Google rolls out $1,150-plus ‘Googlebook’ AI laptops with hardware partners

The point of the laptop push is to offer machines that work seamlessly with Android phones.

NEW YORK – Alphabet Inc.’s Google announced pricing and hardware specifications for the first so-called Googlebooks, marking a push into a high-end laptop market where built-in artificial intelligence features have become the norm.

With these premium machines, priced at US$899 (S$1,150) and up, the company is targeting Android users and coders as it works to make its Gemini AI an essential part of the laptop experience.

Instead of building the systems itself, Google is working with five manufacturers – Acer Inc., Asustek Computer Inc., Dell Technologies Inc., HP Inc. and Lenovo Group Ltd. – to produce the laptops, which run an Android-like operating system.

While they vary in price, design and specifications like processor and storage, they share some attributes: a similar keyboard layout and a “Glowbar” that can show battery levels and custom animations.

For Google – which makes most of its money from advertising and services – the point of the laptop push is to offer machines that work seamlessly with Android phones and include AI features “that are actually useful”, said Sameer Samat, the president in charge of Google’s Android ecosystem, at a media event in New York last week.

“The way we work today isn’t quite optimised for the laptop experience,” Samat said in an interview ahead of the announcement.

“We see people are starting work on phone and then moving to laptop and vice versa,” he said, pointing to a lack of cohesiveness between apps across platforms.

“We wanted to rebuild the laptop for today and for how people will use it in the future.”

At least initially, he said, it makes sense to target Android enthusiasts.

“We decided to start with our Android community, where we do see a gap,” Samat said. “If someone has an Android device, the question is: What is the right laptop for the way you work today?”

The Googlebooks, first announced earlier in 2026, have 13- to 15-inch touch-screens and promise up to 14 hours of battery life.

At launch, they will be powered by either Intel Corp. Core Ultra Series 3 processors or Qualcomm Inc. Snapdragon X chips, with MediaTek Inc. silicon available in the future.

They are designed to be thin and portable, with some models weighing just 2.2 pounds (1kg). The machines are available for pre-order on Sept 21, with shipments in the US starting Oct 4. They will go on sale the following day in Canada, the UK, Ireland, France, Germany and Australia.

Other consumer tech companies have explored a similar concept. Windows maker Microsoft Corp. and Qualcomm got a years-long head start in hyping a new type of computer known as “AI PCs” that incorporate the former’s Copilot assistant and similarly promise deeply embedded AI features. 

Apple Inc. earlier in 2026 debuted the lightweight MacBook Neo, which has sold well and, like many of the company’s new products, offers built-in access to a new and improved Siri AI assistant. Even with a recent price increase, the now-US$699 Neo still undercuts Googlebooks.

This is not the search giant’s first foray into the premium laptop segment. In 2017, it debuted the US$999 Pixelbook, sold under the Google brand, but discontinued the line in 2022. With the Googlebook launch, the company is giving high-end notebooks another shot.

“We view this as a different segment of the market,” Samat said when asked about Googlebook’s positioning against the MacBook Neo. 

People who own premium phones like Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy S26 or Google’s Pixel 11 Pro “want a laptop that’s equally as sleek, premium and capable as their phone”, he said, citing the systems’ build quality and Google’s standards relating to trackpad sizes, chips and minimum memory allotment.

Samat said he expects the launch will spur interest from additional laptop makers.

“As people get excited, there will be more manufacturers doing Googlebooks. There will be many different players who want to participate,” he said, adding there could also be future models with more powerful specifications.

The Googlebook operating system has some clear similarities to Android, with pre-installed or customisable desktop widgets, Android-like app lists and drop-down settings.

At the same time, it combines elements of ChromeOS, the software underpinning Chromebooks, a class of affordable laptops that have become commonplace in classrooms. The Googlebook software will receive regular feature updates for as long as 10 years, Google said.

Running phone apps on the laptop: Mac and iPhone users have long been able to easily switch between their handset and computer for various tasks. What separates Googlebooks from existing AI PCs is the syncing capability that lets users start doing something on Android and continue on a laptop, or vice versa. Users can also run individual apps and games on their Android phones on the laptop, as well as access phone files and photos on the laptop. Google said it wants to eventually build similar capabilities linking the Googlebook with iPhones, but that will take time. 

AI-powered file search: The laptops use a small Gemini Nano v3 AI model that summarises device files and photos so users can more quickly search for files using keywords and descriptions. The model lives “on-device”, meaning file summarisation and file search queries would not be processed over the Internet to ensure privacy.

Contextual awareness: Users can have the Gemini chatbot answer questions about whatever is on their screen with the help of a new feature called Magic Pointer. The feature, which is activated by wiggling the cursor, uses the on-device AI model to understand the different text and components on the screen, and provides suggested queries based on what the cursor is pointed at. Once the user sends off a prompt, a Gemini chat window opens up to provide a response over the Internet.

All of the new systems come with one complimentary year of the Google AI Pro subscription, which normally costs US$19.99 per month and includes expanded access to Gemini tools, 5 terabytes of cloud storage, and access to Google’s Spark AI assistant. The devices also include three months of YouTube Premium, Adobe Photoshop and CapCut, Google said.

With Googlebooks, the company wants to find a use for AI on notebooks that pushes beyond gimmicks.

“People feel today that the AI features can make people more productive, but nobody has gotten it right on the laptop,” Samat said.

“The features are not really there or are getting in the way and are just AI for AI’s sake. We have features we want there when you want them there, and not there when you don’t.” BLOOMBERG