Google Opens Preorders for $899 Gemini-Powered Googlebook

Google has officially opened preorders for the Googlebook, an $899 laptop designed to showcase the company's Gemini artificial intelligence. First teased in May, the new hardware represents a shift away from traditional ChromeOS. Instead, the Googlebook runs on Android OS paired with a desktop version of the Chrome browser, aiming to transition users—including the massive K-12 education market currently using 50 million Chromebooks—into Google's AI ecosystem. The laptop will officially hit shelves on October 4 in the United States, followed by an October 5 release in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, and Australia.

The device introduces several hardware-integrated AI capabilities, most notably the Magic Cursor. This feature allows users to hover over emails to detect security threats, highlight web text for Gemini to analyze, or select multiple images for the AI to synthesize. Additionally, a dictation tool called Rambler automatically cleans up spoken thoughts into structured text. To sweeten the deal, Google is bundling 12 months of its Google AI Pro subscription, which provides 5TB of cloud storage and access to Gemini Advanced, alongside three months of YouTube Premium and Adobe Photoshop.

Hardware partners including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo are manufacturing the flagship Googlebook models using premium materials like aluminum, carbon fiber, and magnesium alloy. Under the hood, the laptops feature processors from Intel and Qualcomm equipped with dedicated neural processing units (NPUs) to handle AI workloads locally. The specifications also boast up to 2.8K OLED displays, haptic glass trackpads, backlit keyboards, and a battery life of up to 14 hours. Google has committed to supporting the new devices with regular software updates for up to 10 years.