Googlebooks are simultaneously some of the most fascinating laptops in years—and a big red flag given their newness and prices. (After all, for an unproven platform, you’ll be spending $900 and up for your next mobile computer, with most models above $1,000.) Why the fascination and the caution? It all comes down to Google’s Android operating system, and how it works on a laptop.
Google’s new laptops—five so far, from the likes of Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo—may seem like a godsend for longtime Android fans stuck with relying on Windows’ limited integration for years. (Not to mention, looking on in envy at how slickly Apple’s phone and laptop gear interact.) However, as computers in their own right, Googlebooks feel particularly limited beyond basic use, even with the vast expansion of Gemini Intelligence, given how much these first models cost.
Sure, moving from a Chromebook to a Googlebook feels like an immense upgrade. But moving from a Chromebook to pretty much anything else already feels that way. While I’m primarily an Apple iPhone and Mac user, I can easily imagine switching from a Windows system to a Googlebook will feel like more than just a culture shock, making such a device seem like it’s meant solely for Android die-hards.
I got my hands on Acer’s Googlebook 14 and Dell’s XPS Googlebook this past week. These are my impressions of the new Googlebook OS operating system after my first days of testing.
Using Googlebook OS (or Should I Call You ‘Android 17’?)
Google’s fresh new operating system for its Googlebooks is Googlebook OS. However, device information from benchmark apps simply lists the OS as “Android 17,” which syncs up with the latest version of Google’s OS for phones and tablets. I already suspected that Googlebook OS was just a modified version of Android. This confirmed that.
That said, “modified” may be an understatement. Google carried out quite a lot of work to remix Android for a desktop environment, creating something that, from a visual perspective, closely resembles Apple’s macOS 27 Golden Gate and Microsoft’s Windows 11.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The Googlebook OS interface includes a standard app drawer with a system-wide search function, a “status bar” at the top displaying basic information (such as the time, notifications, and connectivity controls), and even customizable widgets you can create from scratch using Gemini prompts. However, I wish the widgets were, somehow, more malleable on the desktop—for now, they just hide behind any open windows and are mildly resizable.
(Credit: Google)
System setup screens on Googlebook OS look remarkably similar to what you’ll find when starting up a Windows laptop or a MacBook for the first time, right down to displaying the word “Hello” in several languages. Notably, you can sync your Googlebook with an Android phone or an iPhone. However, I imagine you’ll be similarly limited here with an iPhone as you are with an Android phone on a Mac—that’s just business.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
On the upside, Googlebook OS offers much richer file management than ChromeOS ever provided, and the system features several familiar touchpad gestures for navigation, such as three-finger swipes to show all open apps. I also appreciate how Googlebook OS has predefined slots for apps on the desktop that your mouse cursor snaps to when you drag icons, eliminating potential clutter and promoting a tidy look.
(Credit: Google)
Also, if you’re concerned about whether Googlebooks will support your existing printer, fret not: Googlebook OS has automated printer detection, and it worked effortlessly with the HP Envy Photo 7855 in my home office, a nearly decade-old printer. However, Googlebook OS doesn’t seem to handle native document scanning, relying on printer manufacturers’ own apps for that.
Here’s one thing I don’t appreciate about Googlebook OS: Its approach to managing blue light from the display via the Night Light feature is inconsistent between devices. On the Dell XPS Googlebook, even at the lowest intensity setting, the screen turns into a sepia-toned mess that’s enough to send me back to the standard setting. Meanwhile, the feature works far more sensibly on the Acer Googlebook 14. As someone who uses Night Shift full-time on my Mac and iPhone, I find this disappointing. Here’s hoping a fix is coming soon via an OS update.
Googlebooks + Android Phones = Redundancy
One of Googlebooks’ most exciting promises is deep integration with Android phones, similar to how iPhones interface with Macs. Google calls this “Cross-Device Services,” and it serves many of the same functions. However, before you even reach that point, you must manually pair your Android phone with your Googlebook. And it’s not the most intuitive process.
