41 ms·

Googlebook

• herf 5mo ago
  We started taking the phones out of schools, so I guess now we are building them back into education laptops instead?
• mackal 5mo ago
  no specs given. COOL.
• samuria 5mo ago
  I genuinely though this was an April fools joke, then remembered we're in May. This is bad.
• hank2000 5mo ago
  Is this what happens when you let Gemini name your products?
• eporomaa 5mo ago
  Does it come with Linux?
• wetpaws 5mo ago
  [dead]
• timpera 5mo ago
  This is really cool (although they could've recycled the Pixelbook brand). I hope there'll be a way to dual boot Windows 11 on this.
  • serial_dev 5mo ago
    Or Chromebook? It’s the same with the messengers, they can’t settle on a single brand.
    • spankalee 5mo ago
      This runs Android, not ChromeOS, so the Chromebook name doesn't fit. That said, Googlebook is a terrible name and reusing Pixelbook would have been way better.
      • __patchbit__ 5mo ago
        Google TechDeck Pro
      • Insanity 5mo ago
        Agreed, Pixelbook does sound better that Googlebook. But maybe it's just a matter of getting used to it
  • ocdtrekkie 5mo ago
    This is the dumbest branding Google has ever come up with and I am here for it. I can't wait for the memes. Is that your Chromebook? No, it's my Googlebook! Edit: It lists five OEMs, so it's not a Pixel equivalent, not Google-made hardware. Which makes it funnier, actually. Like if Windows laptops from every OEM were called Microsoftbooks.
    • type0 5mo ago
      > Googlebook My Gobbledygook works just fine
    • Apocryphon 5mo ago
      Droidbook
  • verdverm 5mo ago
    After the Pixelbook, I don't think I'm giving their hardware another chance. When through all the choices, back on Mac for that sweet silicon and a solid desktop.
  • hansmayer 5mo ago
    Please tell me you're being sarcastic here?
  • fundad 5mo ago
    Yeah the name is a little clumsy sounding. I think Pixelbook isn't as recognizable as Chromebook. I guess they don't want the baggage from Chromebook because Chrome is a given Google wants people to think Google == AI the way they think Chrome == internet. We may not like Copilot but the truth is Google's OS is already delivering what Apple Intelligence promised on laptops and phones. Google has a lot of customers, a good amount of Apple customers seem to want Apple Intelligence. I'm interested in seeing how Google does against Apple (and curious what GoogleBook will cost). It's important to remember that it was in the works long before MacBook Neo was announced and maybe even before it was rumored.
• recitedropper 5mo ago
  Can't imagine this'll help the RAM shortage.
  • losvedir 5mo ago
    Why? Are you thinking this will be a 128GB behemoth running models locally? That'd be pretty cool but it almost certainly isn't. I bet it's a very lightweight device that just calls a remote Gemini model.
    • corndoge 5mo ago
      > 1. Check responses. Internet connection required.
    • recitedropper 5mo ago
      My understanding is that the shortage has more to do with DRAM manufacturer capacity, rather than specifically making chips with high RAM amounts. From TrendForce's analysis: "The laptop market's 2026 shipments have been revised down from the previously expected annual growth of 1.7% to -2.8%, and further adjusted to -5.4%. Brands with highly integrated supply chains and more flexible pricing, such as Apple and Lenovo, have more flexibility to handle rising memory prices. However, low-end and consumer laptop brands face difficulty passing on costs and are constrained by processor and operating system requirements, making further spec reductions difficult." Google can obviously just make this machine more expensive, but to launch a completely new brand of consumer laptops in a year where production is already very constrained is only going to exacerbate the core issue.
• hansmayer 5mo ago
  Hey Google, take the cue from Microslops debacle with the "agentic" Windows : Nobody asked for this!
• SecretDreams 5mo ago
  This will end up on the killedbygoogle website probably 7 years from now. Probably right next to Chromebook at this rate -_-.
  • selectnull 5mo ago
    No, they will promise 7 years of update but kill it in 2.
• troymc 5mo ago
  I guess it will be running Google's new operating system (a "modern OS designed for Intelligence") that combines elements of Android and ChromeOS. Edit: Probably Android at the core, and then a desktop-grade Chrome browser on top.
  • pier25 5mo ago
    maybe Fuchsia?
  • incognito124 5mo ago
    EDIT: removed URL as the content is completely hallucinated, sorry
    • bsimpson 5mo ago
      Weird - is that a fansite that registered a Google codename as a domain?
    • idle_zealot 5mo ago
      Why does this entire page read like an LLM wrote it in response to "Imagine Google is making a new desktop operating system built on Android. It's focused on total app compatibility, parity with the Apple ecosystem, Linux development and power users, and deep AI integration. Write the promo page for this operating system."? Also > Intelligent Window Management The OS learns your workflow patterns and proactively arranges windows, prepares files, and opens apps before you ask. Bleh. Edit: Oh, it is that. A fan decided to make an LLM write a promo page assuming the role of Google marketing for an unreleased, unannounced project and make up all the details.
    • deleted 5mo ago
      [deleted]
  • j2kun 5mo ago
    Wouldn't it be Fuchsia?
    • 5mo ago
• 0xbadcafebee 5mo ago
  Can we replace the splash page with this blog post? https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android/meet-googlebook/ https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android...
• jerojero 5mo ago
  I think if I wanted a cheap laptop I'd probably get the macbook neo, and if i wanted a non-gaming expensive one i'd get a macbook pro. I really don't see the market fit for this, I guess the android integration. But my god, I'd die of cringe if someone asked me about my laptop and I had to say "googlebook". Believe it or not, these things matter a lot, particularly if you're trying to target a young audience.
  • troymc 5mo ago
    I think it's a successor to the Chromebook. In the vast majority of modern K-12 public schools, the school district owns the hardware, not the students.
    • pier25 5mo ago
      The target is definitely not the K12 education market. It looks more like a premium device which most Chromebooks are not.
      • troymc 5mo ago
        On second thought, I think it's not for K12 after all.
    • jerlam 5mo ago
      Everything on this page suggests it's not for education. Emphasis on AI and connecting to your phone. How many Iceland trips do students make?
      • troymc 5mo ago
        Now that I look closer at the Googlebook, I think you are right.
      • JeremyNT 5mo ago
        Well Chromebooks are primarily EDU products yet still marketed and sold direct to consumers. Presumably school districts are just going to see different marketing.
• tapoxi 5mo ago
  Something I appreciate about ChromeOS is that updates are basically invisible. I'm worried they're gonna fuck up and overcomplicate something simple by having it run full-blown Android. Just think of all the times that you're happily using a browser and now these sites are going to demand you install an app after they detected you can because of the user agent. Ugh.
• ZeroCool2u 5mo ago
  There was a time where Google could've been competitive in this space, specifically against Apples MacBook product line, but that has long since passed. The 3rd party manufacturer path means Google isn't committed to this and won't have competitive hardware. It'll just be another Chromebook and limited to the Google Play Store too, which just isn't good at this point.
  • mtrovo 5mo ago
    > and limited to the Google Play Store too, which just isn't good at this point. Care to elaborate? I have no ide a what you're talking about here.
    • ZeroCool2u 5mo ago
      The quality of apps in the Google Play Store has dropped massively. There are still some gems, but for better or worse, the ecosystem is simply not as strong as Apples and it's certainly not comparable to just having a device where you can install anything you'd like in a full desktop grade OS.
• jtonl 5mo ago
  If it runs vim. I can take it.
• pcurve 5mo ago
  It could just be me, but the usecases they're trying to solve for always seem... out of touch from reality. Either they live in their own bubbles where their lives revolve around constant shopping, traveling, throwing parties, and doing creative work... Or they're not bothering to do basic observational research around how normal people live.
  • slopinthebag 5mo ago
    You mean the average person's problems aren't solved by a custom widget to track their flight to Iceland? The irony is that most of these things would be better solved by a bot you can text. Create a thread for a trip or whatever, have it text you when flights are delayed or cancelled, reminders, let you ask it question, etc. So just...a chatbot.
    • csoups14 5mo ago
      "Gemini, design a widget to tell me if I can afford to stop for coffee before work"
      • slopinthebag 5mo ago
        "Gemini, design a widget to tell me if I can afford to eat this week"
• gosukiwi 5mo ago
  So its the same you can do with using any AI app, but they make you buy an inferior notebook (compared to macbooks)
• 650REDHAIR 5mo ago
  Awful branding aside this will be dead within 3 years. MacBook neo @ $499 and the ability to finance it leaves almost zero room in the US market for an Android laptop. *edit It looks like will be a ChromeOS successor and their demographic will be schools?
  • kx_x 5mo ago
    Not _just_ being able to finance; the 0% interest and 24-month period is amazing!
  • pier25 5mo ago
    Yeah this is going the way of the Pixelbook.
  • aggregator-ios 5mo ago
    Branding is way off. Marketed as an AI laptop sounds like local inference to engineers, but no. The general public are weary of AI. The Neo is selling so well that Apple is running out of the A18 Pro chips. Rumors are that Apple may have 2 steps: mark as sold out, or upgrade to the latest iPhone SOC which comes with an upgrade to 12GB of RAM. I also suspect this is Ternus' first product launch as CEO (not officially until Sept 1). Anyway, this will be fun to see price point, manufacturer differentiation (surprised that Google isn't building this themselves) and reviews. Hard to see how it competes with the Neo at $499 that can run a full Desktop OS and integrates well with the ecosystem.
    • fragmede 5mo ago
      Between Crostini and Android, it's "full desktop os" that much of a differentiator? And as far as "works well with the ecosystem", the press release makes it sound like this will integrate well with an Android phone.
    • fooker 5mo ago
      > The general public are weary of AI. Have you interacted with the 'general public' in the last year or so? Every non-technical person I know uses AI for 'fact checking' now, as well as 'doing the math' before deciding something, despite these two literally being the well known blind spots of modern AI. People have adopted AI suspiciously cleanly into their habits and workflows. The only person I have seen being weary of AI recently is a labor activist, for good reason.
• geori 5mo ago
  They are so bad at product
• returnInfinity 5mo ago
  Can this project run for 30 years at loss? Google investors don't like that. One day an exec will say lets reduce wasteful projects and cut this.
• achow 5mo ago
  Google seems to have made an official post on Reddit describing the feature set in detail: https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1tb8xls/introducing_googlebook_a_new_category_of_laptops/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1tb8xls/introducin... [Edit] And, the feature set references the 'AI mouse pointer' from this Deepmind blog.. https://deepmind.google/blog/ai-pointer/ https://deepmind.google/blog/ai-pointer/
  • deleted 5mo ago
    [deleted]
  • somebehemoth 5mo ago
    AI mouse pointer is definitely not something I wanted to think about today. A recent HN post implored vibe coders not to modify the mouse pointer and now we get this from Google.
  • varenc 5mo ago
    Looks like their Reddit post has a formatting error? ...as computing shifts from operating systems [to intelligence systems](TKTK)... `[text](link)` is the syntax used to create a link. But since `TKTK` isn't a valid URI, it doesn't render a link. My guess is TKTK is placeholder and they were supposed to fill it in before posting on reddit... but forgot? edit: hah, maybe someone from Google saw my comment. This has now been fixed and TKTK replaced with https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1tb83gy/making_android_smarter_and_more_proactive_with/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1tb83gy/making_and...
    • entropicdrifter 5mo ago
      Looks like the link got fixed. I'm really enjoying reddit just completely roasting the entire concept in the comments.
    • vages 5mo ago
      TKTK is a common placeholder for something that should be filled in: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_come_(publishing) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_come_(publishing)
• varun_chopra 5mo ago
  What does Google gain from this? They already struggle in hardware, or am I missing something - has something changed?
  • chromacity 5mo ago
    The main thrust behind their foray into hardware was that they feared being cut off. Whoever controls the terminal has the power to push users toward their own platforms (Bing, Microsoft 365, etc), and I guess they could see the writing on the wall and wanted to have a platform they control. As for this project, I think part of it is just the conclusion of internal power plays between Chrome and Android. The other half is probably the same fear as before: if Microsoft puts their own AI closer to the user, Google will have a hard time keeping up. So the best defense is to have your own "AI-first" OS. Keep in mind that Microsoft doesn't need to win to hurt Google's bottom line. For example, if Bing captures 5% of search through OS- and browser-bundling strategies, that's still a 5% that Google can't have.
• kotaKat 5mo ago
  So... they built a right-click-slop-generator and that's the default experience you get as the context menu? Gross. I thought the Windows 11 miscreation was bad enough. also, second question in re sideloading: do the Googlebooks get the 24 hour fuckoff window for enabling sideloading or can I just walk granny through loading an .apk direct on the laptop
  • wildylion 5mo ago
    You can say whatever, but I'll be calling this a 'slop-down menu' from now on.
• mturk 5mo ago
  I bought a Pixelbook during the middle of their product lifetime, and it was one of the best laptops I ever had. I genuinely don't know how broadly that sentiment was shared, but the cancellation of the product line suggests "not that broadly." Google has changed since that time and I am a bit skeptical this will meet that specific niche for me.
