Google Is Making Laptops Again, and This Time the Selling Point Is the Assistant
Googlebook is a new laptop category built by Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo around Google's Gemini Intelligence. Pre-orders open on 21 September in the US, with devices shipping this autumn.
Google used a media event in New York on Monday to show off Googlebook, which it describes as a new category of laptop rather than a single product. The first wave is being built this autumn by Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo, and pre-orders open on 21 September, starting in the United States. The machines blend ChromeOS and Android, and the thing Google wants you to notice is not the processor but the assistant wired into the system.
Two features carry the pitch. Magic Pointer turns the mouse cursor itself into a way to ask Gemini about whatever is on screen: select a chart, a photo or a paragraph and ask about it without opening a separate chat window. Create My Widget builds a small desktop panel on request, so “create a live tracker for my Iceland trip” produces a box showing that flight, hotel and dinner. Two more features tie the laptop to an Android phone: Cast My Apps opens your phone’s apps on the laptop screen with nothing to install, and Quick Access puts your phone’s files in the laptop’s file browser as if they were local. Those two need a phone running Android 17 or newer. Google has not published prices or the exact launch line up on its own site; some outlets report a starting point around 999 dollars, which is worth treating as unconfirmed until pre-orders actually open. Google’s own small print is also clear that the Gemini features need an internet connection and that you should check the answers.
What is behind this
Google has tried the laptop conversation before with Chromebooks, which won schools by being cheap and simple and never really won anyone’s main machine. Googlebook is the opposite bet: premium hardware from the big five manufacturers, sold on the assistant. The reason the category exists at all is that the assistant is now the only part of a laptop that still changes noticeably year to year, since processors and screens have been good enough for most people for a while. Worth keeping expectations grounded, though. “AI laptop” has been a marketing line for two years now and the actual daily benefit has mostly been modest, and features like Magic Pointer live or die on whether they are faster than just typing a question, which nobody can tell you from a demo video.
What this means for you: Nothing to do this month, and that is a fine answer. Pre-orders start in the US, prices are not public, and the honest way to judge a screen full of smooth demos is to wait for someone to use one for a fortnight. If you are shopping for a laptop this autumn anyway, the useful question is which of these features you would actually use: the phone integration is concrete and easy to evaluate, while the Gemini features depend on habits you may not have yet. European availability has not been announced, so readers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland should expect a wait.
Sources
Source: https://googlebook.google/
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