Rethinking the laptop is a big undertaking why Googlebooks are so much more than overpriced Chromebooks, and why Apple should be worried

Date:
Mon, 21 Sep 2026 13:00:00 +0000

Description:
Googlebooks aren't designed to replace Chromebooks theyre aiming to be MacBook Air rivals for Android users.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter I spent quite a bit of this
year wondering about Googlebooks. After Google announced them in May , things got a little quiet, and I noticed that when I was at the huge Computex 2026 show in Taiwan, no one seemed to be talking about them Nvidias RTX Spark ARM chip , and Windows 11 competitors to the (then recently-released) MacBook Neo , were the talk of Taipei.

Computex would have been the ideal event for Google and its hardware partners to hype up Googlebooks, if only to give us a bit of a tease. Instead, the silence made me worry that they could end up being another Google product
that quickly gets forgotten about. So, when rumors of an impending Googlebook launch started cropping up a month or so ago, I was very interested. However, with information still so thin on the ground, no one was really sure what a Googlebook would be. Would they be budget laptops designed to replace Chromebooks ? Or, might they be mid-rangers aimed at taking on the MacBook Neo? Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here:

Well, now that we have pricing information, and Ive spent time with the five Googlebooks that will go on sale on October 5, I can confirm that Googlebooks are neither of those things instead, theyre premium thin and light laptops designed to rival the MacBook Air , and Windows 11-powered Ultrabooks. And that makes them all the more interesting. (Image credit: Future) More ambitious than a Chromebook With the cheapest Googlebook, the Acer Googlebook 14, starting at $899 / 999 (around AU$1,899), you might be disappointed that these arent going to be ultra-affordable Chromebook replacements, especially at a time when prices of everything, especially tech, seems to be climbing. You may like I don't think Googlebooks are just Chromebooks they're a direct shot at Windows Should you buy a Chromebook now or wait for the Googlebook? The first Googlebook has been spotted but does anyone really care?

However, as multiple Google employees told me when I visited the company's UK headquarters in London, Googlebooks are not replacing Chromebooks. Instead, Chromebooks will remain the budget, entry-level, laptop choice running Chrome OS, while Chromebook Plus devices will remain the mid-range option.

Googlebooks, meanwhile, will be the high-end, flagship laptops that run an entirely new operating system Googlebook OS while still offering plenty of value for money. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

The $1,000 / 1,000-plus price has allowed Google and its hardware partners to be rather ambitious with these first-generation Googlebooks. Each one (the aforementioned Acer Googlebook 14, plus the Lenovo Googlebook 15, HP Googlebook 14, Dell XPS Googlebook, and Asus Googlebook 14) has a stylish
thin and light design, and, depending on the model, offers premium features such as OLED touch displays, haptic touchpads, and fingerprint sensors.
(Image credit: Future) Each Googlebook also has a Glowbar, which is an LED stripe located on the back of the lid that can light up in a variety of ways depending on what youre doing on the Googlebook. Described by John Maletis, Googles VP Laptops and Tablets, at the launch event I attended, as a distinctively Google design statement, it adds a nice bit of color to each Googlebook, and I especially liked how it can show the battery level of the device when its plugged in and charging.

In the future, third-party developers will have access to the Glowbar, so
that their apps can use the feature, and while I cant see it being an essential part of the Googlebook experience (remember, the Glowbar is on the back of the laptops lid, so usually facing away from the user, limiting its usefulness), its a nice little detail that helps these laptops stand out.
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Googlebooks also have premium components to complement their designs. Each
one comes with at least 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, and some models will allow for higher configurations up to 32GB of RAM and larger SSDs. They're also powered by high-end chips from Intel (series 3 Core Ultra processors)
and Qualcomm (Snapdragon X Elite and X1 Elite chips), and feature NPUs
capable of over 45 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) for on-device AI
as you might expect from Google, a big focus of Googlebooks is AI. (Image credit: Future) Thanks to this combination of powerful specs and the lightweight Googlebook OS, Googlebooks feel very fast and responsive in use. While I wasnt able to run any benchmarks during my time with the new devices, I spent a decent amount of time with each one browsing the web, using apps
and even playing some games (admittedly Android games designed for mobile,
but even they can be quite graphically impressive these days), and Googlebook OS was fast and fluid, with nary a pause as I opened up multiple apps.

With Google promising up to 10 years of software support, these Googlebooks could be the last laptop you buy for a long time and that makes their higher prices slightly more palatable. A 10-year lifespan for a laptop feels very MacBook-like too. (Image credit: Future) A brand-new operating system Perhaps the most exciting thing about Googlebooks is that they're running on an entirely new operating system, Googlebook OS, rather than simply using
Googles Chrome OS software.

While Chrome OS has come on in leaps and bounds since its inception, Googles lightweight operating system built around its Chrome web browser has plenty
of limitations. While these limitations have helped keep hardware
requirements and costs down, making Chromebooks excellent budget laptops,
they can also be frustrating for users. Its the main reason why I stopped using my Google Pixelbook Go, one of my favorite laptops ever, as my daily driver some years ago.

Googlebook OS combines the best things about Chrome OS, namely its lack of bloat, with Googles other incredibly popular operating system, Android, to create something entirely new. Built on Linux, and making use of the higher hardware specs of Googlebooks, Googlebook OS is a fully-fledged desktop operating system that really feels like it can compete with Windows 11 and macOS . (Image credit: Future) Thanks to the OS's ability to run Android
apps, Googlebooks will launch on October 5 with access to millions of apps
and games via Googles Play Store, and there will be a dedicated section of
the Play Store for desktop apps. These apps wont just be mobile Android apps clumsily expanded onto a larger screen, but more complex and capable apps
that have been designed for Googlebooks with keyboard and touchpad controls.
I imagine at launch that this library of desktop apps will be rather limited, but will hopefully expand quickly, especially if Googlebooks turn out to be a hit.