  • jayd16 5mo ago
    Yeah, I had the original Chromebook Pixel and the Pixelbook and they were both great. Somehow I'm still using the Pixelbook today and it chugs along. That said, its hard to justify the prices for these premium Chromebooks. When I picked them up they were heavily discounted with some developer code or other. I also agree with the shaky future as far as being able to actually opening these things up with developer tooling. It seems like they've simply been on a path to rollback all of that.
    • Marsymars 5mo ago
      I recently replaced my Pixelbook with a Lenovo Chromebook Plus. I don't like the increase in size/weight, but it's far more performant and Lenovo periodically has steep discounts on their hardware.
    • walthamstow 5mo ago
      I am one of perhaps dozens of people to own a Pixel Slate, which is also still going strong as my kitchen tablet for reading, podcasts etc
  • llbbdd 5mo ago
    I don't know if these were related but I had a Pixel C tablet and I'm still upset they killed that off too. It was a nicer tablet than any Samsung I tried and felt like a genuine competitor to the iPad equivalent really excellent build quality, and then they abandoned it. I still have it but whatever they did to the software before giving up on it made it crash and blackscreen all the time while completely idle and I haven't had the energy to install something else on it, if something else even exists.
  • 5mo ago
• worldsavior 5mo ago
  Will it have a bootloader unlocked???
• cromka 5mo ago
  I bet you all share the same feeling looking at it: it will be pretty OK for 2 years and then become abandon-ware soon after, like it is with Google products typically. Or not, but you still have that scepticist gut feeling about it.
• royal__ 5mo ago
  So...it's a Chromebook. With "ai".
  • xd1936 5mo ago
    Running Android, not Gentoo.
    • mmooss 5mo ago
      Not quite Android: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48112299 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48112299
• deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
• xd1936 5mo ago
  They weren't feeling "book.google"?
  • peesem 5mo ago
    They bought that TLD and then never did anthing fun with it. I can forgive them for not doing https://google, since that's discouraged apparently, but not even fonts.google? docs.google? mail.google? Apparently once upon a time you could do com.google for an April Fools prank but they didn't even keep a basic redirect. The only thing they ever permanently used it for (afaik) was domains.google, and they sold that to Squarespace. Why even spend the money?
    • xd1936 5mo ago
      They have several. https://blog.google https://blog.google https://ai.google https://ai.google https://about.google https://about.google https://environment.google https://environment.google https://safety.google https://safety.google and a few others
      • peesem 5mo ago
        the pattern seems to be that all of these don't use your google account, i suppose their system (through cookies or something similar) depends on the domain google.com somehow.
• numbers 5mo ago
  Chromebook, Pixelbook, Googlebook. Google loves to just remake the same-ish thing again in hopes of adoption.
  • guyzero 5mo ago
    Chromebooks had a higher market share than Macs in 2021.
    • jjulius 5mo ago
      That bump in adoption was most likely due to remote-learning prompted by the pandemic, something that we're not likely to see again.
      • guyzero 5mo ago
        Regardless, Chromebooks are as adopted as anything is likely to get in the current Windows-Mac duopoly.
• lifestyleguru 5mo ago
  > 8GB RAM. Oh god, it's a curse. In 2026 we should be getting laptops with 128 GB of RAM. Instead we get some "new model" over and over, with 8GB.
  • ibejoeb 5mo ago
    If you haven't checked the market for RAM lately, you're in for a shock.
    • ryandrake 5mo ago
      The current cost spike is very recent. The average computer's RAM size has roughly quadrupled every four years since around 1988: 1988: 1MB 1992: 4MB 1996: 16MB 2000: 64MB 2004: 256MB 2008: 1GB 2012: 4GB And then, from around 2014 or so, for the last 12 years, we've been kind of stuck on 8GB for some reason. There wasn't a ram shortage in 2016, so why didn't the average computer come with 16GB? The trend continuing would mean we'd have 64GB average machines by 2020. So what happened?
      • ibejoeb 5mo ago
        I'm sure you're right. I don't know why the trend didn't continue. But, still, given the current conditions I don't think it's realistic to expect a budget laptop with 128 GB of RAM rolling off the line right now.
      • lifestyleguru 5mo ago
        [dead]
      • deleted 5mo ago
        [deleted]
• Lwrless 5mo ago
  I'm curious what this means for ChromiumOS and downstreams like FydeOS. If Google is now pushing this "intelligence‑first" desktop experience, how much of that work is likely to stay in the proprietary ChromeOS/Googlebook layer vs. land in upstream ChromiumOS?
  • booi 5mo ago
    IMO this makes the argument for ChromiumOS and downstreams stronger. Gemini wants to do everything in my browser and i can't turn it off please help
  • hollerith 5mo ago
    The OS on these Googlebooks will probably be a lot closer to Android 17 than to current ChromiumOS. Google has been consistent in saying that they're phasing out the ChromiumOS code base (while continuing the support the Chromebooks they've already sold) in favor of modifying AOSP to work better on laptops and desktops.
• mountainriver 5mo ago
  Put a TPU in this and I’ll buy it!
  • UncleOxidant 5mo ago
    When I first started scrolling down I thought that's what they were going to tout: Contains TPUs so you can run Gemma 4 models fast, or some such.
• d--b 5mo ago
  what’s the OS on this?
  • mmooss 5mo ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48112299 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48112299
• Andrex 5mo ago
  Indulge some pedantry with me... Why "Googlebook?" Pixel was meant for first-party computing devices, I thought. Nest for smart home and Fitbit for fitness trackers. If you don't want to associate with past Pixelbooks and want to highlight Gemini, why not Geminibook or something like that? Does Google not have faith in the Gemini branding? Random thoughts from a nerdy mind.
  • dccoolgai 5mo ago
    AI polls lower than "congress". People hate it - they hate it so much. They probably _wanted_ to call it that but someone who knows anything put their foot down.
    • riffraff 5mo ago
      buth the very first two bits of copy are about "intelligence" and "gemini". If they wanted to stay away from AI as branding they didn't do a great job.
      • overgard 5mo ago
        I think they're implying that they might not want to damage the "Pixel" brand.
        • riffraff 5mo ago
          Ah that makes sense, thanks.
    • taco_emoji 5mo ago
      CongressBook it is!
  • BakeInBeens 5mo ago
    If Samsung isn't a Googlebook partner then those laptop OEMs could be shipping the Google desktop environment while OEMs are free to ship a Googlebook or scale up their own desktop environments.
• dwa3592 5mo ago
  before clicking I thought this was gonna be some sort of a hardware innovation, TPU in a laptop for local AI type of product but oh well.
  • subarctic 5mo ago
    This was my thought too, but I didn't see anything to rule that out, did you? It says "built for Gemini Intelligence" so probably has some hardware requirement like that
    • dwa3592 5mo ago
      Yeah- but that would be a terrible miss on marketing. "built for Gemini Intelligence" - this could also just mean a bunch of new api integration.
• kubik369 5mo ago
  It is not very encouraging that most of the marketing materials on the website show the Googlebook having filleted (rounded) edges similar to Macbook Neo, but the video shows the laptop having a bevelled profile similar to framework 13. Seems like a hastily put together attempt at a response to the acclaimed Macbook Neo. Literally zero information on the page apart from the "fall" release window.
  • pfortuny 5mo ago
    Screams of "COME ON DO SOMETHING WE NEED THE STUDENTS TO NOT BUY MACs!" Built for Gemini?? No thanks.
  • VectorLock 5mo ago
    The product photos that reveal about as much as a monster in a JJ Abrams movie is because I don't think they have "Google" production hardware it sounds like they'll be farming this out to the ASUSes and HPs of the world.
  • Someone 5mo ago
    That page has logos of Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo. That makes me assume this won’t be a Google product, but a series of products that carry the “Googlebook” label. If so, there likely will be some variation in the cases.
    • jhickok 5mo ago
      Yeah I saw that, looks like this is a new laptop class, perhaps an AI-infused evolution of the Chromebook Plus spec: https://www.google.com/chromebook/chromebookplus/ https://www.google.com/chromebook/chromebookplus/
• mholt 5mo ago
  This page crashes in my Google-based browser. I can't scroll down more than ~50 pixels.
• archpulse 5mo ago
  [dead]
• html5cat 5mo ago
  Original Pixelbook was amazing and my fam still uses it. Wish they just stuck to the lineup and kept iterating vs giving up and trying to rebrand every few years.
• Raed667 5mo ago
  Off topic i know but, who goes from SF to Tokyo for a 6 day "vintage shopping trip" ? Who do they think their audience is here?
  • guyzero 5mo ago
    If you watched the rest of the announcements, apparently social media influencers.
  • tdb7893 5mo ago
    Like most things in tech, it's targeted at upper middle class or rich people since they have way way more disposable income. It's a "premium Chromebook" which, as much as I like Chromebooks, seems like you would need a lot of disposable income before considering since most actually resource intensive stuff (video games, video editing, etc) you wouldn't get a Chromebook for.
    • drcongo 5mo ago
      I think you're probably right, but "premium Chromebook" is such an oxymoron. People with money just buy Macs.
  • geodel 5mo ago
    From past phone launch ads, its usually the people who were always looking for dinner reservations, concert booking, meeting at drinks. Basically leisure class people. So this vintage shopping trip seems to fit right in.
  • garethsprice 5mo ago
    Another perspective from the posters saying "rich people"; in most advertising, it is aimed at aspiration and not reality - so "people who want to be rich leisure class people, or social media influencers", which tracks for a low-end laptop for a younger phone-native audience. Advertising aimed at the actually rich is usually more about saving time, "elevated" experiences, or building legacy.
    • 5mo ago
• lern_too_spel 5mo ago
  This looks like a better announcement page: https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android/meet-googlebook/ https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android... Is this a rebranding of Chromebook Plus? For those who haven't been following the laptop form factor recently, Chromebook Pluses with Mediatek Kompanio Ultra SoCs are the best deals in laptops today. If this is just a Chromebook Plus with a fashion light bar, I'm not interested.
• LurkandComment 5mo ago
  I can't invest in Goolge products. I always feel like they're going to pull the plug or change the terms, pricing model etc.
  • goolz 5mo ago
    This is how I feel. No matter what they do at this point it is moot as they cannot be trusted to maintain products into the future. So much so it is a meme at this point.
• ruuda 5mo ago
  https://goomics.net/239 https://goomics.net/239
• mmooss 5mo ago
  For those wondering about the OS: "We’re bringing together the best of Android, which comes with powerful apps on Google Play and a modern OS that’s designed for Intelligence, and ChromeOS, which comes with the world’s most popular browser." https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android/meet-googlebook/ https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android... Many have tried desk/laptop and phone integration before, but it never seems to work smoothly, which surprises me because it doesn't seem that hard, at least to run phone apps on the larger screen (with some icon modification, etc.); and it doesn't stick as a feature, which surprises me because I'd think almost anyone would want to easily integrate the two. I wonder why this time will be different? Is there demand now? Does Google have some trick up their sleeve? Do they have a universal development platform that makes it easy to write apps for both platforms?
  • d--b 5mo ago
    It doesn’t sound like they made anything universal, rather something like a Linux distro with an Android VM
• arjie 5mo ago
  I imagine they're going to do the same thing with this as with Chromebooks: i.e. do enterprise deals with schools and so on? Google's iteration-style structure where they kill products is fine for SaaS type offerings that are free and that you don't build your world around, but buying a laptop they won't support soon enough isn't that useful. Ultimately, just like with Amazon and their phone, it's obvious even prior to release that this is not a priority for the company and the side gig type stuff doesn't work when you are selling hardware. Might have been more interesting if it were under a separate company that Google owned a large portion of, rather than carrying the Google brand. Then again, maybe the Google brand isn't toxic to the wider ecosystem of buyers. I still think consumer-hardware-wise Google is the Safeway Essentials version of Apple but others might think Gmail or Google itself which consumers consider best in class.
  • HarHarVeryFunny 5mo ago
    It's possible (likely?) that if the concept takes off that they might license or give the software away to other hardware vendors, just like the Android ecosystem. I was anticipating an "AI phone" from someone like Google, not an "AI laptop", although it seems to be Android compatible so maybe that is coming next.
  • BakeInBeens 5mo ago
    I'd imagine they'll mimic the Chromebook ten year support guarantee, at minimum the eight year guarantee on phones and it'll probably extend to Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo models. Shipping enterprise desktop hardware with AI integrated features will likely be a priority to improve the cloud footprint amongst fortune 500.
    • sigmoid10 5mo ago
      The EU Cyber Resilience Act already requires updates for at least five years (or the life expectancy of the product) after the last unit was sold. So if they sell them for 5 years, they're barely keeping up with the law. On top of that, there are already voices pushing for mandatory 15 years of support.
