Google’s new laptops cost about the same as a Windows PC or MacBook Air, but early reviews say they do less, and memory shortages keep pushing prices up.
Google’s new Googlebook laptops are on sale, but reviewers say this is a bad time to buy one. Most models cost between $999 and $1,299 in the US, roughly the same as a Windows laptop or close to a MacBook Air, while the new Android-based software still does less.
The bigger issue is timing. A memory shortage is pushing laptop prices up, so spending about $1,000 on an unproven platform is risky. If your needs change, a Googlebook may not keep up.
Google says detachable tablet-style Googlebooks are next, starting with Lenovo’s Duet m, which has already appeared in FCC filings. For now, most buyers are better off waiting.
Dell sells the exact same XPS hardware with Windows 11 for $999. Put Google’s new software on it instead and you pay the same, but get a laptop that, reviewers say, can do far fewer things. That is the problem with Googlebook timing in a nutshell: Google is asking people to try a brand-new laptop platform at the moment computers have rarely felt more expensive.
If you are shopping for a laptop this fall, this matters. Googlebooks cost roughly $1,000 for most models, the same money that buys a mature Windows laptop or comes close to a MacBook Air. Memory shortages, driven partly by the AI boom, keep pushing laptop prices higher. Buying the wrong machine now could be an expensive mistake that lasts for years.
Most Googlebooks cost between $999 and $1,299, with one cheaper exception. Pre-orders opened in September at a starting price of $899, and the first laptops reached US stores on October 4. Canada, the UK, Ireland, France, Germany and Australia followed on October 5, but Google did not publish prices for those countries.
Prices moved around before launch. Google first listed the Dell XPS Googlebook at $1,200 and the Lenovo Googlebook 15 at $1,300, then retailers undercut those figures. Here is where the five models settled at launch:
Google’s explanation for the shifting numbers was simple. The company says laptop makers and retailers set prices, not Google.
Every Googlebook does come with a generous bundle: 12 months of Google AI Pro with 5TB of storage, three months each of YouTube Premium and Adobe Photoshop, and a year of GeForce NOW cloud gaming.
The timing is bad because laptop prices are already climbing and are not expected to fall soon. Tech reporters have nicknamed the current memory shortage “RAMageddon,” and it has made computers far more expensive. When every dollar is stretched, paying around $1,000 to test a brand-new operating system is a hard sell.
One long-time Google reviewer laid out the risk clearly. Say a Googlebook fits your needs today. Six months later, you pick up a new hobby or change jobs, and suddenly you need software it cannot run. The limits you live with now, the reviewer argued, are unlikely to be fixed within six months. With a Windows laptop or a Mac, that risk is much smaller.
That same reviewer said they could not recommend spending $1,200 on the HP Googlebook 14 when a Windows laptop or MacBook costs the same or less.
Googlebook OS is built on Android, with desktop parts borrowed from ChromeOS. It runs the full Chrome browser with extensions, plus Android apps adapted for big screens and a mouse. Photoshop, Lightroom and CapCut run natively, and Netflix and HBO Max allow offline downloads.
In practice, reviewers found plenty missing. In a review of the Dell XPS Googlebook, Slack only worked as the phone version of the app, showing one channel at a time. Evernote did not appear in the Googlebook Play Store at all, and there was no Audacity for audio editing. The reviewer ended up relying on web apps for daily work and called the experience a step back from Chromebooks.
Battery life was mixed too. The Dell lasted 15 hours and 15 minutes in a battery benchmark, but in normal use one idle app drained half the battery in an hour. Other reviews have pointed to weaker multitasking and window management than ChromeOS offered.
For most people, the safest choice is to wait. A Googlebook makes the most sense if you live in Google’s apps, use an Android phone, and mostly work in the Chrome browser. If that is you, the phone syncing and built-in Gemini AI features may be appealing.
Everyone else should compare the exact apps they use before buying. A few practical points:
Being an early adopter of any new platform carries risk. One reviewer put it bluntly, asking why anyone would pay to be a beta tester.
Google is already planning more hardware. At its Android Dev Summit in late October, the company confirmed that detachable Googlebooks, essentially tablets with keyboards, are the next form factor after laptops and convertibles.
The first is expected from Lenovo. Its Googlebook Duet m has already shown up in FCC filings, a step that usually comes shortly before a product goes on sale. Reported specs include a 13-inch OLED touchscreen with pen support, a MediaTek processor, 16GB of RAM, a kickstand, and Google’s Glowbar light strip next to the camera. Lenovo has not announced a price or release date.
A cheaper detachable could change the value question. Until then, the platform’s fate rests on how fast app developers show up.
US prices run from $899 for the Acer Googlebook 14 (a limited-time price) to $1,299 for the Asus Googlebook 14. The Dell, Lenovo and HP models sit between $999 and $1,199.
Most reviewers say wait. The platform still lacks key desktop apps, and the same money buys a Windows laptop that runs far more software.
Not quite. Googlebook OS is based on Android with ChromeOS parts, and it runs Android apps natively alongside Chrome. Some existing Chromebooks are expected to get an upgrade to it.
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