Feed: Slashdot
Feed Link: https://slashdot.org/
---

Title: Google Opens Preorders for Its $899 Gemini-Enhanced 'Googlebook'
Laptops

Link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/09/22/0312...

Monday Google opened preorders for its "Googlebook" laptops, pricing them at
$899. A Google's blog post added that "At launch, you can choose between
Intel Core Ultra Series 3 and Snapdragon X Elite processors" (paired with
NPUs to power AI features). "Devices will hit shelves on October 4 in the
U.S. and on October 5 in Canada, the U.K., Ireland, France, Germany, and
Australia," TechCrunch points out. But "the real pull for the new devices is
that they'll prominently feature Gemini's latest capabilities in a new
format: the laptop." Google is trying to offer a laptop with unique features
like an AI-powered cursor, vibe-coded widgets, and support for AI-enhanced
dictation. The latter is a feature called Rambler, which cleans up messy,
rambling brain dumps into readable text. The move is a bet that AI,
specifically Google's Gemini, could be enough of a draw to get people to buy
a new laptop that bakes in AI instead of running them via desktop apps you
install or access through the browser... On the Googlebook, Google is trying
to reinvent the "point-and-click" experience of desktop computing to now
include an AI element: The cursor serves as a conduit to Gemini. The company
suggests various ways this could be used, like highlighting content on a web
page for Gemini to work with, asking Gemini to see if an email you've hovered
your cursor over is suspicious, or selecting images and then asking Gemini to
visualize them together... What's more interesting about the Googlebook is
how it's seemingly part of Google's longer-term plan to capture a large part
of the K-12 market that currently relies on Chromebooks and push them toward
the company's Gemini AI. There are somewhere around 50 million Chromebooks in
schools, used by students and educators, Google has said. In May, the company
told TechCrunch that its current Chromebooks would continue to be supported,
though many would become eligible to transition to the new Googlebook
experience in the future... Flagship devices in the new range are being built
by Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo, with materials like aluminum, magnesium
alloy, and carbon fiber... Google says the device will offer up to 14 hours
of battery life. Googlebooks will be decorated with an exterior Glowbar
"which dances when you boot up, sweeps to show battery level, and supports
other playful patterns," according to Google's blog post. "We're also opening
Glowbar access to developers to build custom, interactive animations." After
testing actual Googlebooks, The Verge's reviewer first acknowledges that "it
might be just another Trojan horse for Gemini." Still, "The hardware is
polished (since it's based on current laptops). The OS is familiar (if you've
ever used a Chromebook). But most impressive, it integrates your Android
phone with your PC so they feel more like one device. It's the culmination of
a series of new ideas that blur the two devices together. "After my first
look, I went from doubtful to excited by the prospect of Google pulling it
all off..." The Asus was incredibly lightweight; the Lenovo has plenty of
ports and an optional mouse with a matching Glowbar light; the Acer's
convertible form factor allows some tablet-like use (and it's pretty
affordable for a Panther Lake laptop). The HP had a great-looking screen and
a latticeless keyboard I surprisingly didn't hate, and the Dell is basically
a gold XPS 13 (which is excellent) but with a different chip... But
everything really special about Googlebooks comes down to software... You can
cast apps from an Android phone directly to a Googlebook, even without
touching your phone. Googlebooks essentially have two app drawers: a G-logo
start menu for installed Googlebook apps and a second one beside it that
pulls up mobile apps from your phone. Click a phone app and you can fully use
that app with the mouse and keyboard or the Googlebook's touchscreen. It's a
bit like iPhone Mirroring on macOS, but the apps are individually extracted
to the desktop OS instead of showing your whole phone interface. Googlebooks
also have a nifty feature called Continue On where the icons of apps you're
currently using on your phone appear in the bottom bar - allowing you to
click it on the laptop and hand it off to the Googlebook. These app handoffs
can transition to a native app or a web app, depending on how developers have
programmed it... The other big way Googlebooks interact with an Android phone
is Quick Access, allowing you to see and access all the files stored on your
phone right in the desktop Files app... If you have an iPhone then you're
limited to a Link to iOS app that just does some message syncing and
replying... [W]hen it comes to mainline gaming, Nvidia's GeForce Now service
is also coming to Googlebooks, and the first year is free with one of
Google's new laptops. "It's not every day we get a new player in the desktop
operating system and laptop spaces," the reviewer points out. "There seems to
be a higher ceiling of potential with Googlebooks than there was with
Chromebooks, along with some cool features, but Google has a lot to prove at
higher prices than people are used to paying for its laptops."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

---
VRSS v2.1.180528