It’s not every day we see a brand-new kind of laptop launch, let alone one with a new OS from a brand that’s never thought of as a rival to MacBooks or premium Windows machines. But Google’s giving it a shot anyway with its Googlebook family.
This is both a new line of products and a fresh operating system, or, as Google would prefer you think of it, an “intelligence system,” in one. And the goals are noble ones — to offer a premium laptop that works with the devices of billions of Android users worldwide and delivers AI features in ways other PCs have yet to offer.
I got to spend a couple of hours trying out the five different Googlebook models that Google is starting out with. These all offer the same software features, which we’ll look at first, but later we’ll check out the different form factors you’ll be able to buy come the start of October. There’s a lot to go over, but rest assured that everything Google and its partners have to show off adds up to some exciting productivity-focused machines with plenty of smarts and a number of fun touches.