Alphabet Inc.’s Google introduced a new high-end laptop segment called “Googlebook” that will run Android and prominently showcase Gemini artificial intelligence.
introduced a new high-end laptop segment called “Googlebook” that will run Android and prominently showcase Gemini artificial intelligence. Hardware partners Dell Technologies Inc., Lenovo Group Ltd. and HP Inc. will debut models built on the platform in the coming months.
The effort, announced on Tuesday in addition to a series of upcoming Android 17 updates, marks a fresh push by Google into the laptop segment and lets the company integrate key Gemini features into the core operating system, potentially offering more consumer-facing AI features than Windows and Mac notebooks. Google is framing the new laptops as a convergence of Android and ChromeOS, the software that underpins affordable Chromebook devices.
Since their introduction 15 years ago, Chromebooks have found success in education and with consumers whose basic computing needs can be satisfied on a web browser. But the new systems will offer significantly better performance and quality hardware than Chromebooks. While individual machine designs will vary based on manufacturer, all Googlebooks will include a signature “Glowbar” that illuminates when the laptops are powered on.
Google and its partners are not alone in targeting an in-between laptop segment that aims to offer more than Chromebooks or the cheapest Windows PCs. Apple Inc. earlier this year debuted the $599 MacBook Neo, which helped fuel a roughly 6% quarterly pickup in Mac sales. DoorDash poses disruption risk to payments firms, analyst says The search giant said it plans to share more details about the effort later this year, when partners will begin unveiling their respective products.
Asustek Computer Inc., better known as ASUS, and Acer have also signed on to release Googlebook hardware.
“There is an opportunity to bring more innovation back to laptops, especially at the higher end,” Sameer Samat, a Google president overseeing the Android ecosystem, said in an interview. He declined to comment on whether Google plans to release its own Googlebooks. The company hasn’t introduced a Google-branded laptop since the Pixelbook Go in 2019. Google has a chance to build AI “into the laptop in a different way that no one else has really hit on,” Samat added.
Gemini Intelligence, also announced Tuesday, is the new branding for the latest user-facing AI features also coming to premium Android devices this year. Even as Googlebooks make Gemini the centerpiece of the user experience, Google says that its AI features are meant to move into the background when they aren’t needed. Among the new capabilities is Magic Pointer, which gives the trackpad cursor more versatile capabilities.
The feature is context-aware and indicates to users when something on their screen can benefit from Gemini’s assistance. Hovering over a message might suggest quick replies, or hovering on a meeting could present location ideas.
“Things like Magic Pointer are simple once you see them, but are actually hard to really perfect,” Samat said. “We did that with Circle to Search on the phone and we’re really excited to use things like that on the laptop as well. ” Another feature lets users ask Gemini to create custom widgets for nearly any purpose.
Google hopes that Googlebooks will be a draw for app developers, who will be able to efficiently adapt their software and offer a consistent experience across hardware types. This also means that consumers can use individual apps on their Android phone directly from the laptop. Apple brought iPhone mirroring to Macs in 2024, partly because many developers have opted out of allowing their popular mobile apps to natively run on macOS.
Even with the arrival of Googlebooks, ChromeOS isn’t going anywhere.
“Sixty-plus percent of the education market in the US is Chromebooks,” Samat said. “We think it’s really a good fit there. ”Harriette Cole: Am I wrong to bar my teenager from public transportation? Miss Manners: What's the right response to the job interview wastepaper test?
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