Before I could even attempt to use those features, I spent about an hour fiddling with settings menus (and many system resets) on both the Acer Googlebook 14 and a Google Pixel 10 Pro phone provided by Google for testing. Finally, rebooting both devices after setting everything up made the intended functions appear. That’s far from intuitive, so I hope future OS updates will improve the plug-and-play nature of this technology. Crucially, it relies on both devices being on the same Wi-Fi network and on both having Bluetooth enabled.
Once everything is in place, the cross-device functionality works seamlessly, but it can behave in unexpected ways. For instance, the marquee feature, Continue On, lets you pick up in Googlebook OS where you left off on your Android phone. During testing, I opened a Google Doc file on my phone, which immediately caused a small Docs icon to appear in the Googlebook’s app drawer on the far right.
(Credit: Google)
Here’s where it gets a little funky. Clicking that icon doesn’t open the Googlebook’s native Google Docs app; instead, it opens a browser window containing the document. In fact, every Google Doc operates this way in the OS. Now, personally, I don’t mind that, having used Google Docs like this for years. However, I would appreciate a dedicated app window more.
As for using Continue On for webpages, that’s even less intuitive. At first, the function didn’t work at all, requiring an update to the phone’s Chrome browser and a restart of both devices (for roughly the fourth or fifth time now) to get it to kick in. After that, it worked just as it did with Google Docs, casting the currently viewed browser tab to the laptop’s app drawer.
(Credit: Google)
You can also use your Android phone remotely (still connected over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi) from your Googlebook using Cast My Apps. Activated via the phone-like icon next to the Google button on the app drawer, you can browse all of the apps installed on your phone and interact with them through the Googlebook.
(Credit: Google)
This feature works, but not without applying some elbow grease. After I installed the game Block Blast on the phone, it immediately appeared within the phone’s apps window on the Googlebook. So far, so good. However, the game streams its contents from the phone, which led to noticeable latency and frame-rate issues. Moving blocks in the game using either the touchpad or a touch screen produces significant delay, as well as frame-rate and positioning issues.
You’ll encounter this same issue in many more apps that depend on consistently low latency to be usable, such as drawing apps and other games. This calls the whole functionality into question for me, and here’s why: Again, Googlebook OS is, for all intents and purposes, Android 17 running on a laptop.
If Googlebooks already run the latest version of Android, complete with the Google Play Store and the basic array of Android apps preinstalled (including Messages), what’s the point of casting most apps from your phone? In fact, most of the phone apps I tested this functionality with have versions available on Googlebook OS that are “optimized for desktop,” eliminating these latency issues entirely. This ultimately seems like one of those solutions looking for a problem. It’s mostly useful just for times when you don’t want to get out of a creative flow you started on your phone, such as composing an email, and want to use a keyboard to speed up the job. Or to view web content in greater detail on a bigger screen.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Now for a feature that might be genuinely useful: Quick Access. This tool lets you access your Android phone’s storage as if it were just another storage drive connected to your Googlebook. This integration works well in the OS, but file transfers are another story. Copying one photo from the phone to the Googlebook desktop took more than 30 seconds. That’s excessively long for something that should feel more seamless, like AirDrop does on Apple devices. Still, it’s a useful function, and the phone’s storage automatically mounted to the Googlebook when I kept it within Bluetooth range.
Finally, you can sync your phone and your Googlebook’s notifications to appear on both devices, so you never miss anything. They’re also labeled as either phone or laptop notifications to keep it all straight, and clearing a notification on one device wipes it from the other.
(Credit: Google)
All told, deep Android phone integration with a Google laptop has been a long time coming, but the Android foundation beneath Googlebook OS makes some of it moot. The reason this sort of functionality is a key selling point for Apple laptops and desktops is that Macs and iPhones run on distinctly different operating systems. iPhone mirroring gives Macs access to thousands of iPhone apps that otherwise would never run on Apple computers. If MacBooks started running on iOS tomorrow, then mirroring would be pointless there, too.
What’s Gemini Like on a Googlebook?
