Beaming so brightly, I was tempted to measure his nits, President of Android Ecosystem at Google, Sameer Samat, grasped my hand tightly and asked, "So what do you think?"
Samat was referring to the five brand-spanking new Googlebooks arrayed around the room, all running Googlebook OS, the first hybrid lovechild of ChromeOS and Android.
A year ago in an interview with me ostensibly about Android 16, the over-sharing Samat let slip, "we’re going to be combining ChromeOS and Android into a single platform," and set the tech world on fire.
He said it so casually back in July 2025 that I scarcely grasped the significance. After all, there's been chatter about the idea for ages, but no one had confirmed it, and if it were true, it would mean Google was looking at the idea of an Android ecosystem in a whole new way.
Now, however, we have the fruits of that comment and all the labor in Googlebook OS and Googlebooks laptops from partners Asus, Acer, Lenovo, Dell, and HP, which go on pre-order today and start shipping October 5.
Samat told me that he wanted five partner brands and not just two because he wanted to show the breadth of options and noted that they have some points of differentiation, like some have facial recognition, and other Googlebooks include a fingerprint reader. To this point, we have ultra-lights, like the 2.2lb Asus, and workhorses, like a 15-inch Lenovo, and pen-supporting convertibles from Acer. While there's a range of CPUs, from the Intel Core Ultra line to the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite, and even MediaTek, they do all share some core Googlebook features.
There's the Glowbar, a thin, multi-colored bar on the top cover of all the laptops that lights up to let you know, among other things, that Gemini is at work, or to show battery status. There are even some Easter Eggs to discover. I wondered out loud if the battery status would work when the laptops weren't plugged in. Unfortunately, it's to show charge status.
Each laptop has a massive, haptic touchpad, and there's a G key for quick access to Google features, and a special Caps Lock key with instant access to text-based add-ons like emojis. They all offer the magic cursor, which you can jiggle to open screen-aware Gemini access, basically telling Gemini to do [this] with [that] on-screen element. They all also start with 16GB. Samat told me he was excited that they all start with the "right amount of RAM." 16GB means these natively Gemini-supporting portables are ready for a lot of local AI (the CPUs can reportedly handle up to 45 TOPs).
While a hybrid platform, there's no indication that this is a mobile OS in desktop clothing. Yes, there are things like customizable widgets (and ones you can create via prompts) that I, after a two-finger click on the trackpad, could endlessly resize and move, and access to all your Android Apps. But there are also desktop-level apps and services (online and offline access to Canva, Netflix, and Adobe apps), a dock, and a full file system.
One cool demo showed how you could search across files on your Googlebook and Android phone and even dig into inscrutable file names because the system can see inside files.
The Android infusion combines the Android in your hand and the Googlebook laptop on your desk. There's a single sign-on that recognizes you as one user on the phone and laptop. An email started on your Android phone can be continued seamlessly on the laptop (it does not yet let you go in the other direction). There's a small icon that appears in the dock, showing a tiny phone. You click that, and it opens the email draft on the laptop Gmail app.
The intention here is quite clear: a true Android ecosystem where, Samat told me, it all just works. "That's the dream," he said. The benchmark for such an ecosystem will always be Apple and how its laptops, desktops, phones, and wearables all work together. I asked Samat if I could expect similar levels of interoperability, zeroing in on how when I get an authentication code on my iPhone, it automatically appears on my MacBook Air. He said the unified messaging system will allow this, and added that they would've demoed it on stage that day, but wanted to keep the presentation relatively lean.
Before the event, I wondered if Googlebooks were intended to compete with Apple's new and quite popular $699 / £699 / AU$1,049 MacBook Neo. However, these systems start at $899 / £999 (around AU$1,899) , and a few were $1,199 (around £1,200 / AU$1,680) and $1,299 (around £1,300 / AU$1,800).
That was intentional. Samat, who said Neos are great but that people often find their performance limits, told me they wanted to start with premium offerings. Instead of compromises, Googlebooks offer eye-catching designs and real performance.
Googlebooks run desktop-grade apps online and offline, though App downloads appear to come exclusively through the Google Play Store, and in demos I saw, the systems have the power to do traditional coding and Agentic or Vibe Coding with Google Antigravity. It's worth mentioning, though, that to do the latter, you will need a Gemini account and tokens.
Samat, though, is excited about the power and possibilities, enthusing over the inclusion of a Linux Terminal, a fact that's not surprising since the stack includes a Linux Kernel (right below the Android Stack).
Glancing around the room, Samat asked me which Googlebook was my favorite. As I scanned the crowded demo space, I realized just how much each laptop looked like a standard Windows system, until, of course, you opened them up and saw that Googlebook OS desktop. After a moment, I told him the 2.2-lb. Asus Googlebook is quite attractive. Samat grinned and asked me if I'd checked out the aluminum-clad HP. I agreed that it looked like a premium laptop, too.
On stage, Samat said, "For so long I’ve wanted to do what we’re doing today," calling Googlebooks "a new category of laptops built for how people actually work today."
Later, Samat told me this is "just a start," and there's a lot more to come.
The Googlebooks I saw were notable for their smooth and polished operation. It may be the merging of two platforms, but each Googlebook's desktop and operations I tried felt remarkably unified, as if they'd been together all along.
Still, I had to wonder how this all fits in with Googlebook's cousin, the Chromebook, low-cost laptops that are more or less shell systems offering easy access to cloud-based apps. Schools love them. Samat claimed that 70% of all US education is using them and said it's the only system designed to be passed from one person to another (as each user signs in and out and so on).
Googlebooks and Chromebooks are not mutually exclusive. Samat said Chromebook is important, but it's for a different user and purpose. I said that Chromebook is a doorway, but the Googlebook appears to be about productivity. "Exactly," he told me, still smiling.
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