  • 5mo ago
• iridione 5mo ago
  [dead]
• golem14 5mo ago
  One of the really nice things of the Macs (from Neo to Studio) is that they have a single UI (that might or might not be ideal for you, but it is unified,) yet underneath it has a Unix OS that lets you run standard compilers, docker containers, vms whatnot. The pixel and chromebooks were nice as a device to run a browser on, but not for development. Getting EMacs to run on them felt like a big achievement at the time.
  • soperj 5mo ago
    > has a Unix OS that lets you run standard compilers, docker containers, vms whatnot 99% of users don't give a damn about that. This is a play for kids in schools, so they get used to their operating system.
    • golem14 5mo ago
      I didn't say anything ab out that. I am saying that, as a developer (is it really only 1% of laptop owners?), the pixel/chromebooks were not really that useful. Who knows, maybe that's changing with whatever OS this is running.
• kommunicate 5mo ago
  I will never buy another google hardware product again after my most recent pixel experience. I was sent a phone with a defective modem that they refused to replace. This is despite having bought 5 other pixels and also using google fi and a bunch of other google products. I will never trust them with a hardware purchase ever again.
  • nicbou 5mo ago
    Mine got a software update that rendered it useless. I bought an iPhone.
  • satyamkapoor 5mo ago
    I bought a skagen with google watch os or whatever was it called. The experience was so so bad, I’m never going back to Google products.
  • mherrmann 5mo ago
    As another n=1, I've been happy with my Pixel phones over the years and never had such an experience.
    • OisinMoran 5mo ago
      Yeah I've been exclusively on Pixels since the 2 and love them
    • arboles 5mo ago
      That comment was criticizing Google's support. Did you also have an experience with them?
      • themacguffinman 5mo ago
        I do, over the years they've replaced my phone three times, two of those were beyond the 1-year manufacturer warranty period.
    • kommunicate 5mo ago
• SpyCoder77 5mo ago
  Waiting for this to be discontinued in around 3-9 months
  • hollerith 5mo ago
    Right, just like Chromebooks were. Oh, wait...
• davidw 5mo ago
  "Cast My Apps" - did they, uh, use AI to make that actually work? Because it's very flaky on my Chromebook, which I am otherwise very, very pleased with (especially given the price)
• haunter 5mo ago
  > We’re working with Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo to make the first Googlebooks. I'm sorry but these Taiwanese brands Acer and Asus are the bottom of the barrel. Bad build quality, clunky keyboard, bad speakers, everything plastic etc I never had a "premium" experience ever having the luck using one. They just can't make something simple as a Macbook Air/Neo
• adamtaylor_13 5mo ago
  I cannot think of a product I'd like to own less than a machine fully-integrated with Google. And I'm not some "never Google" guy—my company's entire email infrastructure lives on Google. It's a necessary evil for us. But... Google owning my hardware? This feels so out of left field. I must not be the target audience.
  • AntonyGarand 5mo ago
    I assume you don't use a google pixel phone? This seems like their pixel experience but on a laptop. I'm not sure I'm their target audience, but if it can be a macbook neo quality device with chromebook, I can see a market for it.
• LetsGetTechnicl 5mo ago
  Slopbook
• rozenmd 5mo ago
  "Googlebook, because lets face it, your parents are only watching YouTube anyway"
• butlike 5mo ago
  DOA right? Since they don't have any good will that they won't just drop support next year?
• KingNoosh 5mo ago
  Google Engineers don't even the other *books much for work, if they don't exclusively dogfood their own products, you know they don't have much faith to keep it going. Likewise their own phones.
• bearjaws 5mo ago
  Good lord please do not use a Tensor processor.
• s17tnet 5mo ago
  Their history of committment in supporting their hardware is too far from pleasing. I wouldn't touch Google hardware again (other than Pixels) with the tip of my toe.
• rickcarlino 5mo ago
  For a split second I thought this was a joke/commentary on Google and Facebook.
• doomboiardee 5mo ago
  This is just depressing to me. I don't really know why.
• Topfi 5mo ago
  I have a hard time seeing how any Chromebook above $ 349,- could still survive in an post-MacBook Neo age. Say what you want, a cheap Windows laptop at least has an edge on obscure software compatibility over MacOS and a notebook running any modern Linux distro gets the luxury of user control. ChromeOS meanwhile has neither. Paying more for worst in class software compatibility inferior build quality, design and restrictive lock-in sounds about as appealing as a chicken tartare from the value bin. Prior to (again) getting a MacBook Pro, I wanted to make a high end Laptop (ASUS ProArt P16, about € 3500,- back then) work with Fedora, but purely on a basis of build quality and input feel, it was unusably poor. That trackpad deserves a place in hell and if that (or likely a worse one given cost cutting) is what the Asus and Acer models get, competing with the Neo is a cruel joke. HP and especially Lenovo fare better, I can at least live with those though a Neos input is nicer if we compare their current devices at the same price, so unless Google is willing to heavily subsidise a brand that, let's be honest, is unlikely to garner any loyalty, I can't see them being overly competitive either, given the software limits of ChromeOS.
  • ac29 5mo ago
    > ChromeOS meanwhile has the worst compatibility off all four ChromeOS can run desktop Linux software and Android software, so it definitely isnt worse than Mac. Its probably even better than Windows. Of course, if you need Mac/Windows software, Web/Android/Linux alternatives might not exist or might be worse. But the devices are hardly lacking software compatibility.
    • Topfi 5mo ago
      No, ChromeOS cannot. You can only run Linux applications via Crostini. Heavily sandboxed and restricted to limited hardware access, that is not software compatible by any reasonable measure. If that counts, my MacBook is compatible with all software ever made via UTM. Also, lest we forget ISA. If these Googlebooks are arm64, that restricts software compatibility further still as Crostini doesn't translate between arm64 and x86_64, so we are going from poor, limited support, to worse. For reference: > Cameras aren't yet supported. > Android devices are supported over USB, but other devices aren't yet supported. > Android Emulators aren't yet supported. > Hardware acceleration isn't yet supported, including GPU and video decode. > ChromeVox is supported for the default Terminal app, but not yet for other Linux apps. Source: https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/9145439?hl=en https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/9145439?hl=en
• syntaxing 5mo ago
  Competition is always good. I got a Mac Neo recently to supplement my larger 16” MBP and they really nailed it. It’s the perfect laptop for kids and travel. Most importantly it feels like it’ll last for a decade like my MBP. I hope it’s the same for googlebooks but even pixels have issues with surviving beyond 5 years.
• 948382828528 5mo ago
  [dead]
• luxuryballs 5mo ago
  I can’t really tell who this is for, no specs even listed that I can find, at first I thought it was going to be for running local models based on the copy but after a moment of sobriety and knowing Google clearly this is just a consumer device that they will fail to support in a couple years.
• MagicMoonlight 5mo ago
  What a terrible name. Plus the fact that they’ve clearly just ripped off the exact shape of a MacBook, but thicker and shitter.
• neals 5mo ago
  Might be a good laptop, but we're trying to use less and less Google. I feel like the name isn't working in it's advantage.
• dickywad 5mo ago
  [dead]
• replete 5mo ago
  Is this ... an Android laptop? I can't recall if Files icon on ChromeOS matches the Android version.
• sp1nningaway 5mo ago
  A new high watermark in absolutely content-free marketing webpages. - Annoying startup animation (at least it's skippable) - Minimalist copy that is that is also very hard to parse for meaning. - Elements jarringly appear and disappear as you scroll. - Only has examples of tasks that are easier to do on your phone.
• tejohnso 5mo ago
  "Designed for Gemini Intelligence" is the primary marketing tag on the splash page. It's so underwhelming I'm not even going to bother to look into the details. Are people pleading for a laptop that is even more highly integrated with AI, above all else?
  • OisinMoran 5mo ago
    Google have been terrible at copywriting (at least in their hardware line) for as long as I can remember. Here's an example from 2020: https://x.com/TheOisinMoran/status/1312560706965983234 https://x.com/TheOisinMoran/status/1312560706965983234 It's a shame because I love the Pixel series and they're doing it a disservice by not marketing it better. Apple's copy on the other hand is generally excellent.
  • taco_emoji 5mo ago
    It can make widgets though! Imagine being able to track a flight, which is so difficult currently!
    • padjo 5mo ago
      If you're touting widgets in your marketing its a sure sign that you have nothing useful to sell.
      • taco_emoji 5mo ago
        Come on, I use widgets all the time! There's the weather one, and the Google search one at the bottom that I can't remove!
  • porphyra 5mo ago
    Somehow all the Windows laptops are now "Copilot PCs" now. It's crazy... Anyway, you didn't miss out on anything by not bothering to look into the details. There are no details. No specs, no nothing. Only "get notified" for when it comes in fall.
  • alasano 5mo ago
• throwatdem12311 5mo ago
  > Designed for Gemini Intelligence Zero chance in hell this surveillance device comes into my home.
• tencentshill 5mo ago
  So this is replacing the "Chromebook Plus" line of AI-certified laptops, and also adding new Google hardware replacing the abandoned Google Pixel Slate/Chromebook Pixel?
• hypersoar 5mo ago
  I attended Google I/O in 2013 and was given a Chromebook Pixel, their $1300 laptop. The hardware was very, very nice, and I quite enjoyed using it for a while. One day, I dropped it and damaged the screen well outside of its warranty period. "Oh no," I thought. "This is probably going to be pretty expensive to fix." So, bracing for the damage, I called up Google and told them what had happened. They replied that there was no fixing it. They would replace the laptops under the warranty, but there was no repairing to be done. I was welcome to call around and ask local repair shops if they could do it. That went nowhere, of course. I've been pretty skeptical of Google laptops ever since.
  • damjon 5mo ago
    [flagged]
    • addaon 5mo ago
      How is "I don't like the price of the readily-available vendor or third-party repair services" the "same" as "no repair is available for any price from the vendor or third parties"?
    • gigatexal 5mo ago
      what? did you even bother to google ;-) "AppleCare+ covers fall and accidental damage (drops, cracks, liquid) for a reduced, fixed service fee per incident. It offers unlimited incidents (or up to two per 12 months, depending on the plan), providing a significant discount over out-of-warranty repairs. A service fee, such as $29 for screen repairs, applies"
    • dcrazy 5mo ago
      It is absolutely unlike the situation for MacBooks, where you can walk into any of hundreds of retail stores and talk to someone who will quote you a repair or replacement price.
      • RealityVoid 5mo ago
        It sounds like problem with the lack of volume then? Since macs are super common, you can find a lot of places that repair them. Doesn't say much about the HW comparison between the two, IMO.
• hmokiguess 5mo ago
  "Intelligence is the new spec" then proceeds to show shopping ads and duolingo
• jumploops 5mo ago
  As someone with a closet full of dead Google devices, I just can’t get excited about new hardware from them. I think LLMs have the potential to make computers work how we’ve always envisioned them to (i.e. 60s sci-fi), but I’m also not convinced a dedicated laptop is the right form. With that said, a 128GB RAM MacBook Pro is getting tantalizingly close to running useful local LLMs. If the Googlebook was announced as a machine capable of running a small Gemini model locally, I’d probably enter back into the abusive relationship I have with Google hardware and preorder it…
  • beepbooptheory 5mo ago
    I know people are kinda freaky on here with all the LLM love, but saying "tantalizing" here is a little on the nose, if not just plain weird. Get a room!
• taco_emoji 5mo ago
  No thanks!
• xnx 5mo ago
  Impressive feat of confused branding that Google has marketed Chromebooks, Pixelbooks, and Googlebooks.
  • OisinMoran 5mo ago
    Upcoming launches: Mapsbook, Waymobook, Walletbook, Authenticatorbook, ...
  • stefan_ 5mo ago
    If it's not a new thing you can't be promoted for it. Rest assured theres still a Chromebook, Pixelbook and Googlebook team each.
• shoelessone 5mo ago
  I am not anti-AI, but if I am going to use AI I far prefer to have control over how I engage with it. Having a piece of hardware to focused on Google's own AI flavor being built in is a big negative to me. Not that I would totally write off this new Googlebook (despite disliking the name), but I can't really see a situation where I'd ever prefer this over an Apple Neo for example.
• lynndotpy 5mo ago
  > "Intelligence is the new spec." Oof. Very upfront: "Don't pay attention to RAM, processor, battery, monitor, price, etc. We're not telling you that, because you'd laugh. We're selling access to web services. Lower your expectations, get excited for AI. Please clap". Very rough. Moore's lesser-known cousin, Les, predicted transistor density-per-dollar would actually start to decrease over time. I guess Google's ready for that world? And even the most virulently pro-AI people I know aren't using any of these services Google is trying to market as sexy. Who is this for? "Make a band poster for my kid", could they have chosen a sadder example? It doesn't help that the first result on Google for "Google book" is Google Books. Even their "AI overview" is helpfully telling me about the specifications and pricetags of books on Google Books.
  • josefresco 5mo ago
    I agree with "who is this for" but to be fair to Google's example, the most common use I see of AI for "normal people" besides chat/homework is creating event/business posters and small business promo graphics. The kind of stuff that used to be a Canva template, can now be created quicker/easier with an AI prompt. I agree it's a super-lame use for AI, but the average person's use-cases for AI as it exists now are still very limited (IMHO).
