Google's $899 Googlebook laptops are 'woefully underbaked,' review finds

The Googlebook, Google's new premium laptop that fuses ChromeOS with Android, starts at $899 in the US (or £999 in the UK), and the first major review calls it 'woefully underbaked.' The Guardian tested two of the new machines and found great hardware let down by software flaws on these pricey devices. That verdict stings because the entire premise of the Googlebook is that it combines the best of ChromeOS and Android into a new kind of laptop, one built to take on Windows and macOS at the top of the market.

The ambition is unmistakable. Google is trying to create a new type of laptop to compete with Apple's MacBook Air and Microsoft's Surface Laptop, and it is pricing the machines accordingly: a far cry from the £160 Chromebooks that made ChromeOS the budget king. The Googlebook is not built by Google itself but by a roster of traditional PC makers, including Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. The pitch is advanced links to Android phones and the best of Google built in. The problem, according to the review, is that the software experience does not yet match the hardware.

For years, Chromebooks have owned the low end of the laptop market, winning schools, families, and budget-conscious buyers with machines that are cheap, simple, and secure. The Googlebook is a deliberate move upmarket, and the starting price puts it in direct competition with the MacBook Air and the Surface Laptop. At that price, buyers expect a polished, finished experience out of the box. A 'woefully underbaked' software layer is exactly the kind of criticism that can sink a premium debut before it gains any traction.

The technical challenge here is genuinely hard. Combining ChromeOS and Android into a single laptop experience means reconciling two operating systems with different app ecosystems, update cadences, and design languages. Done well, the payoff is huge: a laptop that runs Android apps natively and connects seamlessly to an Android phone. Done poorly, you get exactly what the review describes: great hardware undermined by software that feels unfinished. For a product whose entire reason to exist is the integration of these two platforms, software flaws are not a side issue; they are the core product failing.

For buyers, the takeaway is straightforward. The hardware, per the review, is great. But in the premium laptop market, nobody pays $899 for a chassis; they pay for the whole experience: the operating system, the apps, the updates, the ecosystem. A great shell with underbaked software is a prototype, not a product. Google has the engineering muscle to fix these flaws through updates, and it likely will. But first impressions matter enormously at launch, especially when the competition is Apple, which controls its entire hardware-software stack, and Microsoft, which has spent a decade refining Windows on premium devices.

There is also a strategic angle worth watching. Google's push into premium laptops is not really about selling hardware; it is about extending the reach of its ecosystem. Android phone integration, Google services built in, and a unified app experience all point to a play for deeper user lock-in, the same strategy Apple has used to make its devices sticky. If the Googlebook succeeds, it strengthens Google's position against Apple's tight integration. If it stumbles, it hands Apple and Microsoft an easy talking point: Google cannot do premium.

The review also raises a question for the PC makers involved. Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo are betting that a Google-designed platform can help them sell premium machines alongside their Windows lines. But they are also exposed to Google's software quality. If the platform is underbaked, the hardware partners absorb the reputational damage along with Google. That is a real risk for manufacturers who have spent years building credibility in the premium Windows market and now have to explain why their Googlebook is different and better.

The bottom line: the Googlebook is a bold bet with a shaky debut. The hardware is there, the price is premium, and the ambition is real. But the review's verdict, 'woefully underbaked,' is a warning that Google has not yet earned the right to compete at the top of the laptop market. For buyers, the prudent move is to wait for the software to catch up. For Google and its partners, the clock is ticking, and the next software update will matter more than the next hardware refresh.