Engadget
The new laptops from Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo cover a variety of sizes and form factors.
The first Googlebooks from Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo are up for pre-order today. As expected, all five Googlebooks are premium hardware rather than the entry- to mid-range hardware usually found on Chromebooks.
The Acer, ASUS and Lenovo Googlebooks all include Intel's Core Ultra 5 Series 3 chips, while Dell and HP are using Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chip.
Oh, and every Googlebook has a Glowbar: a light-up array on the back of the lid that provides a nice touch of whimsy. At the least, it's a fun identifier much like the original Glowbar was on the Chromebook Pixel all those years ago, and neatly aligns with the hardware design on Google's Pixel 11 Pro and its HiLight notification array.
The hinge feels smooth, and the overall feel of this Googlebook is solid and well-crafted, if not exciting.
In keeping with the more premium Googlebook vibe, this new laptop is a half-pound lighter than that older Chromebook, and it has a much larger, nicer trackpad and a 2,880 x 1,800 OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. Adding in 16GB of RAM and the aforementioned Intel Core Ultra 5 plus 512GB of storage helps to justify the $899 price.
The ASUS Googlebook offering isn't markedly different from the Acer model, though a few things stood out to me.
HP's Googlebook 14 also uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor, but in a more standard 14-inch laptop form factor, without the thin-and-light design Dell is going with.