  • jhickok 5mo ago
    I thought that too, but it looks like this isn't a laptop but a new laptop class, and Lenovo, Dell and HP will all be producing Googlebooks. This does not appear to be a first-party laptop product.
  • itomato 5mo ago
    It's refreshing to see Marketing step into the Product Owner role. Let's see what they do with the oppportunity.
• deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
• QuadmasterXLII 5mo ago
  lmao can’t render on safari, get “this page was reloaded because a problem repeatedly occurred.” Maybe someone could invent a format for presenting text and images over the internet that didn’t each require each text presenter to write custom (buggy) shader code?
• 999900000999 5mo ago
  I’m waiting on these to be 70% off. Assuming an open boot loader or anyway to run Linux on it, looks like a clean computer. I don’t know what normal person wants this though. The Neo is enough for most, and if I need more I’m probably going to want a real os. Not ChromeOS++
• deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
• xerox13ster 5mo ago
  This is an attempt to flood the desktop interface market of laptops, and likely eventually desktops, with their hardware running their OS so they can enforce attestation at the hardware level across all classes of devices and lock you out of their attested Web if you’re not using one of the big three companies hardware and operating systems.
• code_duck 5mo ago
  Seems like they want a MacBook for people with Pixel phones. Okay. I assume it will be an ARM based system running some Android variant, if you can seamlessly launch Android apps on it. "Designed for Gemini Intelligence" is somewhat repellant - look at how poorly MS has done pushing Copilot on people. Overall I'd need way more info to know if this is a device I'd be interested in at all, but since I have a MacBook and iPhone, I don't think I'm the target market. Perhaps their ideal target market, but it seems like this would be best for people who are already knee deep in the Google ecosystem.
• vednig 5mo ago
  I'd buy it, but for me, Google lost it's credibility when they made Chromebook on an a Linux kernel but kept the specs too low, and even made sure to hijack the market by providing for free to schools
• zg94 5mo ago
  Why would anyone trust Google to support these devices long-term, even ignoring all the privacy concerns that come with using Google products and services? The KilledByGoogle website should be enough of a warning sign against this company, and with rising hardware costs... this just seems dead on-arrival to me.
• mtrovo 5mo ago
  All the shots at the name apart I think this is a very good strategic move. The other frontier labs would die to have this level of surface available for their models as a testing ground, with the current state of things on Apple side the ChatGPT on MacOS integration is probably the best everyone will get for a good time on how a full integration of LLM model with OS could really looks like. Agents will need a different level of understanding of your activities across different surfaces to act effectively, IMHO the OS is the perfect place to offer it.
• adrianwaj 5mo ago
  I like the idea of a phone that fully inserts into a laptop bay to get its functionality in a different form factor. Not sure the laptop needs a powerful CPU, if any. Or it could have a really powerful one while adding storage and memory. I personally would want to also be able to switch off the telco signal. Perhaps the bay would be in the laptop screen itself and the two screens could operate side-by-side - or in the main body and the phone would go dormant.
• mattcantstop 5mo ago
  First thing they show is shopping with Gemini AI. Everything is around advertising and shopping with Google. Not the platform for me.
• modeless 5mo ago
  I'm going to need to see how that top bar works. If they've ruined the ChromeOS UI by not allowing maximized windows to use the top of the screen for tab bars then I will be very disappointed. On the other hand, if maximized windows work properly and Linux apps are still supported and they have a Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme version, I might be interested. The Snapdragon is very competitive with Apple's M5 even including single core performance and battery life.
• jaylane 5mo ago
  this deff going to feed all your shit to feed a hidden model running in the background
• harshaw 5mo ago
  I really wanted to stay in the google chromebook / googlebook echo system. But the hardware was expensive for what you get. Apple announced the macbook neo and I picked one up. Great hardware. can run light weight mac software. I don't run much beyond chrome and wahoo SYSTM (bike trainer app). It's really solid hardware and cost $600 or so. I use gemini extensively (and claude). But - do I need this integrated in my laptop? Don't quite see it. And it's hard to beat Apple on hardware now.
• julianozen 5mo ago
  I’m not sure I understand the customer use case for this. 1- Chromebooks have made huge inroads in schools because they’re easy to maintain, share, upgrade, and they’re very cheap. 2- Obviously, running desktop software is a huge new piece of the ecosystem, but isn’t this customer already opting for Windows/Mac, who have extremely robust 30-year ecosystems and suites like Office, iLife, Adobe, etc that will obviously never build for this platform There’s no way Google OS ever hits any kind of parity of exclusive software that is unavailable on Windows/Mac. Best they can do is run Android apps. This also introduces a high new threat vector to their existing customers who might not want it. Lastly, what will this do to Chromebook buyers who are now wondering which OS will be actively developed in 5 years?
  • fragmede 5mo ago
    There's now a Photoshop web, and Google has their own office suite. Canva and Figma are websites. iLife is discontinued. Are there specific things in "etc" that you're thinking of? Davinci Resolve and Blender are available for Linux and thus Crostini on a Chromebook/Googlebook. ChromeOS came out in 2011, 15 years ago. So not 30, but it's been around a while now.
• nish__ 5mo ago
  How much?
• Shekelphile 5mo ago
  A plastic macbook lookalike with no ports, a mobile phone OS, a 1366x768 display and probably the cheapest SoC they can scrounge from the parts bin. This thing, like all other google/android products, will be DOA, and the ones actually duped into buying one will be left with a paperweight in a year or two when the cheap hardware inevitably breaks.
• loeg 5mo ago
  What pricepoint is this targeting? Is this an Android MacBook Neo? It looks like it's a tablet (phone OS) with a keyboard.
• mattanimation 5mo ago
  lame
• computerex 5mo ago
  The site crashes on my 2020 iPhone SE.
  • layer8 5mo ago
    The product is for Android users.
    • computerex 5mo ago
      That's fine, wish the site worked so I didn't have to be told that.
• BadBadJellyBean 5mo ago
  Wow. That has to be one of the worst announcements I have ever seen. A hardware launch that only talks about software and most of the software is AI. This announcement is nothing. This could have been a ChromeOS update.
• fumar 5mo ago
  I don’t think any portable laptop can beat the MacBook Neo on price and value this year.
• pluc 5mo ago
  https://killedbygoogle.com https://killedbygoogle.com
• rapnie 5mo ago
  "Yes, I bought a special laptop from my advertisement pusher."
• busymom0 5mo ago
  I clicked on the link hoping to find out the price first thing so I could compare it to Apple Neo's price. Didn't find price anywhere. Also, is an AI subscription required for this?
• tengbretson 5mo ago
  > Designed for Gemini Intelligence They should design one for users.
• johngoode 5mo ago
  This isn’t constructive at all but I can’t stop laughing
• dakiol 5mo ago
  There must be such a disconnection between the general people and more technical oriented people. I would never ever buy such a laptop. The reasons are very simple: - it's owned by Google. Google is the worst tech company out there to trust your data - it has AI all over the place. Overuse of AI depresses me. And a laptop is something very personal to me. I don't want to be depressed every time i open my laptop - the "files" functionality is cloud-based. That's insane. I don't want my files in the "cloud". I want a file system I run linux, and still own Macs (because their hardware is great on laptops). Of course I'm not the target audience. But still.
  • OhMeadhbh 5mo ago
    I came here to make essentially the same comment though I use Lenovos instead of Macs.
  • coffe2mug 5mo ago
    > more technical oriented people. technical people are the ones that have built AI farms, stuffing AI on normies throat. > files is cloud-based was long gone. Seems you are assuming like Mac iCloud or iOS. There is plenty of local storage if you want to do that. > Macs (because their hardware is great on laptops). In other news, many other people don't have money but spend on overpriced macs (excl. neo) - so they buy cheap and cheerful - just works Chromebooks - for basic stuff. Normies also not need 3 x 8K monitors. > And a laptop is something very personal to me. I don't want to be depressed every time i Normal people wont use AI features. How many windows users are using copilot etc? many have accustomed to ignore - popup from AV or jumping triggers and just do to their basic stuff in computers. It is just here in hn - everyday some blogpost - I used AI to completely automate this or that. this model is 1.27 times better that yesterdays model.
• yread 5mo ago
  I like the footnote: > 1. Check responses. Eh sure. Everyone will totally check the vibe coded "widget". Is this really all that's necessary to discount all responsibility when that widget deletes your disk and kills your grandmother?
• deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
• velominati 5mo ago
  Google never sold through their first production run of Chromebook Pixels. Will prediction markets take bets on when will end up at https://killedbygoogle.com https://killedbygoogle.com?
  • pmsh 5mo ago
    Hah! I was just about to post 'Can I bet on the deprecation date in Polymarket?'
• Koshkin 5mo ago
  A fun name... (I wonder how many non-native English speakers realize that the two occurrences of 'oo' in 'googlebook' are not pronounced the same.)
• voidmain0001 5mo ago
  Does it use ChromeOS or Android? I read an unreliable comment in Reddit that Google may be forced to sell ChromeOS to satisfy antitrust lawsuit. The comment provided zero evidence for the conjecture.
  • voidmain0001 5mo ago
    I'll answer myself with a Reddit post that states it's not ChromeOS. https://www.reddit.com/r/chromeos/comments/1tb9xbp/this_is_googlebook/ https://www.reddit.com/r/chromeos/comments/1tb9xbp/this_is_g...
• pier25 5mo ago
  The AI device thing reeks of 2024. Nobody wants AI embedded into the OS spying on you every move.
• prima-facie 5mo ago
  With the over-reliance on AI, this looks like a veritable slop-machine, designed to create and consume slop as a primary activity. Good job Google.
• ryukoposting 5mo ago
  What is the product here? A chromebook with a different name, and some Gemini stuff thrown on top of the UI? This really just feels like an incremental upgrade to ChromeOS, with a new name to distance it from a brand that's synonymous with "cheap crap schools give to kids."
  • mavamaarten 5mo ago
    Yeah especially the AI stuff is so... not a driving force for anyone to buy this? For me, unless you can run LLM's and whatnot locally (which is not the case on this undisclosed low-end hardware), "AI" just means doing some API call to a web service and have it serve me some freshly made up tokens. You can do that on a potato. The fact that they happily announce something that can be done on any other cheap-ass laptop as the main selling point, means this product is nothing special at all.
  • drtgh 5mo ago
    Surveillance PC, the product will be the people's collected data. (they've gone to the next level this time)
• racl101 5mo ago
  Shoulda called it the Bookgle
• BloondAndDoom 5mo ago
  No thanks, I’m sick of companies with their super connected bullshit. MS , Google, Apple etc. We need more isolation between hardware and these conglomerates
  • techteach00 5mo ago
    Why is it always the best comments are at the bottom and grayed out?
• erickhill 5mo ago
  That's a lotta Os!
• totallyunknown 5mo ago
  Looks like they rushed the release or didn't let the LLM proofread: "Öffne Apps von deinem Android-Smartphone auf deinem Latop – ohne Installation" Such a nice Latop!
• ChipopLeMoral 5mo ago
  The interesting thing to me is that this is Android based if I understand correctly. The Google TV Android based experience is very good, I've been wanting a good Android based desktop OS since forever.
• trvz 5mo ago
  They list Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo on this site. Any one would be a slightly bad sign for quality, all five are awful. Yet another product range with lots of options, but not a single good one.
• dude3 5mo ago
  GBook or GoBook. They may have biffed this launch no matter how good. Googlebook is too long. Looks cool though.
• ChrisArchitect 5mo ago
  reddit? nope Launch blog post up top perhaps: https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android/meet-googlebook/ https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android... (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48111082 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48111082)
• melodyogonna 5mo ago
  Who is this for? This is why I like Apple, when they release hardware you see exactly who it is made for in the marketing copy
• Centigonal 5mo ago
  What in the Microsoft Surface is this? Are they trying to frame a life-long dependency on Google's LLMs as a feature? Also, I find it funny that they have burned through the "chromebook" and "pixelbook" branding already, leaving them with the less snappy "googlebook." Not sure if the third time's the charm here.
• deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
• spiralcoaster 5mo ago
  What's funny is that these days if I see a Google product that I'm even remotely interested in, I just immediately write it off because I know it's something they will kill in a very short time frame. It's just never worth the hassle of buying/using a Google product. Never.
  • pydry 5mo ago
    It will also vacuum up your user data and use it to train AI models and such.
  • jeroenhd 5mo ago
    Their hardware is usually fine when it comes to support. Google announces the support lifetime of their devices and sticks to it, with feature updates coming to things like phones even after the support period ended through things like app stores. Just check the support lifetime of the device before buying (early Pixels only had 2 years of support, as was announced at release). Their cloud services are nothing but hot air but their hardware support has been excellent for the past few years. Easily beats other major manufacturers. I'm still annoyed that Apple won't tell you how long they will support their hardware. Other competitors manage to be even worse.
