- Google introduces the Chromebook Plus, joining the AI laptop market with innovative features for enhanced user experience.
Google revealed on Tuesday that it will be entering the AI laptop trend by incorporating new intelligent features into the Chromebook Plus model of laptops.
“Help Me Write,” artificial intelligence (AI)-generated videoconferencing backgrounds, a photo editor called Magic Editor, and direct access to Google’s young AI assistant Gemini from the Chromebook home screen are among the new capabilities.
Using a prompt, Help Me Write leverages AI to assist users in creating new text or editing preexisting content to alter its tone, length, or overall voice.
Any videoconferencing app can be used with the background feature, which comes with a number of building prompts.
You may use Magic Editor from within the Google Photos application. To manipulate things in a photo, users can tap or circle them, then drag to resize or rearrange them with a pinch. Contextual recommendations can also be utilized to enhance a photo’s background and lighting.
Gemini may be accessed on the new Chromebook Plus by tapping an icon on the home screen. Additionally, Google is providing a free 12-month trial of its sophisticated Google One AI Premium subscription to new owners of Chromebooks Plus. It has 2TB of storage, Gemini in Docs, Sheets, Slides, Gmail, and more. It also has access to Gemini Advanced.
As a means of obtaining information and completing tasks online, Google is defending its superiority over rivals like Microsoft and OpenAI, according to Ross Rubin, principal analyst at Reticle Research, a New York City-based consumer technology advisory firm.
He told TechNewsWorld, “It makes sense that Google will implement these AI tools on their primary platforms, Android and Chromebooks, as they develop them.”
Need for Rejuvenation
According to Las Vegas-based Mark N. Vena, president and lead analyst at SmartTech Research, Google needed to take action to revitalize the Chromebook market. “The experience with Chromebooks has grown stale,” he stated to TechNewsWorld.
“While Chromebook Plus laptops represent a significant advancement for the Chromebook category, I believe the Microsoft/Qualcomm strategy has a significant edge,” he continued.
Microsoft unveiled its Copilot+ laptops last week. These laptops are equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus processors, which include potent neural processing units (NPUs) to maximize artificial intelligence (AI) operations.
Vena clarified, “The Chromebook experience has always been a cloud experience.” “Microsoft and Qualcomm are taking the route of integrating AI inside their processors such that local AI is superior to cloud-based AI. Many of these AI applications can be used locally without requiring an online connection.
“Security is another advantage,” he continued. “There is no substitute for doing things locally, regardless of how secure Google claims its cloud is.”
Unparalleled Integration of AI
Rubin pointed out that Recall, the distinguishing feature of the CoPilot+ laptops, is not comparable to Google’s announcement.
With recall, users can utilize contextual and natural language search to locate content on their PCs that they have already seen. For instance, if a user asked CoPilot+ to “Find an article I read about Dr. Who last week,” it would comply. By describing them, screenshots and images can also be located. Since Recall remembers interactions across applications and time, it is also possible to give context to queries.
A major component of Microsoft’s statement, according to Rubin, was that the Chromebook Plus “shows that you can do a lot with AI even if you don’t have a super-fast, leading-edge chip with a neural processing unit.”
“Chromebook Plus combines some of the best integration we have seen from Google with some new features, some that they have introduced in previous iterations, and some elements from other platforms like magic photo editing,” he stated.
He went on, “It ties together a lot of Google products.” “They have integrated systems before, but this is noteworthy for its scope.”
Strength and Adaptability
The timing of the release was questioned by Rob Enderle, president and lead analyst of Bend, Oregon-based Enderle Group, an advisory services organization. He told TechNewsWorld, “They ought to have announced this at I/O earlier this month.” “It seems they chose to target Microsoft Build and take a stand against the announcements made there.”
He observed, “This all seems extremely hurried, probably because Microsoft’s announcement of Copilot’s expansion caught Google off guard.” “Google’s efforts to improve its smartphone division are much more intriguing. If they can successfully integrate features from both device classes, they may be able to increase their market share.”
“The AI PCs that ship next month seem to be the target market for the Chromebook Plus, but it’s feature-light compared to those machines,” he continued. “But they should also be far less expensive.”
According to Rubin, Chromebooks have historically been significantly less expensive than popular Windows laptops, but with the release of the Chromebook Plus, this is beginning to change.
That was clear from the two Chromebook Plus versions that Acer unveiled on Tuesday. Both the 516 GE gaming model and the two-in-one Chromebook Plus Spin 714 (shown above) will retail for US$749.99 and $699.99, respectively.
Acer General Manager for Notebooks James Lin said in a statement, “The fact that these two new Acer Chromebook Plus laptops could not be more different yet both deliver an elevated Chromebook Plus experience points directly to the power and flexibility of the ChromeOS ecosystem and the importance of user-centric Chromebook Plus laptop design.”
According to Rubin, Google is attempting to encourage users to switch to the Chromebook Plus in order to improve their Chromebook experience. Additionally, the PC manufacturers will find that more palatable, which will increase their profit margin on these goods.
Goodies in the Wings for Chromebook Plus
Google hinted at a few planned features for the Chromebook Plus in its announcement:
Assist me in reading Gemini so that I may use the right click to summarize webpages or PDFs.
Every time you open your laptop, a screen will display the windows, tabs, and programs you have open, saving you from becoming lost in a sea of windows. Pick up where you left off each time you log in. If you start reading an article in the Chrome browser on your Android or iOS phone, you can finish reading it on your Chromebook with just a click. Suggestions from across your devices running different operating systems will guide you in the proper direction.
Focus helps you focus more easily by letting you select a time window, a Google Task you want to do, and a YouTube music playlist. A Chromebook will then turn on Do Not Disturb automatically and show you how far you’ve come.
AI-powered hands-free control capable of tracking gestures and faces.
Enderle said, “Those features are not bad.” But, Copilot and Gemini have both experienced significant quality problems that they will either need to address or risk the market’s disinterest in this particular class of devices.
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