Gemini Intelligence is likely the main attraction for Googlebooks, bringing lots of contextual and situational power to your system, with Gemini preinstalled on every Googlebook. Starting with possibly the most interesting Gemini feature on deck, Magic Pointer brings the ability to ask Gemini about almost anything you’re viewing on your Googlebook, particularly text and images.
(Credit: Google)
Quickly wiggling your cursor freezes what’s on the screen (disabling scrolling on webpages, for instance). This allows you to mouse over an element until it’s highlighted, click it, and ask Gemini anything about it. I’ve used it to fact-check statements in articles, ask for more context than a given paragraph provides, and even identify rare bird species via photos. It’s useful in ways that standard Google searches just can’t match—it even identified an AI-generated image as such and pointed me to a genuine photo of the closest real bird it could find.
(Credit: Google)
Gemini also powers a Googlebook speech-to-text feature known as Rambler, which lets you type using your natural speaking voice. It’s easily activated by pressing the F10 key, and uses a microphone icon overlaid on a document. It’s extremely accurate at transcribing the essentials of what you are saying, even eliminating the “ums” and “ahhs” in the final text.
(Credit: Google)
However, I have three issues with the tool. First, it’s odd that you have to click a checkmark icon to let it know you’re finished recording, which then presents your text in full from the moment you pressed the key. I would have expected the text to appear in real time as I’m speaking, but that’s not the case. Next, the tool isn’t 100% accurate with letter-casing, sometimes treating words that should be proper nouns as regular ones. Finally, using Rambler requires you to allow Gemini to store your voice recordings; denying this permission defaults to basic speech-to-text tools that aren’t Gemini-boosted. (Having recordings of my voice sitting on a Google server that will probably outlive me doesn’t sit well, but I did it for science.)
I’ve previously mentioned customized desktop widgets using Gemini, and in use, the feature is genuinely impressive and convenient. Using this feature, I asked Gemini to create a custom widget that shows all current MLB postseason standings and upcoming games. (I wrote this in the midst of the playoffs.) In roughly 60 seconds, the AI delivered almost exactly what I was looking for—except that it forgot to include the National League bracket. A simple follow-up prompt fixed that. Of course, you can apply this tech to much more productive use cases, but the point is that it works well.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Googlebook OS has plenty more Gemini-powered features than these, including a Look Up tool that summons the AI to contextualize text with overviews, definitions, and more. Files AI, which uses Gemini to add descriptions to local files, lets you search files by their contents, not just their names. These are more conveniences than anything, though, and they require letting Google into your digital life more deeply than ever before.
So, Who Are Googlebooks For?
While Googlebooks run on an operating system explicitly named “Googlebook OS,” it’s easier to look at them simply as Android laptops with Gemini functionality tailored specifically for a desktop or laptop environment. With that in mind, Googlebooks are for die-hard Android and Google fans, arguably almost exclusively.
If you’ve been craving the kind of direct-device and account-level integration from your current PC laptop or Chromebook with your Android phone, then this is Google’s long-awaited answer. However, you must temper your expectations of what an Android-based laptop can do. Yes, it can pair with your Android phone and serve up Gemini functions just like your handset can, but it still runs Android apps exclusively.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
That already limits the audience for this type of laptop. For instance, if you’re a photo editor either by trade or hobby, you’ll run up against friction almost immediately using the Android version of Photoshop. It’s simply a pared-down experience compared with how Photoshop works on macOS or Windows. In short: You have to go into a Googlebook purchase knowing the product’s limitations.
If you’re willing to put up with that reduced functionality, in some cases, for the deeper Android and Google account integration, then you might enjoy a Googlebook. However, almost anything beyond the basic use you’re accustomed to on an Android device introduces friction. Meanwhile, established platforms like macOS and Windows keep on trucking, and invite unfortunate comparisons if you need more than Android apps can deliver.
This is to the point that I question the viability of Googlebooks, at least as they are priced today. Cheaper models, I can see, could amp up the appeal. And indeed, that may well be the plan. For now Googlebooks don’t overlap much with Chromebooks, but if and when they start to work their way downmarket, the calculus could change fast.
We’ll see how the platform develops into 2027 and beyond, but for now, only Android superfans need apply.