    • treexs 5mo ago
      I thought Apple does tell you how long they'll support hardware. For example: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102772 https://support.apple.com/en-us/102772
      • rvnx 5mo ago
        [flagged]
        • janfoeh 5mo ago
          No, they do not, and they did not. They started throttling devices based on battery age after "Batterygate" in 2016, after a wave of news that their phones were suddenly shutting off on high load because the batteries terminal voltage dropped. They do not "artificially slow down before a new release". The were sued because in their typical arrogance, they neglected to _tell_ people about that. They did not lose, they settled a class action suit. As a result, they made battery management and state a lot more transparent in iOS, as they should have done in the first place. Claiming malicious planned obsolescence, as you did, requires facts not in evidence.
• jake-coworker 5mo ago
  Most comments here are about Chromebook/Googlebook hardware. But IMO the more interesting part is AI-native OS features. Unfortunately it seems like not a ton, but I think the future is in custom software created from user prompts. Ie the other day I wanted to track my clipboard history, and I preferred to trust a locally coded & executed AI-generated clipboard history mac app over a random github project. Now obviously trusting AI has its own concerns vs trusting people, but interested in other ways companies will reimagine interfaces with AI
• Havoc 5mo ago
  No thanks. Google is heading for a similar closed ecosystem setup as Apple. Except given their recent behaviour I have very little trust that they won't execute that in the most user hostile fashion they can come up with.
  • hollerith 5mo ago
    >a similar closed ecosystem setup as Apple Uh, you do know that Google releases as open source most of Chrome, ChromeOS and Android?
• fooker 5mo ago
  Who thought wiggling the cursor to invoke AI is a good idea? People do this when the system is stuck or something is not working for some reason, and this will just add extra burden when that happens. It's such a bad idea that I can see Microsoft immediately adopting this! (Opens up three variants of copilot, one deprecated and spins without getting the API handle right.)
  • Insanity 5mo ago
    Yeah, if you now check for 'pc is stuck' by wiggling your mouse, you suddenly eat up more resources if it actually was getting stuck, making matters worse. But at least your AI can then tell you it will all be okay eventually.
• tscburak 5mo ago
  [flagged]
• inventor7777 5mo ago
  The very first thing I thought when I read this is "Hmm, wonder how long this one will last before Google kills it." Well, I am still waiting for the price. If it is $450 or higher, I'd just get a MacBook Neo at that point.
• devmor 5mo ago
  A data-harvesting software product delivered as hardware. Why would anyone actually want to purchase this?
• deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
• ExoticPearTree 5mo ago
  We should start betting how long it's going to take Google to kill it.
• Jzush 5mo ago
  Gross. This is just more proof that corporations simply don't know how to market AI. Everything is an ad for an ad at this point. The very first thing they show this new machine doing is helping people shop for clothes using AI. No one is doing that, these people don't exist. No matter how hard corporate America wishes they did. This is why AI doesn't sell. This is why companies like Microsoft and Dell are pulling back on their AI claims and why Apple has nearly wiped it off their site all together, seriously go check out apple.com, not a single mention of Apple Intelligence. At this point I'm convinced that marketing has been completely taken over by shareholder shills, marketing to customers they wish they had instead of the real customers that exist.
  • Forgeties79 5mo ago
    Reminds me of all those facebook portal ads (was that the name?) showing kids talking to their grandparents all excited, or those ads where people point their phone at a thing (I think it's for Gemini?) and it pulls up the item to buy. I've literally never seen someone do that, and I have some insufferably-obsessed-with-AI people in my life who try to use it for everything. Yeah anecdotal, but it just doesn't strike me as how people shop.
  • engeljohnb 5mo ago
    Sometimes I feel like there's no huge tech companies left* that remember: you're supposed to convince me to give you my money. I'm not just going to do it because you used the right trendy buzzwords. *except maybe Valve.
  • parl_match 5mo ago
    > No one is doing that, these people don't exist. Unfortunately, they do. "Normie America" loves that shit. It's why they've been pushing it so hard: it's one of the few areas they're getting serious traction in day to day life.
    • Jzush 5mo ago
      Not where I’m from. No one has the money to fly to Japan for a shopping trip like this ad suggests. Where do these people exist outside the Bay Area?
• functionmouse 5mo ago
  slopbook
• medhir 5mo ago
  It’s amazing to scroll through this whole product page and leave feeling like I don’t know what it really does / who it’s for. Why are these features compelling? I went through the whole page and still don’t know what OS runs on this laptop… the value prop for this is incredibly unclear.
• PaulHoule 5mo ago
  It's like genetic recombination: take the worst of Apple and the worst of Microsoft and you get... this!
• Swoerd 5mo ago
  [dead]
• shreezus 5mo ago
  Unfortunately, there is almost no point buying this when the MacBook Neo exists, and runs a full-fledged operating system rather than ChromeOS or Gemini or whatever it is they’re calling it.
  • Forgeties79 5mo ago
    It also doesn't activate an LLM when you do a pointer check jfc what are they thinking
    • nunez 5mo ago
      It's the same thing as Docs asking Gemini to write for you when the text cursor idles.
      • Forgeties79 5mo ago
        I was working in Google Docs earlier and that text box on the bottom was driving me absolutely nuts. LLM’s absolutely have utility but it feels like everybody is trying to constantly poke me and go “are you using it? Are you using it? Please God fucking use it”
• CrzyLngPwd 5mo ago
  SpyBook was taken?
• Grosvenor 5mo ago
  Is this the new Centrino?
• a_ba 5mo ago
  Related: How is it possible for Google in 2026 to get away without a cookie banner that allows you to manage your tracking preferences? The cookie notification only links to a "Learn more" [0] page but provides no specifics on how cookies are used on this site? Is this some legal wizardry or plain ignorance of the GDRP? [0] https://policies.google.com/technologies/cookies?hl=en https://policies.google.com/technologies/cookies?hl=en
  • justusthane 5mo ago
    I have "Agree" and "No thanks" buttons on my cookie banner. Tested on FF and Chrome (Windows) and Safari (iOS). Maybe a UI bug for you?
  • breisa 5mo ago
    They don't have to offer a version of the website without consent. As long as they inform you that the site will use cookies if you use it that should be GDPR-compliant.
• diego_sandoval 5mo ago
  I don’t even know who this is marketed towards. If their intention is to target the general public, then I think they're out of touch with reality, and it doesn’t seem targeted at AI enthusiasts either.
• kadomony 5mo ago
  So, these will just be dumped into schools and the already deteriorating education system will just collapse because kids won't know anything and Gemini will just be doing everything for them. I hate AI.
• deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
• deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
• booleandilemma 5mo ago
  Googlebook. I wonder how much some marketroid was paid for that name. Wow.
• giarc 5mo ago
  Magic Pointer requires the user to be 18+... "1. Check responses. Internet connection required. 18+."
  • unlogic 5mo ago
    Taken out of context, an 18+ device called Magic Pointer coming from Google would be wild.
• BitWiseVibe 5mo ago
  so.. a chromebook with extra ai slop?
• mooktakim 5mo ago
  Google just give up making hardware ffs. I'm still annoyed that my Fitbit no longer works with my Google workspace account.
• etchalon 5mo ago
  The fact the team behind this came up with the name "Googlebook" doesn't give me a great confidence in the rest of the product.
• brodd 5mo ago
  Screenshots say Sporify. Probably a human made typo in the mockups - refreshing!
• frankfrank13 5mo ago
  > Intelligence is the new spec. I'm shocked, SHOCKED how bad google is at copywriting, and it clearly not mattering.
• liampulles 5mo ago
  Can't wait to see the rooting hacks resulting from mousing over a strawberry and text saying "count the r's".
• bilekas 5mo ago
  > Intelligence is the new spec. No, it isn't. If you're making hardware product, sell me hardware thats worth it. No spec sheet, just AI pushing. Chromebook 2.0 where the chromebook was a browser for an OS. Not for me anyway.
• NDlurker 5mo ago
  Is this going to be running Android?
• n48dotdev 5mo ago
  [dead]
• kristianpaul 5mo ago
  Is this the end of Linux powered Chromebooks?
• thalesfp 5mo ago
  Google is so lost
• Pr0ject217 5mo ago
  In practice I find the Gemini models to be the worst for coding and design.
• jjulius 5mo ago
  It's just a bunch of gobbledygook.
• wotsdat 5mo ago
  [dead]
• Kadecgos 5mo ago
  So, I'm only slightly trying to be a smartass here, but... Who is this for? They are marketing what is ostensibly a computer for people who seem to not want to use a computer in scenarios that I don't think even exist. Beyond that, this is a laptop that is running a really shitty, 'apps only, no you cannot do anything useful with this' operating system. I have an awful lot of complaints about MacOS's relatively restrictive use cases, but it's still at least a General Purpose OS. Android on laptop is very much not. This is an overgrown phone with all the trash that comes with a phone, and the very finite use cases that come with a phone, only now it has a keyboard. It's solving none of the problems with Android as an operating system and doesn't seem to even be interested in doing that anyway. The marketing is demoing use cases that don't even exist. So I repeat my question: Who is this for?
  • bobthepanda 5mo ago
    I mean you basically just described a chromebook, though I believe one of the selling points of chromebook is that it's dirt cheap.
    • Kadecgos 5mo ago
      Yeah, a Chromebook's killer 'feature' is that it's web browser attached to a keyboard and functional screen for cheap on a platform that you can't otherwise screw up. If you price that up to $1,000 (which some Chromebooks definitely do), then I start to ask a variation of the same question: Why did you buy that?
  • t0mas88 5mo ago
    No idea. The people that have no need to run real software and want a high end device probably have an iPad with a keyboard case. Those that want a low end device have a chromebook. This thing will be killed early 2028...
    • throwa356262 5mo ago
      I am old enough to remember the chromebook is dead rumours of ...let me think... every years since it was introduced? I personally would prefer a good chromebook to an ipad+cramped keyboard but I guess people are different
• jbverschoor 5mo ago
  Just a little too late for school. The product probably doesn't even exist. They're screaming bc of the Nep.
• blizdiddy 5mo ago
  All of society is heading towards an incredibly unpopular future. Nobody wants this. Tech was a mistake. I wish them all failure and shame. Feel bad and quit
• phendrenad2 5mo ago
  They accidentally started selling these early! You can pick one up right now, here: https://www.google.com/chromebook/ https://www.google.com/chromebook/
• foxyv 5mo ago
  What CPU architecture does it have? No comment. What operating system will it use? No comment. Will I be able to play games on it? It has AI!
  • ugh123 5mo ago
    Probably arm with chromium
• Mr_Eri_Atlov 5mo ago
  Im more interested if we'll be able to load this OS on old Windows laptops or if it's hardware locked via software checks.
• dd_xplore 5mo ago
  Horrible computer
• relex 5mo ago
  This is Google reacting to: - laptop manufacturers and customers preferring Linux over Googles os shenanigans - Apple Unified Business Platform, that is going to take an enormous piece of the enterprise pie
• Findecanor 5mo ago
  To me, everything about this seems AI-generated. What else but a LLM could have come up with these features and the name?
• ptdorf 5mo ago
  I sooooo want to buy it and have every single keyboard stroke, mouse and eye movement tracked. I don't know about you but these AIs ran out of internet data to train and I volunteer all my blood, sweat, tears and movements to improve them.
• philipnee 5mo ago
  Hey Google: please control my computer.
• e2e4 5mo ago
  I just want a good working Desktop Mode (Dex etc) for my Android phone, my phone is already powerful enough, I don't need another computer.
• jasoneckert 5mo ago
  Love the confidence of launching a teaser page with zero specs. I’m not emotionally prepared to be marketed to before I know how much RAM it has. Google basically said “here’s a mysterious glowing rectangle” and expected us spec junkies not to immediately start clawing at the walls for a datasheet, and losing sleep for weeks on end until we get them.
  • Oras 5mo ago
    No spec, no price, just fluff. Typical Google marketing.
• baxuz 5mo ago
  [flagged]
• didip 5mo ago
  It looks great. If the price is good, I think it will sell well. The only thing holding it back is Google’s own reputation of canceling things so rapidly.
  • Oras 5mo ago
    where did you see the price in the landing page?
• blobbers 5mo ago
  [dead]
• mococa 5mo ago
  See you soon... https://killedbygoogle.com https://killedbygoogle.com
• binsquare 5mo ago
  How long will this be supported until it is in the google graveyard though?
  • juris 5mo ago
    4 years and 1 month! https://gcemetery.co/google-product-lifespan/ https://gcemetery.co/google-product-lifespan/
• rav3ndust 5mo ago
  a little O/T, but i suspect these screenshots might be some of the first look at the upcoming aluminiumOS.
  • rav3ndust 5mo ago
    oops, disregard. i just saw that the machine was also previewed on "the android show". i'd missed that until i saw it on YT a few minutes ago.
• livinglist 5mo ago
  Third time’s a charm I guess
• stebalien 5mo ago
  Features like the magic cursor look cool: an infinitely flexible context menu. However, context menus make it clear what you can and cannot do. If the magic cursor can't "do everything reasonable", it'll be just as usable as Siri. I'd be more likely to believe them if they had already implemented this feature on their Pixel phones, but they haven't so I expect it probably isn't "done".
