Survey shows you’re not buying the Googlebooks hype just yet

No doubt in 10 years’ time Googlebooks will be on every desk that doesn’t have a Mac, but right now there are plenty of unanswered questions. Announced at The Android Show I/O Edition this month, the basic pitch is simple enough: Android-powered laptops built around Gemini Intelligence and tighter phone-to-laptop integration. Sounds common-sense enough, right?

There are a few confirmed features to help fill in the outline. Magic Pointer is a Gemini-powered cursor that provides context when you wiggle it, while Cast My Apps should let Android 17 users access phone apps on a Googlebook without having to download them again. These features and others sound genuinely useful if they work cleanly, but we’re still missing the boring-but-important stuff. Google hasn’t given us ballpark specs, firm launch dates, or, most importantly, price ranges.

The first Googlebooks are expected this fall from Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. Samsung is the obvious missing name, and Google’s hardware hints so far are still fairly broad. The company has mentioned premium materials, different form factors, and a signature Glowbar on the lid. Google has since said that cheaper models are also planned, but the first wave is still being framed as “super premium,” which doesn’t exactly give the impression of affordability.

So, with Googlebooks looking intriguing but still a bit half-blurry, we polled our readers on whether you’re excited about Google’s new laptop category. Here’s how over 7,000 of you voted.

As the charts showed, there wasn’t one clear consensus in the poll results. Just over 31% of you are already sold on the concept and excited for Googlebooks, but slightly more people need to see more first at 33%. 20% of respondents were skeptical, while around 15% of you have already decided against the concept.

There’ll always be a section of Google stans, but the obvious read from the results is that most voters aren’t ready to buy into Googlebooks yet. If we combine the skeptics with those waiting for more info, more than half of the respondents are still waiting to be convinced. And who can blame them? The sales pitch from Google might be flashy enough, but without even ballpark figures for hardware specs or prices, it’s hard to call Googlebooks a success or a failure at this stage. Literally any laptop in the world can look like a bargain or an over-hyped waste of money, depending on the price tag you assign it.

Our poll was run across three Googlebooks articles, and some of you jumped into the comments section to expand on your answer or just chip in generally. A few readers were already worried about what Googlebooks could mean for Chromebooks. Reader thestreamingadvisor said, “They will stop making Chromebooks. Count on it,” and rdburke agreed, stating, “No more development will go into Chromebooks.”

Others were focused on the missing practical details. Commenter mushroomfleet summed up the issue, saying, “Won’t come cheap, positioned above Chromebook (obviously) but NO SPECS.” matthewmbg8 said they hoped Googlebooks would have “actual good specs like a Snapdragon X Elite Gen 2.” As we’ve seen, Google can talk up the ecosystem play all it likes, but these laptops still have to be good at being laptops.