I wonder when this will go to the Google Graveyard
this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2026
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Given their history, data says about 2 years.
As with all Google products, wait five years before trying them to see if they’re serious
The biggest selling point for Chromebooks was that they are A) Cheap and B) Simple/Fast. Education and Enterprise used them because they were easy to manage.
The cheapest Googlebook is $899 and it's biggest selling features are a bunch of AI junk nobody asked for. They also cannot be managed yet in the Google Admin Console.
I expect this to flop something terrible.
Because Chromebooks are cheap, nobody spends money on them, so they're perenially underpowered.
If you grew up with a Chromebook, your first "real" laptop--if you ever get one--would probably not be a more expensive Chromebook, you'd want a "real" computer: Windows or Mac.
Makes sense to make a clear delineation for the market with different branding, hardware and OS.
If we could get an OS that is as comfortable on a phone as it is on a tablet as it on a laptop, that would be pretty cool. I'm working a phone, tablet and desktop right now, and each has a different OS.
That said, leading with AI is a horrible fucking idea, you're right. Sounds like something that sounded like a good idea a year ago, but the market has spoken out pretty clearly against AI-integration into Windows... but if it's workable, I'd still count an Android laptop with solid h/w as a win.
Because Chromebooks are cheap, nobody spends money on them, so they’re perenially underpowered.
You've got that backwards. Chromebooks are supposed to be cheap, which means they're low power, which means they need a lightweight OS. That's what ChromeOS is for.
Makes sense to make a clear delineation for the market with different branding, hardware and OS.
This isn't branching into a different market. It's a replacement for ChromeOS.. Which means the ChromeOS market segment is just being abandoned entirely.
ChromeOS was trying to bust out of that cheap & low power niche. I talked to an official Google Chrome salesman that was trying to talk me into getting a $500+ chromebook for gaming, which he was actually played on his lunch break... I think the secret sauce was running Android apps.
But, yes, Chromebook did fill up the cheap computing needs of students and children, and did that job admirably. I somehow didn't process that Chromebook was being discontinued because that seems kinda crazy to me. I thought they were quite successful, and that niche isn't going to be served with $1k+ laptops, but maybe the institutional buy-into the Google ecosystem will push schools into buying these things the same way businesses are pushed into Windows and Teams.
Or we'll just go back to books at this point; tech in education seems to be a universally recognized disaster.
I mean ChromeOS is just such an incapable OS in and of itself that anyone who needs to do any serious work wouldn't be able to use it anyway, and thus wouldn't spend a bunch of money on one. $500 is still very entry level, and a laptop at that? For gaming? Yeah good luck with that.
PCMagazine, in a desperate attempt to sucker people into giving them Amazon revenue, has an article you might find legitmately hilarious:
Chromebooks and Chromecast both seemed to be really successful and focused things. Very Google, and different from Apple and Microsoft’s style of doing things.
Yet here we are, with both of them phased out or being phased out. I don’t get it.
Google has this really deep-rooted problem where they keep accidentally, through no fault or intention of their own, making things people actually like. It's very upsetting and from all other indications they are doing everything they can to prevent it from ever happening again, and yet it keeps happening. Nobody can explain why. All they can do is immediately cancel the problematic products and services the moment they realize people actually like them.
All the wannabe “artists” and “musicians” will be begging their parents for one of these, I guarantee it.
My only ~~question is~~ questions are: if they're selling the hardware at a discount
and
what other OSs I'll be able to run on it because fuck Google.
Sounds like 2 questions
I like the cut of your jib. Corrected.
The answer to the first question is: it seems like they are, nothing crazy but definitely cheaper than the other elite x ones
The answer to the second is.....probably not right at launch? But we'll see?
what other OSs I’ll be able to run on it because fuck Google.
Who cares? If you don't want GoogleBookOS just buy something else.
That's what my first question is for. Often, manufacturers, especially launcing a new product category, will subsidize the price....
I also don't want Windows, so I am necessarily just buying hardware at this point.
Just read this which says they are bootloader unlockable
https://www.androidauthority.com/googlebook-bootloader-unlock-magisk-root-3718930/
Huzzah! Now I just need a thousand bucks!
I heard that about Android too, back then.
Sometimes the hardware's good, but the softwares shit. Google's essentially Hammer Industries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpWqTjLn7Fg
So it's good to have alternatives in most cases.
The hardware is nothing special. But the only desktop OS that currently works on ARM is MacOS, and good luck getting that to work. Windows on ARM, from my understanding, is trash. Linux doesn't seem to work on X Elite chips. So you're probably stuck with Android.
A laptop, now with more centralized control! Want to write an app for your laptop? Everything has to be signed and you need to identify yourself and pay a fee.
Chromebooks were big in education where admins had to manage a fleet of devices for students. In that context a cheap, locked down device makes sense, because you know how students behave.
If you buy something like that for yourself, you are doing something wrong.
Designed for Gemini intelligence
They think that's a selling point?
Study Finds Consumers Are Actively Turned Off by Products That Use AI
AI Not Exactly a Selling Point for Consumers
Consumers are sick and tired of hearing about AI all the time
etc. etc. People know AI as an indicator for low-quality output with high resource consumtion and trust issues.
Just like the Pixel Book and Chromebook pixel before it this is going to flop and end up in the graveyard. High-end Chromebooks just aren't a thing anybody really wants. If you want to game on a device or do game streaming there are better options that aren't as locked down. Who is this for?
It's for some executive to point at while talking to a shareholder board. Then they get a bonus for when it fails.
I mean theoretically it could lead to a sort of LineageOS for laptops/desktops, which would be cool. Linux is cool and all but it drives me crazy a lot of times. And to date there doesn't seem to be much support for serious ARM processors like the ones mentioned in the article. Android is far easier and simpler to use and has a lot more targeted development.
Can I just ask why you'd choose this over a used laptop? The only thing I can really think of is that you'd want a specific hardware with very specific specs but also a dev could just choose a much more prolific piece of hardware and do the same.
When you add to that that Google has tried repeatedly to make an android like experience for tablets and laptops and failed (with their line of Chromebooks especially), I just don't know why you'd want that. App stores being what they are and us already relying on app devs to try to support different screen sizes and hardware tiers with different specs, it's been kind of a crapshoot so far. What makes this idea more viable?
Its just a different type of suck than other desktop OSs.
When you add to that that Google has tried repeatedly to make an android like experience for tablets and laptops and failed
I mean I haven't used it but it looks like they've done it this time.
How's this different from the Chromebook, that Google cut updates to no less.
Will these new googlebooks come with the same update cycles?
The difference is this is one higher, and they get to deprecate the old ones. Yes it'll all go to landfills, but they'll get some profit.
Petition to replace "spank bank" with "google book."