Two weeks ago, Google announced a bunch of new AI-powered features at its I/O developer conference. Microsoft followed last week with the introduction of its Copilot+ PCs, which have, you guessed it, a bunch of new AI-powered features. Somewhat predictably, Google is announcing its answer to the Copilot+ PC initiative with… the humble Chromebook. Specifically, the Chromebook Plus series that it first announced last October. When Google first announced the Chromebook Plus, it focused on a combination of more powerful hardware and some modest AI software features compared to what you’d get on regular Chromebooks.
But now Google is making good on what it first announced: Chromebook Plus models are getting a number of features that Google first introduced last year, as well as some new ones we hadn’t heard of before.
AI features
For starters, the “help me type” feature that Google launched earlier this year is now available on all Chromebook Plus laptops. This should work in any text input field you find on the web, whether it’s a Google product like Gmail or a website like Facebook. You can use it to get a prompt, or have it analyze what you’ve already written to make it more formal or fun (though Google admitted the jury is out on whether AI can actually be funny). It’s basically a generative text tool that you can use all over the web. It’s no wonder it’s showing up on Chromebooks, since Google said you can turn it on in Chrome for Windows and Mac as early as February. But Google says it’s implemented at the operating system level on Chromebooks so you can use it outside of the browser
The next feature is another one that Google announced last fall, and it’s just for fun. The built-in image generator allows you to generate wallpapers and video call backgrounds by entering a prompt. It’s not at all dissimilar to what you’d do with other image generators, although I can’t yet say how fast it works or how well it sticks to what you’re asking it to do. For starters, Google has a few prompts that you can try or modify.
The latest update is that the Magic Editor in Google Photos is coming to laptops exclusively as a feature for Chromebook Plus devices. First available on Google’s Pixel devices, Magic Editor has been part of the Google One subscription plan for a while, but it’s now more extensive if your phone meets the minimum specs. As for laptops, Chromebook Plus models are the only ones that can use Magic Editor. The reasoning seems pretty simple: Chromebooks can run Android apps, including Google Photos.
Still, if you wanted to play around with Magic Editor on a bigger screen than your phone, the Chromebook seems like a decent choice. For a refresher, Magic Editor basically allows you to manipulate photos in various ways to change the reality of what you’ve captured, but much faster and easier than using something like Photoshop. You can choose people or objects to move, have the app color the cloudy sky, resize or remove other objects, and generally make it even harder to trust that the photos you create or share are authentic.
Unsurprisingly, Google is also baking its Gemini chatbot more directly into Chromebooks by having the app pre-installed and sitting right on the launcher. But more importantly, Google is giving Chromebook Plus buyers a full year of its Google One AI Premium plan, which puts Gemini features right into Gmail, Docs, and other Workplace apps. It also includes access to Gemini Advanced, which adds support for things like uploading documents for analysis and access to Gemini Pro 1.5 and its 1 million token popup window (which Google says will soon grow to 2 million tokens).
Considering the Google One AI plan costs $20 per month, double the price of the standard 2TB storage plan, it’s a pretty good deal for Chromebook Plus buyers even if they don’t care about using the Gemini. And it sounds like even if you’re already signed up for another Google One plan, you’ll be able to get the Google One AI option for a year.
Smaller gadgets
A number of new software improvements are also coming to all Chromebooks. Perhaps the most notable is the Game Dashboard, a sort of control center for gaming-related activities. While most Chromebooks still can’t run many games, there are now more options between cloud gaming services like GeForce Now and Android titles. Indeed, Google reported that 25 percent of Chromebook owners use them for gaming, and they saw a 40 percent year-over-year increase in the number of people gaming on Chromebooks.
The gamepad has several features, but the most notable of them is the comprehensive key mapping system. This allows you to take games that are designed for a controller or touchscreen and map their buttons to different keys on your laptop. For Android games with specific swipe patterns, you’ll be able to tell that pressing a key is the same as making a certain swipe in a certain direction.
It also provides one-click recording – this will start recording both your gameplay and the view of you playing through the laptop’s webcam if you want to be in the video. And you can also quickly upload to various services like YouTube or Discord from the Game Bar. This feature is exclusive to the Chromebook Plus, at least for now.
Other new features include the integration of Google Tasks into the menu bar – there’s already a calendar widget that shows you your upcoming appointments, and now it’ll also show you items from your to-do list, so it’s a solid overview of what’s coming up. in your day. Screen Recorder can now generate GIFs, which is something we all want to be able to do at any time. And now you can also set up your Android phone through your Chromebook. If you scan a QR code on your Chromebook with the phone you’re setting up, your Google account and Wi-Fi information will sync.
Future updates
However, it does not end there. Google too announced a bunch of upcoming software features to look forward to, just like last fall. I appreciate the little sneak peak of what’s to come, and with Google actually delivering on what it showed in October, I’m confident we’ll see most of them sooner or later.
Chief among them is Google Gemini’s “help me read” feature. As the name suggests, it will offer summaries of web pages, documents or PDFs, and you’ll be able to ask follow-up questions. Of course, your results may vary depending on how useful all of this is. Google is also working on an AI-powered overview screen that pops up when you open your laptop — instead of throwing you back at the dozens of tabs you have, it tries to organize and show you the apps and pages you have open. so you can decide where you want to go from there. It also takes into account things you do in Chrome on other devices, so if you were reading on your phone, you can go back to your laptop.
In the same vein, there’s a new focus tool that combines Google Tasks and YouTube Music with a countdown timer. Basically, you can select an urgent task, a playlist, and a timer, and you’ll go into do-not-disturb mode while you get on with what you need to do. It’s not quite a game changer, but it’s kind of clever.
Perhaps most interesting is a new accessibility feature based on the hands-free tool “Project Gameface,” which was shown at I/O in 2023 and 2024. Google says it’s building Gameface right into ChromeOS, which will use facial and gesture tracking to help people to do things on their computer without a keyboard or mouse. It’s “early” in the project’s timeline, so I don’t think we’ll see it in six months, but it’s definitely an important feature that could make Chromebooks much more useful to more people.
Of course, Google and its hardware partners are launching a range of new Chromebook Plus devices to go along with all of this – you can read about the new hardware here. As for the software, everything should start rolling out today, in addition to all the stuff Google promises later.