Googlebook • Hacker News Board

Re: Googlebook

#21

Post by troymc » Tue, May 12, 2026, 6:10 PM UTC

jerojero wrote: post #14

I think if I wanted a cheap laptop I'd probably get the macbook neo, and if i wanted a non-gaming expensive one i'd get a macbook pro. I really don't see the market fit for this, I guess the android integration. But my god, I'd die of cringe if someone asked me about my laptop and I had to say "googlebook". Believe it or not, these things matter a lot, particularly if you're trying to target a young audience.

I think it's a successor to the Chromebook. In the vast majority of modern K-12 public schools, the school district owns the hardware, not the students.

Re: Googlebook

#22

Post by 650REDHAIR » Tue, May 12, 2026, 6:10 PM UTC

Awful branding aside this will be dead within 3 years.

MacBook neo @ $499 and the ability to finance it leaves almost zero room in the US market for an Android laptop.

*edit

It looks like will be a ChromeOS successor and their demographic will be schools?

Re: Googlebook

#23

Post by geori » Tue, May 12, 2026, 6:11 PM UTC

They are so bad at product

Re: Googlebook

#24

Post by losvedir » Tue, May 12, 2026, 6:11 PM UTC

recitedropper wrote: post #4

Can't imagine this'll help the RAM shortage.

Why? Are you thinking this will be a 128GB behemoth running models locally? That'd be pretty cool but it almost certainly isn't. I bet it's a very lightweight device that just calls a remote Gemini model.

Re: Googlebook

#25

Post by csoups14 » Tue, May 12, 2026, 6:11 PM UTC

slopinthebag wrote: post #19

pcurve wrote: post #18

It could just be me, but the usecases they're trying to solve for always seem... out of touch from reality. Either they live in their own bubbles where their lives revolve around constant shopping, traveling, throwing parties, and doing creative work... Or they're not bothering to do basic observational research around how normal people live.

You mean the average person's problems aren't solved by a custom widget to track their flight to Iceland? The irony is that most of these things would be better solved by a bot you can text. Create a thread for a trip or whatever, have it text you when flights are delayed or cancelled, reminders, let you ask it question, etc. So just...a chatbot.

"Gemini, design a widget to tell me if I can afford to stop for coffee before work"

Re: Googlebook

#26

Post by returnInfinity » Tue, May 12, 2026, 6:11 PM UTC

Can this project run for 30 years at loss? Google investors don't like that.

One day an exec will say lets reduce wasteful projects and cut this.

Re: Googlebook

#27

Post by achow » Tue, May 12, 2026, 6:12 PM UTC

Google seems to have made an official post on Reddit describing the feature set in detail:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1tb8xls/introducin...

[Edit]

And, the feature set references the 'AI mouse pointer' from this Deepmind blog..

https://deepmind.google/blog/ai-pointer/

Re: Googlebook

#28

Post by varun_chopra » Tue, May 12, 2026, 6:12 PM UTC

What does Google gain from this? They already struggle in hardware, or am I missing something - has something changed?

Re: Googlebook

#29

Post by kotaKat » Tue, May 12, 2026, 6:12 PM UTC

So... they built a right-click-slop-generator and that's the default experience you get as the context menu?

Gross. I thought the Windows 11 miscreation was bad enough.

also, second question in re sideloading:

do the Googlebooks get the 24 hour fuckoff window for enabling sideloading or can I just walk granny through loading an .apk direct on the laptop

Re: Googlebook

#30

Post by mturk » Tue, May 12, 2026, 6:13 PM UTC

I bought a Pixelbook during the middle of their product lifetime, and it was one of the best laptops I ever had. I genuinely don't know how broadly that sentiment was shared, but the cancellation of the product line suggests "not that broadly." Google has changed since that time and I am a bit skeptical this will meet that specific niche for me.