Google’s answer to MacBooks sounds amazing

Google's giving Chromebooks a glow-up of sorts by creating a new category of laptops called Google Books

Chrome OS and Chromebooks have been around for about 15 years now, and that was a very different time in tech

And Google Books are a recognition of that, a rethinking of what an operating system is and where AI fits in

and how all of your devices should be working together at this point with a more cohesive look and feel

Details are still a little thin, but we got our first look at it ahead of Google I.O.

and I was able to chat with Alexander Kusher, Google's Senior Director of Laptops and Tablets

to get a bit more info on what to expect from Google Books when they arrive in the fall

So, let's get to it. The big question, I'm sure, for most people is, what even is a Google Book

A straightforward answer to that is that it's a premium laptop running on an operating system built on Android and Gemini intelligence, but with the desktop OS feel of Chrome OS

But trying to explain what that means to someone who's maybe not tech savvy is a little trickier

trickier. The basic idea is that using a Google book shouldn't be too different

from any other laptop, just with more Gemini AI based tools built in and

you have access to the full universe of Android apps Chromebooks already have a healthy dose of Gemini AI but it core to Google Books One of the features Google teased is a magic pointer that trigger contextual AI suggestions

with a shake of the cursor. But really, the best part is that with it built on Android

adding features developed for phones can now be quickly added to Google Books

something that wasn't possible with Chrome OS. Circle to Search is a good example of this

which took about a year from its release on Android phones to fully develop for Chromebook Plus laptops

But now a feature like Create Your Widget, which was just announced for phones and lets you create custom widgets

will also be on Google Books. We took something that you are used to, in this case your Android phone

and you're used to how they work, how they behave, how they interact with you

And we took that and we expanded upon it and really brought it into what it means to be a laptop in this day and age and optimized for that

So that you got something that feels intuitive, but feels like it belongs on the laptop and it feels new and capable in that way

And that's how we approached the design for Google Books. To be clear, there are no Google Book devices available just yet

They're not expected until the fall. Google confirmed its partners however Acer Asus Dell HP and Lenovo and Kusher confirmed it using ARM and x86 chips from Intel Qualcomm and MediaTek He also said the OS is meant to work with more than just laptops so you can expect Google Book devices in a variety of shapes and

sizes. The one thing they'll all have in common is that these are premium devices. Chromebooks have

always had an image problem that no matter what materials were used, what components were inside

how good the display quality, many people just see them as cheap, chunky, plastic laptops their

kids use for school, or that they're just a browser in a box. Google Books seem like a move to shake

that image. A more powerful operating system in a laptop built from higher end materials and more

capable components. You won't even see any Google branding on the lid as you get with Chromebooks

aside from a glow bar. When we work with our hardware partners on the design and on the build

of the hardware, we wanted to make sure that the hardware and the software feel like they're built

with the same ethos and the same principles. And one of those principles was to provide a premium

experience. Premium in multiple meanings. Premium in that the hardware should be feeling high quality

it should be of a build quality that you come to expect from higher end products

But also premium in terms of durability so that it lasts you and that it an investment that you make and that you know is going to be making you happy for quite a while So we wanted to apply that not only to the software but also to the hardware So when you hold it in your hand you know this is something substantial and something that going to ideally last with you quite a while

Now, what does this mean for Chromebooks? For the moment, they'll exist side by side with Google Books

New Chromebooks currently have 10 years of support, and that's not going away

Plus, you've got millions and millions of students using them daily. I would expect that Chrome OS development

may slow down some and maybe higher-end plus models get converted to the new OS, which by the

way is not called Aluminium. That was the internal project name and Kusher said Aluminium wasn't meant

to be the external brand. So what do you think about Google Books? As an Android phone user and

a Chromebook user, I'm pretty excited by the promise of having cohesive experience across my

laptop and phone, and maybe to my watch and Android Auto. But given Google's track record

of abandoning projects, I'm cautiously optimistic. Also, given the price increases from inflation

tariffs, and Ramageddon, it's not the best time to launch a premium laptop category

but that's out of Google's control. And what do you think about the name? Do you like it

Hate it? Got a better idea? Let me know in the comments, and as always, thanks for watching

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