• qmr 5mo ago
  You are the product. Hard pass.
• thenewguy077 5mo ago
  TrojanBook
• friggin_god 5mo ago
  [dead]
• danielmartins 5mo ago
  Judging by the poor hardware quality of some Google Pixel generations, I'm not putting my money anywhere near this thing. Edit: spelling
• garciansmith 5mo ago
  I don't have any comment except to say that I think this is the first non-mechanical/custom keyboard in ages to have an F13 key.
• arnvald 5mo ago
  > powered by premium hardware It's hard to treat this part seriously while seeing HP logo on the page.
• MetaWhirledPeas 5mo ago
  Mostly dismissive comments, it seems. Maybe justified. But I think a more interesting conversation is what happens if this or other devices like it become a hit? I wonder if the next generation of users will look at computers with no AI features the way we look at MS-DOS.
• telango 5mo ago
  literal ai slop machine
• juris 5mo ago
  reminds me of the pixel c! that thing was pretty neat. this thing has the same "glowbar"... i bet it's old stock for them now since the pixel c didn't see many sales; that was from an era where google at least pretended to be a 'good guy.' i have always liked netbooks more than chromebooks (but I really only ever had the samsung NC10, specifically for the keyboard). i really miss that thing. these days i am wary of the gewgly eyes on my digital person, so i'ma pass on this til someone less on the radar makes another platform pop. where to next! linux on risc-v? steamOS on ARM? screenless lozenge wirelessly coupled to an EEG that makes me hallucinate images?
• desireco42 5mo ago
  Price will make or break this. Nothing else. Let me elaborate if it isn't obvious. If it is higher, people will just use their regular laptops ie. there will be no use case. If it is low, it will find it's use. Like when I am travelling, this would be amazing.
• plombe 5mo ago
  When I saw the name, Googlebook I had my fingers crossed that Google had finally built something that could compete with the Apple MacBook. If that ad is anything to go by, this will flop and there will be no shortage of consumers who will go along for the ride. If it ends up having ML-centric hardware, like a version of their TPUs, the story could change, especially if they don't try to keep it locked within their ecosystem. Local AI is the future.
• trunkiedozer 5mo ago
  I can’t wait to get one! Growing up with the star trek series, it all seems to be coming together now.
• brcmthrowaway 5mo ago
  RIP Apple.
• manbash 5mo ago
  Apple's best move was to steer away from AI lockdowns and focus on what consumers really need. Coupling these with Gemini is so detached, especially when everyone screams Local LLM.
• b3ing 5mo ago
  So eventually this will have ads everywhere right? Because selling all your info won’t be enough for google. I can’t wait for local llms to get more powerful
• cco 5mo ago
  For those wondering why this isn't using the Pixelbook brand, the Reddit post sheds more light. A Googlebook is something "above" a Chromebook (maybe the AI featureset imposes hardware demands that Chromebooks can't service) but is still made by third parties. I suppose they're keeping Pixelbook for first-party devices. The most interesting part to me is the "Create your own widget". I'm really interested to see bespoke UI become a first class citizen. Why _can't_ I just ask Gemini to build a widget that serves the data I want how I want it? Building "small" UI is for the birds, just expose the API and the basics and let users tell the AI what UI they want.
  • ex-aws-dude 5mo ago
    They just show that for widgets but I think that will be a big thing in the future Everyone and their mom will have their own hyperspecific custom apps prompted into existence Something like Claude Code with stricter sandboxing built into the OS for consumers Not just desktop either but also on phones
  • killerstorm 5mo ago
    This just oozes design by committee. Googlebook is the most confusing name they could chooses, some asinine compromise... Most people who haven't reddit would assume googlebooks are made by google
    • cco 5mo ago
      What name would you have chosen? - Chromebook with Gemini - Chromebook Pro - Geminibook - Googlebook They all have their pros and cons.
      • jerryhomelab 5mo ago
        gbook
      • fblp 5mo ago
        Yes, they could have done a chromebook or pixelbook variant. No sane reason for a third brand that dilutes the other two aside from internal google politics/promotions and to show shareholders. This does nothing for the customer and you can see a brand called Apple which has been successful with the Air, pro and neo under one brand.
• kxcrossing 5mo ago
  This link crashes my phone browser :-)
• dodu_ 5mo ago
  So it's just an even more enshittified chromebook? Are Google PMs really just saying "let's take existing product and shove AI into it"?
• zmmmmm 5mo ago
  HN always disappoints me with these kind of threads, with all the generic disappointment and Google scepticism dominating the conversation. Don't get me wrong, I'm still disappointed. But mainly because it looks so superficial. I was trying to work out what's new and it just looks like an Android device (or Chrome? I can't tell) with some party trick Gemini features sprinkled on it. There isn't anything technically interesting here. I'm still waiting for someone to ship a truly AI native device - something with the right sandboxing and UI layers to let an AI model truly understand and work with the device natively, but safely. The OS SDK itself should natively incorporate all these elements as first class primitives. And the model would be trained heavily to explicitly understand and work well with them.
  • nunez 5mo ago
    Apple will probably nail this, as usual
  • gman83 5mo ago
    I presume since they're going to be actually showing off the details of the Aluminium OS at Google IO, they probably want to keep it surprising, so that should hopefully explain the sparse details. HN is a bubble... this sentiment about Google really isn't widely shared. Personally, I'm pretty happy that Android is coming to desktop, I really feel like Windows and macOS need more competition. Unless Valve does something spectacular with Linux desktop adoption, Android is probably the best bet.
• zwaps 5mo ago
  The second feature shown in this global launch is ... widgets. Like, Windows Vista widgets. And then, I could also open phone apps but not on my phone but on my computer (because I'd want to do that) and then the remaining feature is file sync. I am just lost. I wanna watch a documentary on how this kind of thing gets thought out and made and approved by a lot of people and then comes to being annouced as an actual hardware product.
• tonymet 5mo ago
  I used to use Chromebooks as a souped-up iPad with Linux terminal support. They missed a great opportunity to create a special user interface experience supporting multiple tasks (e.g. Gemini-CLI, anti gravity, Gemini-chat, browser) while sharing the same context . It could have been an awesome developer device . Imagine virtual desktops all sharing the same context with various tools : Gemini-CLI working on infra and artifacts, Antigravity running development , Gemini chat generating graphics assets. Hardware enabled with special shared memory / NPU. Instead, I see a Chromebook with the nagging MS Edge “right click for copilot”.
• aucisson_masque 5mo ago
  Omg. All the worst of Google embedded in a single device. I swear if I see it in real life I'm going to spray holy water on it. A.I., data collecting at every level, horrible incoherent ui. Hit me daddy !
• imagetic 5mo ago
  DOA
• rsamtravis 5mo ago
  It's just a slightly different chromebook optimized for AI? Am I missing something? What a nightmare.
• wiseowise 5mo ago
  How can Apple's competition be so bad? It's not even that complex: just make something quality. The closest so far is latest Framework Pro.
  • chanux 5mo ago
    The visionaries know better than us. They've known better for a long time now.
• commandersaki 5mo ago
  Meh stuff this, no left most fn key, don't even know if there's half height inverted-t arrangement, bleh.
• qbane 5mo ago
  I wish Google can bring back the OG Pixelbook, where "AI" merely means Google Assistant.
• adocomplete 5mo ago
  Interesting product, horrible name.
• raver1975 5mo ago
  WTF is a Googlebook? "Hey buddy, you got a little googlebook hanging out of your nose, a little nasty looking googlebook. Don't eat it, that's so gross!"
• HumblyTossed 5mo ago
  I can't stand websites like this. I get there's no substance to my complaint, but it just seems pointless to do this. If you want a slow reveal, do a video or something (but I won't watch that either).
  • RevEng 5mo ago
    I legit thought it was just an image. The first panel fills my whole phone screen and there is no indication that there is anything to scroll. I don't like this new web.
• diabllicseagull 5mo ago
  so Aluminum OS is finally here. it should be big enough of an announcement by itself but what we get is googlebook; hardware with an AI-tied value proposition. how do they think people would justify choosing a googlebook over everything else only to use gemini? I wish it was framed around the OS and how it can run on a wide range of devices (similar to android and chrome os) and become something more in time (maybe with apps that can be developed outside the android ecosystem with a desktop experience in mind).
• boomskats 5mo ago
  FWIW my mum is still rocking my 2013 chromebook pixel. It is on all day, every day, and has been ever since I gave it to her a decade ago. I have repasted it three times now, it's been covered in sugary crap, dropped, trodden on by my kids, had charger cables tripped over and ripped apart while plugged in (sans magsafe), and it still looks and feels almost indistinguishable from when I bought it. The keyboard and screen are somehow both still fantastic, speakers great, experience snappy. It is phenomenal hardware, and if this 'Googlebook' comes even remotely close (and I suspect it will), I'm buying one as soon as I can. There are a lot of people here complaining about AI and Google and Android and Ads and clothes and marketing and whatever. I'm assuming a lot of that is HN anti-AI derkaderbs bias, with some Apple/Google tribalism for good measure. Yeah Gemini might be shite at writing code, but Gemini Web / Android is by far the best executed and most useful conversational/consumer AI assistant out there (at least in my experience, it's not even close). I'm not a Google fan by any means, but credit where credit is due, I don't see a timeline where they don't end up completely owning genpop consumer AI. The more I think about that the more convinced I am, and the more I feel uncomfortable.
  • deleted 5mo ago
    [deleted]
  • Shuddown 5mo ago
    With Google handing this off to OEMs, I really don't know how it'll hold up compared to a Pixelbook. I can't remember the last time I got an HP or Acer laptop that didn't use e-waste tier parts. I just hope it's worth the price.
• mannanj 5mo ago
  I don't want to give them more of my data. I would like dignity, please. #datawithdignity
• hereme888 5mo ago
  Normalizing compute rental + no privacy vs. actual ownership. Typical of Big Tech spirit.
• walrus01 5mo ago
  Finally, the laptop I've been waiting for, I can use Gemini to ask it the difference between hotdog or not hotdog.
• Briannaj 5mo ago
  Am I the only person who PANICs whenever I accidentally somehow activate the AI on my android? I'm so conditioned to panic whenever I see that floating rainbow that the whole marketing page is covered in I get very negative feelings.
• kaidev1024 5mo ago
  pretty cool design!
• sauercrowd 5mo ago
  Had a pixelbook and it was hands down one of the best laptops I ever had. Sure, ChromeOS is fairly boxed in but the Linux VM was reasonably good and the built quality was just something else. I wish they'd just make ~ pixelbook with ubuntu... it'd be such a powermove, and they if anyone could pull it off I was excited at first by this, but the "designed for gemini intelligence"... like what does that even mean
• charlieyu1 5mo ago
  Looks like another E-waste
• m0d0nne11 5mo ago
  I can't view the page because... Firefox, apparently.
• foxfired 5mo ago
  Copilot never gave Windows 11 a chance. Now Gemini will do the same to whatever this device is supposed to do.
• clbrmbr 5mo ago
  High-end Chromebook done right could be a very good thing for computer security.
• tytrdev 5mo ago
  Dystopiabook
• stainablesteel 5mo ago
  man, even google product videos show a "watch this video on youtube". can't link anything anymore
• ukz 5mo ago
  "Designed for Gemini Intelligence", so, not for human? Got it.
• douglee650 5mo ago
  WTF, I got this announcement from HN. Uhhh channel anyone?
• ProAm 5mo ago
  This will be killed off in 18 months. Just like every other Google project that doesnt involve ads or tracking.
• goosejuice 5mo ago
  Is this a ChromeOS ad or a Google manufactured laptop? Google really struggles with product. Money doesn't buy everything.
• api 5mo ago
  Why does this kind of thing need new hardware? The stuff I saw here could be apps running on any OS.
• Humphrey 5mo ago
  > Coming Spring 2026 What does this mean? I'm in Australia so I would expect Sept-Nov. But since I've only ever heard of American companies use seasonal typed release dates, my first instinct is to assume this is an American site and therefore American Spring - but Googling 'spring season usa' tells me Mar-May. And we are already in May. So then I have to scroll to the bottom of the page to see what region this might be in, and it has got Australia selected. I change to UK, scroll to the top, and it has changed to autumn. So, it is actually Australian Spring. That actually surprises me since most pages like this would not be updated to reflect my region, and so I would never expect this kind of text to be localised. Let's just all use unambiguous wording and units :)
  • shangofox 5mo ago
    Yeah it's region specific which is interesting. So it does say fall on web archive
  • deleted 5mo ago
    [deleted]
  • MrDOS 5mo ago
    Fwiw in the UK, the page says > Coming autumn 2026 I would also never expect this kind of text to be localized. Strange.
    • pwarner 5mo ago
      What if you live on the equator?
      • Humphrey 5mo ago
        Coming this summer (it's always summer at the equator!) Or perhaps just Wet or Dry if you live in northen Australia.
