Tested: The Googlebook tries to put Android on the desktop, but is it successful?

The Googlebook is Google’s attempt at turning Android into a desktop OS, and on this showing it’s almost there. The hardware is excellent, the whole thing is stable and can do some clever things, not all of them to do with AI, but the software offering is still not quite there. First-gen products are often like this, however, and when new apps are launched and software updates come in, the Googlebook could become a major player in the laptop arena alongside Apple and Microsoft’s efforts.

It’s easy to look at the new Googlebooks and see them as Chromebooks running on fancy new processors, and there's certainly some Chrome in their DNA. Then you look at the price and decide that, though they look nice, they’re not for you.

Google’s latest attempt at making laptops (though it’s not actually building them, and the example we have here is from Acer) extends to a new OS that’s part Chrome and part Android, even running Android apps, but they’re super high-end with OLEDs and the latest Intel chips.

What this means for creative users is that the mobile versions of things like Photoshop and Lightroom run in resizable windows with mouse support. While they’re not completely like the desktop apps, and video editing is a notable weakness, the Googlebook has become the best way to run them. Whether that makes one a worthwhile purchase is up to you – they will certainly be contenders for our best laptops for students guide.

Key specifications

Design, build and display

• Well built
• 2-in-1 design

The Googlebook looks like every other laptop, just as Chromebooks did. Acer’s model has the word ‘Googlebook’ below the keyboard, so you don’t go in expecting Windows, an Acer logo on the back of the lid, all very understated, with the Glowbar at the top right of the lid. This is one of the Googlebook’s new features, a close cousin of the Hilight LED on the back of the Google Pixel 11 Pro smartphones. It’s a visual way to get quick feedback about what your Googlebook is doing, a bar of rainbow LEDs that tells you about battery charge and pulses blue and purple when you’re talking to Gemini.

The Googlebook is very much built with Google’s chatbot in mind. There's no key on the keyboard to invoke it directly, like Windows’ Copilot key (though there is a Google key, it brings up the equivalent of the Start menu) so you use a key combo or, even better, say ‘OK Google’. There are other AI functions too, such as Magic Pointer, which opens the AI’s visual search capabilities when you wiggle the mouse pointer, allowing you to click on something to ask about it.

The dark blue finish of the Acer Googlebook is very professional-looking, and it has one more trick up its sleeve: this is a 2-in-1 design, the screen folding back to produce a pseudo-tablet that you can daub at with either your fingertip or a stylus. The OS adapts to the positioning automatically, and being Android-based it’s a touch-friendly environment from the start, with the OLED touchscreen and the way you only have to click on icons once to open them.

Design score: 4/5

Features and performance

• Decent battery life
• Limited software offering

Setting up a Googlebook is easy, and if you’re an Android phone user you’ll be able to log in with the same account, unlock it with the same PIN (there’s a fingerprint reader too) and even transfer over your apps. The OS acts a lot like ChromeOS, though Android apps are more prominent, and there's a new menu on the taskbar that allows you to access the apps on a paired Android smartphone, the app executing on the phone’s processor but streaming over a network connection and appearing in a window on the laptop screen, with mouse support, and this works fairly well though some apps with ads can look a little strange when they’re stretched out of their preferred aspect ratio, and others, such as Amazon Music, display a ‘rotate screen’ message. Some apps in the Play Store, such as CapCut Pad, are starting to have a ‘compatible with desktop’ flash on their listing page, indicating they’ll work well on the laptop.

With a third-gen Intel Core Ultra processor inside, and Snapdragon models available too, we should expect decent performance from the Googlebooks. Using the mobile version of Geekbench 7 gives a score we can compare across platforms, with the Google Tensor G5 of a Pixel 10 Pro phone scoring 2011 for single-core tasks and 5858 for multicore, the M5 in an iPad Pro scoring 3598 and 16614, and the Googlebook scoring 2498 and 11061.

In the Jetstream 2 Javascript and Web Assembly benchmark from Browserbench, which tests a machine’s ability with web apps, the Googlebook manages 404.246. This compares to the Pixel 10 Pro’s 231.237 and the iPad Pro’s 431.947. The Apple device is clearly ahead in raw processing grunt, but costs more even before you add a keyboard case to your order. It's also not all that far ahead when it comes to web apps, which are likely to be a common use case for the Googlebook.

Creative software on Android can be hit and miss, with the mobile versions of Photoshop and Lightroom usable but much simpler than their full Windows or MacOS cousins. Video editing apps tend to be aimed at social media use, particularly with portrait video in mind, and while there's an iPad version of Affinity coming later this year, that app doesn’t support Android.

Battery life, as we’ve come to expect from the third-gen Core Ultras, is excellent, with the laptop able to keep going for a day and a half - 12 hours - before it needs a recharge.

Feature score: 3/5

Price

If you’ve become used to the idea of Chromebooks being budget computers, then the price of the Googlebook - starting at £999 or $899 - might come as a shock. And they’ve launched into a very competitive market, with Windows 11 spreading out to cover Snapdragon chips as well as the upcoming Nvidia RTX Spark releases, and Apple striding ahead with its M5 and M6 lines, as well as the iPhone chip that powers the excellent MacBook Neo, which is cheaper than the Googlebook in its lowest-cost incarnation.

Value score: 2/5

Who is it for?

• Android workers

Without extreme cheapness to recommend it, you’ll have to like web apps or Android to buy a first-gen Googlebook. With the power of Google and the hardware manufacturers (HP, Lenovo and ASUS are also making them) behind it the platform is bound to take off, it just needs a better app selection.

Buy it if...

• You want a lightweight laptop that lasts all day
• You’re happy with Android apps
• You’re deep into the Google ecosystem

Don't buy it if...

• The apps you want aren’t on Android
• Adobe’s web apps don’t cut it
• You’re not a Google account user

Also consider

Ian Evenden has been a journalist for over 20 years, starting in the days of QuarkXpress 4 and Photoshop 5. He now mainly works in Creative Cloud and Google Docs, but can always find a use for a powerful laptop or two. When not sweating over page layout or photo editing, you can find him peering at the stars or growing vegetables.