM (the most of any Chromebook to date), so it makes sense to see the brand follow that up with a similarly specced Googlebook.
However, Lenovo wasn’t the only brand with a premium-tier device. Samsung released the Galaxy Chromebook Plus in late 2024 and it was a solid device. It had a 15.6-inch AMOLED Full HD (1080p) display, an Intel Core 3 100U (14th generation, Raptor Lake-R) processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage in a 2.5-pound, 0.4-inch thick chassis. I studied it closely and found it to be the smoothest Chromebook I’ve ever tested.
So where is Samsung? If Googlebook is for Android power users, a lot of them will be on Galaxy devices. Wouldn’t it make sense to have a device that combines features native to both the Android and Samsung ecosystems?
Also: Chromebook vs. Googlebook: How I’m deciding which laptop to upgrade to next
This is one of those scenarios that highlights an underlying issue of the Android ecosystem: there will always be many competing partners with their own products to sell. If Samsung doesn’t release a Googlebook, it won’t necessarily be a loss to the product line, but a well-designed, highly-integrated premium Samsung Googlebook with native Galaxy integration feels like a big win. Add some attractive hardware like an AMOLED display, haptic touchpad, and sleek build, and you’ve got a really competitive device.
more questions remain
with Google’s I/O At the developer conference next week, we can expect Google to release additional details about the Googlebook, its hardware and software capabilities. As things stand right now, there’s not much to support the premium price beyond the promise of a unified OS and some Gemini Intelligence features.
Also: Best Chromebooks for Students: Expert Tested and Reviewed
There’s also the question of Windows app emulation, as it has the potential to be a major improvement over Chromebooks, and is part of a broader justification for access to this newer, more powerful operating system.