  • daemin 5mo ago
    I'd say that's bad localisation since people in Australia don't use seasons but instead months or quarters. I wonder what it says for places which don't really have seasons, like say Singapore?
• diddid 5mo ago
  I wish google would just go away. The thought of another product with googles tentacles in it makes me nauseous.
• Lerc 5mo ago
  I'm prepared to buy a laptop that utilises AI to improve things and generally makes things better. I see no evidence so far to suggest that this is it. Google should totally be experimenting with what can be done, but it seems to be a bit odd that they put something so uninspiring front and center like that.
• thih9 5mo ago
  > Unbox it this fall. It does feel as if AI wrote that copy. Then again, this looks like a slop making machine; a slop landing page seems weirdly appropriate. Maybe no human is meant to look at this announcement for more than a few seconds.
• uejfiweun 5mo ago
  I don't think the strategy of trying to figure out what an "AI laptop" should be will work. The best bet is to see what use cases organically emerge from the current tech, figure out the biggest gaps, and design a product around that. This is more like they just took "AI" plus "Laptop" and came up with a grab-bag list of cool sounding features, like "custom widgets".
• ksec 5mo ago
  Why announce it now without spec and so far away from shipping date?
  • Danox 5mo ago
    Apple WWDC 2026 coming up…
• aylmao 5mo ago
  This is not a laptop announcement. This is an attempt at a software announcement disguised as a laptop announcement. All that's shared about the actual laptop are renders. The website and the video spend much more time and pixels advertising hypothetical software features. The worst part is it's not a hardware announcement, but it's also not even a software announcement since the software is also just conceptual renders and nothing material. It's a website to advertise non-existent software features, running a non-existent google-branded laptop, for the purpose of what exactly? I can imagine two reasons this website exists today. It exists because someone at Google has seen the possibility of getting a promotion by relaunching Chromebooks, and it was launched today hoping people will hold off a few months on buying the MacBook Neo, to weigh their options once this launches.
• gcanyon 5mo ago
  Is this a laptop designed to be powerful enough to run local models? I suspect not. Is this a laptop with a built-in integration with Google's cloud models? I suspect so. And if so, it's the integration that's special, not "the laptop."
  • deleted 5mo ago
    [deleted]
• Falimonda 5mo ago
  A new laptop powered by AI and they're still showing an apps toolbar....?
• przemelek 5mo ago
  Would prefer a 'Google Linux'—a native desktop OS with a unified UI philosophy, similar to a macOS experience but built on a standard Linux foundation. Instead of ChromeOS or Android as the base, treat them as subsystems for compatibility. The real 'next big thing' would be integrating an engine like Gemini with OS-level hooks (similar to the OpenClaw approach) so agents can manipulate app windows and state directly. Resurrecting Web Intents as 2-way App Intents would be the key to making this work. Also, keeping prompts as local .md files with an Obsidian-like system editor would be a huge win for power users. Simply gating Gemini behind 'premium' Chromebooks feels like the old 'licking the cake' strategy from the Google+ days—trying to force a new product's success by coopting existing hardware rather than building a superior platform. I can imagine having Gemini + local Gemma working with Agents, which have access to my e-mail (ideally on GMAIL, but also supporting outlook), keeping local history of my visited sites and messages... and using RAG or something even better, ideally with looking also on repos I have checkouted to my file system, and maybe even whole file system.... Work related e-mail about "sending invoice to customer"... it may suggest proper content for e-mail. Having "dashboard" with summary of todays communication to you, your tickets (at work) and so on.... Can Google build such thing? If somebody can - it will be them. Will they build it? Probably not, they would prefer to build 3rd version of Google Pay.
  • janalsncm 5mo ago
    I just made a comment to the same effect. They should be trying to compete with MacBook mini. Google literally already sells Coral usb inference engines, so they’re most of the way there already: https://www.coral.ai/products/accelerator https://www.coral.ai/products/accelerator
    • bigyabai 5mo ago
      > so they’re most of the way there already Reading comments like this makes me feel like I live on a different planet from some people. The Coral USB dongle is from 2019 - it is a dev kit, not a souped-up edge inference unit. It was not designed to compete with the Macbook Mini (???) and is not some sort of touchstone or landmark in AI development. It's a tiny TPU that Google made to prototype technologies for their own SOCs like Google Tensor later down the line.
• davesque 5mo ago
  What I would buy: a local AI focused laptop with a built-in, powerful TPU. And it would have to open its hardware interface so that I could actually do what I wanted to do with it.
• benatkin 5mo ago
  Has nothing to do with AI and everything to do with Google's unchecked monopolism
• overgard 5mo ago
  Do. Not. Want. Please keep your security nightmare out of the OS.
• janalsncm 5mo ago
  Google could make a killing if they directly competed with the MacBook Mini. People paying out $2k to run OpenClaw will care about how well Gemini or whatever runs on their hardware. Scale up the Coral accelerator they already sell. This is a landing page with basically no details, but if it’s a thin console that calls home to Google it loses on latency and privacy immediately.
• sbinnee 5mo ago
  I guess it's just mobile chip and everything AI related connects directly to google services through internet.
• olivierestsage 5mo ago
  Save us Richard Stallman
• jsmo 5mo ago
  aka cringebook
• 9cb14c1ec0 5mo ago
  Most important question: can I run Lineage on it, or will this be the start of a departure of Google allowing OEM unlock on Android?
• 1317 5mo ago
  what a stupid name
• apeace 5mo ago
  It was super disorienting for me to see the cursor pointing different directions depending on which direction it was moving. I wonder if 1) it's actually going to be like that and not just an aesthetic for the ad, and 2) if I would ever get used to a cursor working that way.
• ugh123 5mo ago
  Is this an April 1st thing?
• system2 5mo ago
  No spec, no price. Who are the marketing people coming up with these shitty announcements?
• gariti 5mo ago
  I hear people complaining about Windows shoving ads at them, then you have something like this from Google that makes me ask why would anyone in their right mind want to use an OS like this? Seems built to hook you into Google's services. I guess there are some people who want to be locked tightly in an ecosystem which will be a lifelong dependency for them. Meanwhile Google extracts thousands and thousands of dollars from the "user" over their lifetime. Oh I get why they do this now...
• IFC_LLC 5mo ago
  I don't think it's about AI. It's about the success of the MacBook Neo. Google kinda missed the point that at this day and age you can take a huge cut of the Windows market share just based on the fact that your laptop pairs up with your phone. That's the killer feature of the Neo. This is going to be the killer feature of this one. Working alongside pixel. You have some sort of a platform. What are they after? Your data, obviously. I doubt they have such a success, I don't see THAT many Pixels around.
• andytratt 5mo ago
  goodbye Apple.
• Aperocky 5mo ago
  Wow, so they looked at the copilot+Windows11 and thought that would be something they want to emulate... As much as we want to point fingers at MBAs, but isn't this the exact kind of things they teach as cases to not do?
• meandave 5mo ago
  Man, what the hell is that song
• spprashant 5mo ago
  Why even bother announcing an hardware product if you are not even going to mention the specs? We are supposed to buy this because.. AI?
• drnick1 5mo ago
  Maybe you can install Linux on one of these things, and turn it into something useful and not choke-full of spyware.
• websap 5mo ago
  Top 3 comments are so negative. Here’s my optimistic take - Google is already supplying Gemini/Gemma models for the next generation of Apple Intelligence. It makes complete sense for them to enter the hardware market. I’d be happier if they use more on device models by optimizing their hardware for the next generation of Gemmma models.
• HDBaseT 5mo ago
  Both Google and Samsung have adopted the sleek, rounded edge, sharp trackpad cutout and metal frame like Apple. If the Macbook Neo didn't exist, both of sleek designs might of tided people away from Apple, but the price on the Neo, with the hardware polish from Apple is hard to beat if you're content with MacOS.
• sailfast 5mo ago
  Why would I want purpose-built hardware built by a company looking to lock me in, rather than hardware that does whatever I want?
• victor22 5mo ago
  I believe this will definetely be a thing in the near future but this OS seems shit? maybe I’m just too old for this shit
• dev1ycan 5mo ago
  Imagine buying hardware from Google, as if they haven't given enough reasons to distrust them.
• jrmg 5mo ago
  All the comments here seem to be assuming this is a Google product, but it’s not - it’s not even a single thing. It’s a class of laptops. Or, really, an operating system for laptops, not a new device from Google. “We’re working with Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo to make the first Googlebooks.” So, there will be (if they all actually get released) at least five laptops that are ‘Googlebooks’.
• zianKazi 5mo ago
  They can't show me how this new shiny thing can make me more productive at work. Looks like a giant phone from the video.
• mehulashah 5mo ago
  I just want to state for the record that this will fail harder than Google Plus.
• asdfsa32 5mo ago
  Looks nice. Where is this going to be discontinued?
• jibal 5mo ago
  I've read hundreds of comments about this and not a single one was positive.
• parasubvert 5mo ago
  In the Android IO event on Youtube today: "We're taking Android from an operating system to an intelligence system" I had a belly laugh. They're trying so hard to be like Apple with these, but without the clear explanation of user benefit.
  • a2128 5mo ago
    Because taking Windows from an operating system to an intelligence system worked out so well for them, that now they're trying to figure out how Windows can reach performance parity with Linux running Windows software :)
• todotask2 5mo ago
  Feeling like no longer personal but AI laptop.
• adonese 5mo ago
  The gemini/ai part aside, but I really like this revival of passion for PCs and Laptops. Totally anecdotal here and I could have definitely spend couple of minutes to research the marketing numbers, but I cannot help but feel happy with Framework, Panther Lake and Dell XPS and of course the mini Mac and Macbook family. I feel like there were years when center of attention had turned to mobile/ipads (and consoles) which were severly locked down to the point of no use point their intended creators purpose. I felt bad my siblings never get hooked into my old PC, as they went from PS3 to phones.
• akmittal 5mo ago
  Is this the Android desktop based which was leaked quite a few times? I feel the discussion here is overly negative. Android finally having an official desktop mode is good for competition. Windows is dropping the ball with each release, Macs need some good competition.
  • hollerith 5mo ago
    I agree, especially if an open-source project comes to prosper downstream of it like GrapheneOS prospers downstream of AOSP.
• Uptrenda 5mo ago
  "open apps from your phone on your laptop" only thing there that I thought: "that would be pretty awesome ngl." It would be a way to easily test android apps in a real environment with an actual large screen. Yes, I know android studio has a good emulator but emulators are still a horrible platform compared to the real thing. Particularly the networking there is nothing like how it works in the real world. I'd be interested in knowing the specs, more about the OS, software details, platform... A laptop integration like this based on android is cool to me. I couldn't care less about the AI crap though. This is a fascinating concept because phones themselves can provide a full desktop experience when you plug them into a screen. So could help encourage mobile computing more.
• sinpor1 5mo ago
  [dead]
• mrcwinn 5mo ago
  This is really dumb. I wish I had more that I cared to say.
• baalimago 5mo ago
  Oh boy will this be dated in 2 years
• penciltwirler 5mo ago
  "Chromebook" had a better ring to it.
• owaislone 5mo ago
  Make it as perform as well or close to Apple Silicon and give me free access to Linux dev environment and I will give this a shot.
• TheServitor 5mo ago
  Mehhhhhhhh
• hattmall 5mo ago
  I love my Chromebook, huge fan. GoogleBook seems objectively bad.
• bilalq 5mo ago
  The Gemini features would be so cool if they ran locally, but as-is, this reads like a laptop running spyware to me. The Android app casting does sound amazing though and that alone would make a full on Linux machine with MBP level build quality compelling.
• virajk_31 5mo ago
  Renamed chromebook ++ AI!!
• bandrami 5mo ago
  I wonder why they think this will go better than the Pixelbook did
• qwertox 5mo ago
  This is then the device where Google monitors everything you do, just like on the phones. And decides what you can use and what it reports.
• veltas 5mo ago
  Google don't dogfood so I'm not interested. I remember when the Pixel Fold came out asking people at Google and nobody had one. Have fun, but if nobody at Google will use this why should I?
• edg5000 5mo ago
  If everything is Google then there won´t be any more competition. They already have their hands in way to many things. Laptop margins are thin. They could squeeze smaller players out of the market with a decade of dump prices, seizing control of the computer market. Say hello to attestation and not owning anything anymore. Hope this laptop flops.
• vsaravind007 5mo ago
  Another chromebook!
• reassess_blind 5mo ago
  Even if the hardware is great, the thought of giving Google more data is icky to me, even if logically it makes no difference. I already use Gmail, and Apple collects just as much. Something about Google's image just makes me grossed out in a way Apple does not.
• schnitzelstoat 5mo ago
  This is going to be called the Slopbook, I’m calling it now.
• 2001zhaozhao 5mo ago
  I want to cheer them on just because i think the improvements they made to Android (such as the Linux terminal) as part of the Android-based laptop project are pretty cool. They increase the usability of Android tablets by a bunch. This laptop though? Uhhhh who would EVER buy this over MacOS????
