Lenovo Australia has put a price on its Googlebook 15. It confirmed on 1 October that the laptop starts at A$2,299, and that's the last big piece of the local price list before Google's Googlebook laptops go on sale here on Monday 5 October.

Google Australia says four models, from ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo, will be on shelves that day, starting at A$2,299 RRP. Pre-orders opened on 21 September, about two weeks earlier. JB Hi-Fi is also carrying ASUS's Googlebook 14 at A$2,799 and A$2,999.

Americans get the machines a day before us, on Sunday 4 October. Google's also throwing a launch party in New York on 5 October that it's calling Opening Night. It starts at 7pm New York time. That's 9:30am on Tuesday 6 October in Adelaide, after the switch to daylight saving (ACDT).

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What Googlebook actually is

Googlebook is Google's name for a new kind of laptop. In its pre-order announcement, Google says the machines are "built on the Android technology stack and paired with desktop foundations from ChromeOS." So it's not a Chromebook with a new badge. It's Android underneath, with a ChromeOS-style desktop on top, and it's built to pair with an Android phone the moment you sign in.

That pairing is the main pitch. Google says your phone's settings, saved passwords, Wi-Fi networks and messages carry across at setup, with end-to-end encryption. A feature called Continue On lets you pick up an app on the laptop right where you left it on the phone. The Files app can search and open photos and files that live on the phone. Cast My Apps streams a phone app into a window on the desktop, so you can grab a one-time code from Messages without reaching for the handset.

Then there's Gemini. Google calls the line "designed for Gemini Intelligence." Wiggle the cursor over something on screen and Magic Pointer brings up Gemini. Rambler turns spoken notes into tidy written ones, with headings and checklists. Create My Widget builds desktop widgets from a plain description of what you want. Google says Gemini "only acts when you ask it to" and that you can turn it off.

You also get full desktop Chrome with extensions, Android apps from the Play Store, and a walled-off Linux environment with a terminal. Google says that Linux sandbox runs on a hypervisor with a Level 5 security certification, and it calls that a first for laptops. It's also promising feature drops and updates for up to 10 years.

The four Australian models

Google Australia's launch post lists four flagships for the local market. ASUS is pitched as the travel machine, Dell as the flashy one, HP as the elegant one and Lenovo as the 15-inch workhorse. Acer makes a fifth Googlebook in the US, but it's not on Google's Australian list.

Lenovo has given the most local detail so far. Its Googlebook 15 runs an Intel Core Ultra 5 325 processor, with 16GB or 32GB of LPDDR5x memory and 256GB or 512GB of storage. The screen's a 15.3-inch 2,880 x 1,800 OLED touchscreen that runs at up to 120Hz. Lenovo puts the weight at 1.29kg and quotes a 70Wh battery rated for more than 12.5 hours. You get two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB-A port, HDMI and a headphone jack, plus a webcam with a physical shutter. EFTM's report has Lenovo's full spec sheet and the A$2,299 starting price.

ASUS's Googlebook 14 costs more. FutureFive reports that JB Hi-Fi will sell it in two versions. The A$2,799 model has an Intel Core Ultra 5 325, and the A$2,999 model steps up to a Core Ultra 7 355. Both have 16GB of memory, a 512GB drive and a 14-inch 3K OLED touchscreen at 120Hz. ASUS quotes up to 18 hours of local video playback from a 70Wh battery. "We are incredibly proud to be among the first to introduce Googlebook locally," Bradley Howe, ASUS Australia's head of consumer, said in the launch material.

Dell and HP haven't published full Australian pricing yet. In the US, Google's partners use Intel Core Ultra and Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips. Google says every model's NPU, the chip that handles AI work on the device, is rated above 45 TOPS.

What's in the box, and the conditions

Every Googlebook sold in Australia comes with 12 months of Google AI Pro for eligible new subscribers. Google says that includes 5TB of cloud storage and higher Gemini limits. Once the free year's up, the plan charges A$32.99 a month unless you cancel. Google's terms say you have to activate an eligible Googlebook on or after 1 October and redeem the offer by 31 March 2027. There's also a three-month YouTube Premium trial for eligible new users.

In the US, Google throws in a free year of GeForce NOW cloud gaming and three months of Adobe Photoshop. Google Australia's post doesn't list either of those for local buyers, so check before you count on them.

Take the battery claims with the usual grain of salt. Google's own footnote says its figures come from video-playback tests on pre-production units, and that real-world life "may be lower."

The price here and in the US

In the US, Googlebook starts at US$899. Here, it starts at A$2,299.

At that price, it's up against premium Windows laptops and MacBooks, not budget Chromebooks. And that end of the market is busy this month. NVIDIA and Microsoft are lining up their RTX Spark Windows laptops for October too.

What to watch on Monday

Google's official Introducing Googlebook video, posted on Android's YouTube channel when the line was first shown in May, walks through the Glowbar, Magic Pointer and the phone pairing.

From Monday, the questions are pretty simple. Which shops will have stock besides JB Hi-Fi? When will Dell and HP put out local prices? And will the phone pairing work as smoothly for Australians on Samsung, Pixel and Oppo phones as it does in Google's demos? Opening Night in New York, on Tuesday morning Adelaide time, is Google's next chance to answer some of that on stage.

If you've pre-ordered, Google says devices "will be on shelves October 5 in Australia." If you're still making up your mind, the first local reviews should land within days.