Google unveils Googlebook, a new line of AI-powered laptops

Google Tuesday he opened Googlebookits new line of laptops built around Gemini, Google’s popular family of AI models. The tech giant is working with partners like Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo to create the first Googlebooks in a variety of colors and sizes.

The company says the Googlebook, which is due to launch this fall, is the first laptop designed from the ground up around Gemini to provide personalized and personalized support.

Google Books will ship with “Magic Pointer,” a new AI-powered pointer with Gemini built-in. Instead of just pointing and clicking, moving the cursor will quickly reveal, based on what’s on your screen. For example, if you specify a date in an email, you can quickly set up a meeting. Or, if you choose two pictures, such as your living room and the new sofa, you can view them together.

“We thought, we can take Gemini Intelligence and make the pointer smarter and smarter,” said Alexander Kuscher, Google’s head of Android tablets and laptops, at a press conference. “As you shake and move the screen, it will tell you what it can do with it, and give you what to do… It exemplifies how we think about AI in Googlebooks. It’s built, but not in front of you.”

The new laptops will also be compatible with Android phones, allowing people to use apps from their phone directly from their Googlebook. For example, if you are using your laptop and remember you need to complete your Duolingo daily lesson but do not want to reach your phone, you can access the app directly on your laptop instead.

In addition, users will be able to access files from their phone directly through Googlebook’s file browser, allowing them to view, search, or upload directly to their laptop.

Users will also be able to use Google’s new “Create Your Own Widget” feature on Googlebook to create custom widgets by promoting Gemini. Gemini can also pull data from the web and integrate with Google apps like Gmail and Calendar to create a single, customizable dashboard. For example, if you’re planning a family reunion in Berlin, it can collect information about your travel and hotel reservations, restaurant reservations, and add inventory.

The big issue here may be what Googlebook replaces. The unveiling of the Googlebook comes 15 years after Google introduced the Chromebook — an affordable, browser-based laptop that became a staple in schools and workplaces around the world. The new Googlebooks will beat the Chromebook, even if the company doesn’t say so. A Google spokesperson told TechCrunch in an email that the company plans to continue to support Chromebook users, with devices receiving updates through the promised update. The company added that many Chromebooks will also be eligible to upgrade to the new feature but did not elaborate on what that might look like.

Google isn’t just refreshing its laptops — it’s starting a long-term transition away from ChromeOS, the platform on which its laptops were built, and toward a new Android operating system. AI built on the foundation. And with the biggest names in PC hardware already signed up, this is as much a platform game as one hardware – it’s a direct response to Microsoft, which has been pushing itself. AI-native Copilot+ PCs starting in 2024.