• jlengrand 5mo ago
  I will never buy Google hardware again. You can keep it
• lisp2240 5mo ago
  Nobody at Google can read a room? This is like marketing a new, more effective plow during the Dust Bowl.
• elestor 5mo ago
  This honestly seems so stupid. Why?
• childintime 5mo ago
  So this is a notebook with good enough TPU capabilities to run Gemini partially (like in a MoE), a small model that knows when to delegate to the main model?
• torh 5mo ago
  Did... did the AI in the video just do the Duolingo learning?
• gehsty 5mo ago
  How do they justify developing and selling this? Like how do they justify the internal cost of moving people from core businesses to do this.
• deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
• romanovcode 5mo ago
  I seriously have no idea why would someone pick this one up instead of MacBook Neo for 600 USD.
• agentsmith2 5mo ago
  [dead]
• lionkor 5mo ago
  Wait, it's... just all AI? > Check responses. Internet connection required. 18+. Results may vary based on visual matches and are for illustrative purposes only. Sequences shortened. My next startup will be a company selling cars, with a little disclaimer at the bottom: "Car features not guaranteed to work. Drive infrequently and slowly."
  • tjpnz 5mo ago
    For entertainment purposes only.
    • asystole 5mo ago
      Not for human consumption
  • Rp8yXmdmr 5mo ago
    [dead]
• lionkor 5mo ago
  Phew, good to know LLMs still can't make a good product or market it properly. Yes, people will buy it--if that's your standard for "good product", you should apply to Google :)
• rickdeckard 5mo ago
  Disregarding whether I like it or not (I don't), it's a strategically interesting product. This appears to be an AI-device to mainly check the boxes for "low-complexity tasks", "high user-dependency" and "continuous flow of training data". Perfect to catch the high-profit consumers of AI: They will use AI-services for the most mundane tasks, which won't be taxing on AI-infrastructure but also very sticky, as it will be a core of the desktop-experience. So this is where we're heading with Desktop OS...
  • H8crilA 5mo ago
    You forgot the user must want to own it over other products.
• fnoef 5mo ago
  So Google will kill it in a year or two when the AI hype will be over, and the average consumer won’t care about AI showed into their face. But hey, at least they created more e-waste.
• whh 5mo ago
  Too many syllables.
• whh 5mo ago
  Apple’s operating systems have fantastic interoperability and familiar UX. There’s no ads bugging you at every step, and things seem to just work. (for most users) This keeps users locked in. Then there’s this thing. Who is this even for?! How does it fit into the ecosystem? It’s another rebrand instead of what was needed which was an ecosystem upgrade.
• ankurdhama 5mo ago
  So this is essentially Android desktop mode with Android 17 Gemini integration. Please get rid of that top panel. I just don't get why this and desktops like GNOME tries to copy macos top panel when clearly in macos it is menu bar that host app menus but that concept doesn't exists in these other desktops and yet they have a top panel. This is just bad UX. This will follow same model as Chromebooks i.e different devices from different OEM partners and for x86 and arm. So soon someone will be able to create a generic ISO for this that you can boot on a standard x86 PC/laptop. Samsung is also working on such devices but they will probably have Dex which is much better then the current Android desktop mode.
  • maybewhenthesun 5mo ago
    I like the top panel in gnome. You need a place for your clock and you status icons. I don't really care much if it's at the top or bottom or sides. As an aside: From a 'clickability' perspective the app menus in the top bar are nice of course and I theoretically agree that's the best place for an app menu. But in practice I really dislike macos' 'separated' app menus when a window is not maximized.
    • projektfu 5mo ago
      On MacOS it was a great example of the use of Fitts law, a vertically infinite target for your mouse pointer for commonly used tasks when you didn't memorize the keyboard command. But on a giant monitor it's too far away from your work. Macs, for the longest time, had 512x342, 640x480 or 512x384. It was already getting far away at 1152x882.
      • ankurdhama 5mo ago
        Many apps these days have tabs at top like chrome or firefox and having a top panel (with or without menu bar) means you loose the useful of the fitts law for accessing the tabs of such apps.
        • projektfu 5mo ago
• mapcars 5mo ago
  Why would they disable comments on the youtube video
• mevinbuilds 5mo ago
  [dead]
• kh_hk 5mo ago
  A laptop with footnotes. Thanks, I would like a computer
• varjag 5mo ago
  Big Rabbit AI energy. I can't just take generic hardware products hyped up as "AI" with software seriously. It's the new Windows button.
• noir_lord 5mo ago
  Not buying a laptop unless I can run Linux on it as the native OS. I simply don't trust Google, Don't want AI shoving into anything and the only way to be sure of that now is Linux because they can't shove it in.
• henry_kang 5mo ago
  [dead]
• rushabh 5mo ago
  GBook would have been so much nicer.
• ecommerceguy 5mo ago
  looks nice but, no thanks
• insumanth 5mo ago
  I know this is not for me. But if correctly executed, it could sell like piece of cake. It should be thin, light, massive battery life, fast and seamless. It seems Intel, Qualcomm and MediaTek will be supplying chips and curious to see how it will pan out. Do you think this will be a market disruptor similar to chrome books 15 years ago?
  • insumanth 5mo ago
    Also, not clear if there is any linux support yet. Could be a dealbreaker for power users who choose it.
• gbro3n 5mo ago
  Although there's a lot of consumer tools that won't stick, because they just don't actually help, AI is going to make big inroads for lots of different categories of task (just not all). It seems software engineering (or the act of coding specifically) is going to be heavily affected, because a lot of the labs focus is going into developing AI coding skills, and because it's easier to verify correctness than it is in many other problem domains. I've moved my focus to retooling - consolidating much of my workflow in a tool I'm working on https://www.agentkanban.io https://www.agentkanban.io - A remote kanban board with agent harness integration (Github CoPilot currently) and context management. It's a tool that I use everyday in my own agentic coding workflows, and I can honestly say that it improves the quality of the code produced and reduces friction in organising working on concurrent features.
• janandonly 5mo ago
  Since Apple's MacBook Neo seems to be a great success, Google had to come up with a responce.
• Redeemer06 5mo ago
  [dead]
• _stiofan 5mo ago
  Built for the vibes... It looks nice and i guess this is Google's answer to the Apple Neo, i expect it will be priced exactly the same $599 but will be bundled with 6 months free Gemini Pro.
• devdp430 5mo ago
  Basically copilot+pc by google. What a tragedy.
• pjmlp 5mo ago
  I could see myself getting a 16 GB model, assuming they are made available at reasonable prices. Meaning OEMs, not the usual overpriced Google offers. This can also be the final blow for Microsoft to finally get their act together regarding Windows quality, and the current mess in Windows native development after the UWP/WinRT adoption failure, mostly caused by schizophrenic management decisions on how to cater to devs.
• tokai 5mo ago
  Weird they don't give a single frick about name colition with their much older product.
• advael 5mo ago
  I'm pretty much at I need very strong justification to own something I haven't wiped and installed a clean and open operating system on. I'm certainly curious if this is easy to do with this device, but I suspect the intention is quite the opposite
  • hankerapp 5mo ago
    Its google. What do you expect?
    • advael 5mo ago
      I've already stated what I expect
• hankerapp 5mo ago
  Can I install any app on it, or do I need Google's permission as to which apps they would allow me to install?
• reisse 5mo ago
  I see the vision here, which the top commenters (sorry, couldn't read all of them) seems to miss. This should be a moonshot bet on the next generation of user experience. People are complaining about apps, but the idea here should be to make apps irrelevant as a concept. You don't need "apps", you need data feedable to LLM and a visualization toolkit for presenting results. And maybe some tools to manually wrangle the data when precise manipulation is required. On paper, this sounds amazing. Like "out of sci-fi books" amazing. The caveat, though? I very much doubt Google has the capacity to execute this properly. And we'll get another half-baked attempt at reskinning Chromium and/or Android.
  • yuppiepuppie 5mo ago
    > You don't need "apps", you need data feedable to LLM and a visualization toolkit for presenting results. Unless Im missing something, how do you capture this data? It needs to be some sort of UI friendly method, as I dont see my mom chatting with an LLM all day about her dog's location (via GPS) or my dad counting calories through ChatGPT.
    • rchaud 5mo ago
      It'll probably require access to your contacts, call history, messages, geolocation and browsing information at all times. Maybe even a Microsoft Recall-style data suck where it takes periodic screenshots of your activity and ingests it into its knowledgebase.
  • rkozik1989 5mo ago
    You forgot the part where average consumers kind of hate AI and won't buy this or use that feature because of its AI.
    • ulimn 5mo ago
      I'm not sure about that. The "normies" around me love AI. My mother and mother-in-law drive me crazy when I ask for advice and they copy the answer directly from ChatGPT. Not to mention the stupid images generated by AI.
• mmwako 5mo ago
  I will never understand how these huge companies are so bad at branding. Why not call it Geminibook? If you want the emphasis to be their AI solution... sigh.
  • cnyc 5mo ago
    Or, hear me out, GooBook.
• curious_riddler 5mo ago
  I don’t understand all the doomerism. It’s not like we have got much choice. Apple with the best laptop hardware has completely dropped the ball on AI. Microsoft has enshittified windows while leaving the consumer market. The only other player is trying something new. I’m excited about the future possibilities here!
• Yhippa 5mo ago
  I'm curious to know how this will work in practice. I have tried multiple times for Gemini to take a look at what's on my screen on my Android device and create a Google Calendar event from it. A few times it works, but fails in the vast majority of cases.
• nico 5mo ago
  The website auto-reloads a couple of times and then crashes, on mobile Safari (iOS 18.7)
• qwertytyyuu 5mo ago
  Custom autovibed widgets seem like they could be neat, but aren’t chromebooks already a thing?
• XCSme 5mo ago
  Wait, is stuff running on the laptop itself, or is it using your phone for the heavy-lifting?
• mark_l_watson 5mo ago
  Maybe this will be a market success? My non-tech brother loves all the AI features on his Pixel phone. Apple has a good story with Handoff to connect Apple devices. Google might have some success selling a Googlebook + Pixel phone combo. Cons: Google cancels products that some people love. Pluses: I think there is a real chance that Anthropic and OpenAI tank financially and Google might win consumer AI, with enterprise AI shared between Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.
• clearstack 5mo ago
  alphabet's search business threw off ~$200B last year. every AI moonshot is funded by people clicking on ads
• 0xWTF 5mo ago
  I love the mix of MacBook Pro and Asus-style renders. Nothing says care and attention to detail like mixing renders in the same advert.
• annagio_ 5mo ago
  This is first comment and I have to ask what do they mean by this? why it requires a phone with android 17 or above? 2 Setup required. Phone with Android 17 or above required. To be true, I don't like and I don't like the AI features. I guess google has done their R&D, and they want to reach a specific user target.
• Upvoter33 5mo ago
  I'm amazed by all the "people hate AI therefore this won't get anywhere". This is a first (perhaps real) attempt to envision what a desktop of the future looks like assuming AI progress continues. If I'm Apple, I'm very concerned about this, because it is the type of thing that will be tough for them to compete with if Google can pull it off. A traditional computer experience may be very different in a few years, and Google may suddenly be the company that can pull this all together...
• devrob 5mo ago
  missed opportunity to do book.google :(
• adjejmxbdjdn 5mo ago
  I don’t know if these will be good or not, but I do know they’re inevitable.
• ksajadi 5mo ago
  Overall, it's an interesting idea. Although it's Google and it's packed, it's going to be packed with Gemini and Google AI and whatnot. My problem is not the AI, nor is it that it's an undefined territory for what a laptop use case is. My problem is Google's attention span. Google is notoriously bad at paying attention to any product for more than 18 months. I'm not going to spend money on buying a piece of hardware where it's going to be totally irrelevant from a manufacturing point of view in 18 months and be left high and dry holding the bag.
• mlmonkey 5mo ago
  I personally think Google should just stay away from consumer-facing devices. I have a Pixel phone, and just the finish on it sucks! Lots of little annoyances. Each app has its own quirks, as you know the teams working on these apps do not talk to each other, and there is no central figure vetting the apps that they do put out.
• m3kw9 5mo ago
  this is stupid af
• emmanuelsemugga 5mo ago
  Well, so interesting, the future keeps on evolving day and night
• donkeylazy456 5mo ago
  personal computer without personal information.
• anonymous_098 5mo ago
  trillion-dollar engineering pioneer like Google devolve into what feels like an ad agency throwing hollow buzzwords and celebrity sponsorships at the public.
• anonymous_098 5mo ago
  Panic-Driven Engineering (The "Me-Too" Strategy): Google used to set the standard for the industry (MapReduce, Android’s foundations, Kubernetes, Transformers). Now, they are reactionary. Because Microsoft and OpenAI threatened their core search monopoly, Google is rushing half-baked, unoptimized software layers to the market just to appease Wall Street shareholders.
• pippoit 5mo ago
  I believe that the change from cfs scheduler to eevdf scheduler will give a great boost to desktop applications based on linux kernel and this will be a great help for google, steamos and so on .
• riedel 5mo ago
  If they sell one with a track point I might consider switching.