Googlebooks are here, and we’ve got Canadian pricing

Google finally took the wraps off its new line of ‘Googlebook’ laptops, which includes devices from several manufacturers, including Asus, Dell, HP, and more.

The Googlebooks are a fairly interesting new product line that attempts to blend some of the best parts of Google’s ChromeOS and Chromebooks with higher-end, premium hardware and a new operating system that Google described as native Android with ChromeOS desktop windowing. It also sports a custom Linux kernel.

That means you can access the Google Play Store and download and run Android apps from there natively on Googlebook. Google also touted support for web apps, just like you’d find on ChromeOS.

When asked about support for Linux apps, Google confirmed to MobileSyrup that Googlebooks can install a Debian Linux environment and it’s accessible via the built-in, full terminal environment. So, between that and support for Android and web apps, Googlebook owners should have access to plenty of excellent software.

Google also showed off several of the software features people can expect from Googlebooks. First, the operating system has a deep integration with Google’s Gemini AI, with things like ‘Magic Pointer,’ which lets users wiggle the cursor to summon Gemini with on-screen context awareness.

Android’s Rambler feature, which offers smarter speech-to-text that can strip out filler like ‘uhs’ and ‘ums,’ will also be available on Googlebooks for dictation.

Elsewhere, Google touted some new continuity capabilities that should make Googlebooks great partners to your Android phone. There’s ‘Continue On,’ which lets you swap tasks from one device to another, like Apple’s Handoff.

Googlebooks will also let you use apps installed on your phone from the Googlebook, though Google stressed it wasn’t quite phone mirroring. The feature, seemingly called App Cast based on the demo we saw, remotely casts the app from your phone to your Googlebook. There’s no installation happening, no data sharing, nothing like that. Moreover, Google said it doesn’t mirror your phone’s home page — instead, users can hop directly into the app they want to use. Plus, Google says you can use other apps on your phone while casting to your Googlebook.

Overall, it sounds like a pretty neat implementation compared to other phone mirroring tech out there, but I’m also not sure how useful mirroring is overall. (At least, I haven’t found much use for it myself.)

With the software out of the way, let’s talk hardware. I haven’t had a chance to try any yet (I will soon!), but my initial impressions are that the hardware looks great. There are Googlebooks coming from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo, and while specs vary, there are some unifying elements.

The Googlebooks will also sport 16GB RAM, 256GB SSDs and at least 14 hours of battery life. Further, they all have haptic touchpads and sport a ‘Glowbar,’ which can show battery life and respond to things you do, like turning on the Googlebook. Interestingly, Google is opening Glowbar access to developers, so we could see some interesting use cases emerge.

We’ll run through some quick specs and pricing details for each device below, in no particular order:

HP Googlebook 14

• Qualcomm Snapdragon X1 Elite with 16GB RAM, 256GB+ SSD
• 14-inch 2.8k OLED touch display, 500 nits brightness
• 14mm, 1.22kg aluminum build.
• Starts at $1,799

Dell XPS Googlebook

• Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite with 16GB RAM, 512GB+ SSD
• 13-inch 2.5k touch display, 500 nits
• 12.5mm, 1.13kg aluminum build
• Starts at $1,699

Lenovo Googlebook 15

• Intel Core Ultra 3 (Panther Lake) with 16GB | 256GB+
• 15.3-inch 2.8k OLED touch display
• 15.95mm 1.22 kg, magnesium alloy and carbon fibre
• Starts at $1,799

Acer Googlebook 14

• Intel Core Ultra 3 (Panther Lake), 16GB | 256GB+
• 14-inch 2.8k OLED touch display, 500 nits
• 13.9mm, 1.22 kg aluminum and magnesium chassis
• Starts at $1,299

Asus Googlebook 14

• Intel Core Ultra 3 (Panther Lake) 16GB | 256GB+
• 14-inch 3K OLED touch display, 500 nits
• 14.0mm, 1.0 kg aluminum and magnesium chassis
• Starts at $1,799

Googlebooks will be available for pre-order starting Sept. 21 in Canada at retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, Staples, Costco, and more. Plus, stay tuned for MobileSyrup’s Googlebook review(s).