At the launch event, I saw how Googlebook OS fixes one of my biggest issues with Chrome OS. Apps for Chrome OS are usually very limited, sometimes requiring an internet connection to run. The Chrome web browser was the
mobile version, which meant you couldnt run extensions, a deal breaker for myself, as I have several extensions I need to run for my job.

So, one of the first things I did when playing around with a Googlebook was launch Chrome, and Im happy to report that its the full desktop version, so extensions are supported.

Googlebook OS also has a fast and intuitive file browser app, with built-in
AI that allows you to use natural language to search your files. In the example I was shown, you could search for a photo with a dog in it, and Googlebook OS will identify any photo which includes a dog, rather than just going off file names or tags. Its the kind of responsive and easy-to-use search that Microsoft has long promised in Windows 11, but has never managed to nail. Google has made it look easy.

While Googlebook OS is a new operating system, the aim, according to Alex Kuscher Senior Director, Laptops and Tablets at Google, is to create a laptop that feels familiar to Android users. (Image credit: Future) That means an interface that, despite being built for desktops, looks a lot like Android on smartphones. It uses the same Material 3 Expressive interface, and widgets, menus and settings should be recognizable to anyone who's used a modern Android device. The fact that every Googlebook comes with a touchscreen means there should only be a small learning curve for Android users.

Of course, if you use a version of Android thats heavily modified, such as with the OneUI interface found on Samsung devices, things wont be quite as similar, as the Googlebook OS interface is very much based on the stock Android you find on Googles own Pixel series of devices. Still, anyone who's used an Android device should find Googlebook OS easier to pick up and use compared to Windows or macOS or even Chrome OS.

Googlebooks and Android devices will also work seamlessly with each other, so once paired, youll be able to access and launch apps and files from your smartphone on a Googlebook, even allowing you to carry on where you left off on one device when switching to another.

I saw this in action with a few apps, and it looked like it worked very well. It was intuitive and slick, and finally offers the kind of interoperability between mobile device and laptop that Android users have been wanting. If youve ever been jealous of how well MacBooks and iPhones work with each other as an Android user, then a Googlebook is definitely worth considering.

One thing to note is that, while youll be able to see and reply to text messages your Android phone receives on your Googlebook, you wont be able to make and answer calls. A Google employee told me this is for security
reasons; however, iPhone users can answer their iPhone through macOS, so if Apple has found a way to do this securely, Im sure Google will figure it out as well. I was also assured that WearOS devices, such as the Pixel Watch 5 , will get some sort of compatibility with Googlebooks as well, but that
feature will come in the future.

Based on my time with the first tranche of Googlebooks, I've been impressed with the Apple-like way in which they work with Android devices. If anyone
has tried the rather clumsy way Windows 11 works with Android, the way Googlebook OS handles things will be a revelation. Previously, only Samsung got close to this kind of ecosystem, but that relied on using Samsung apps
and devices. The Googlebook OS way of doing things feels far more natural.

It's also hard to overstate how big a deal a new operating system to
challenge the dominance of Windows (and to a lesser extent, macOS) on laptops is. Many people have been growing frustrated with Windows 11s instability and bloat, and while Googlebook OS also features heaps of AI (a common complaint of Windows 11 these days), it does so in a less obtrusive way. It certainly feels like Googlebook OS was built to incorporate AI, rather than it being bolted on, as with Windows 11 (which, to be fair to Microsoft, was launched before AI really took off).

The Magic Pointer feature, for example, brings up Googles Gemini AI with a shake of mouse cursor, and while I dont think this is a killer feature, its
at least easy to ignore if you dont need it (and just as easy to use if you do). (Image credit: Future) New Googlebooks will come with 12 months of
Gemini Spark Google's personal AI agent which is a nice added value, though I worry how much of Googlebook OS AI features will suddenly become unusable when those 12 months are up and you dont resubscribe.

Also, while Googlebook OS feels lightweight thanks to the lack of
preinstalled bloatware and speed, it offers plenty of depth as well, with
full Terminal access, support for Linux containers, and access to Googles Antigravity tool for coding your own apps. The Create My Widget feature, currently in beta, lets users make their own desktop widgets using natural-language prompts.

So, it looks like Googlebook OS could be the best example yet of a
lightweight operating system that doesnt feel limiting for more advanced users. The integration between Googlebooks and Android devices is also impressive, and perhaps the thing that both Microsoft and Apple should be
most worried about, as there are a lot of Android device owners looking for a laptop that works this well with their smartphone.

Theres no doubt that Googlebooks are going to be impressive laptops, and I left the event increasingly confident that pitching Googlebooks to compete with MacBook Airs (especially after Apple has raised the price of its
laptops) rather than limiting them to budget laptops, is a canny move. Well
be getting all of the new Googlebooks in for review soon at TechRadar, but from my early time with them, I would advise any Android owner who's
currently thinking about buying a new laptop to hold fire until October 5. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. The best laptops for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

Read our full guide to the best laptops 1. Best overall: Apple MacBook Air 13-inch M5 2. Best budget: Apple MacBook Neo 3. Best Windows 11 laptop Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch 4. Best thin and light: Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 5. Best Ultrabook Asus Zenbook S 16



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/laptops/rethinking-the-laptop-is-a-big-und ertaking-why-googlebooks-are-so-much-more-than-overpriced-chromebooks-and-appl e-should-be-worried


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