I tried every new Googlebook announced today

The new laptops from Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo cover a variety of sizes and form factors.

The first Googlebooks from Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo are up for pre-order today . Google is giving us a clearer picture of what'll set Googlebooks apart from other laptops, which you can read about here , but the other big question is what the company's hardware partners have cooked up. As expected, all five Googlebooks are premium hardware rather than the entry- to mid-range hardware usually found on Chromebooks.

There aren't rigorous spec requirements for hardware makers to hit, but all five of these Googlebooks have at least 16GB of RAM, and Google says their batteries are all rated to hit 14 hours of video playback or 16 hours of web browsing. And while all the laptops have their own design, other internal specs are pretty similar across the board. The Acer, ASUS and Lenovo Googlebooks all include Intel's Core Ultra 5 Series 3 chips (Acer and ASUS say they'll offer Core Ultra 7 models as well), while Dell and HP are using Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chip.

Oh, and every Googlebook has a Glowbar: a light-up array on the back of the lid that provides a nice touch of whimsy. It sweeps as you boot it up and shows your battery level if you swipe it; it also apparently has built-in animations for when you're talking with Gemini. Right now it's mostly just a fun visual cue, but Google says developers will be able to take advantage of it in the future. At the least, it's a fun identifier much like the original Glowbar was on the Chromebook Pixel all those years ago, and neatly aligns with the hardware design on Google's Pixel 11 Pro and its HiLight notification array .

We're likely going to get our hands on many of these Googlebooks in the coming weeks to see how they work day-in and day-out, but for now, here are my first impressions based on quick tests at the press event Google held last week.

Acer's first Googlebook is the sole convertible of the lot — like many Acer Chromebooks I've used in the past, the Acer Googlebook 14 has a 360-degree hinge that lets you turn the laptop into a very large tablet. I can't say I've ever been really excited about this type of computer, especially one with a 14-inch screen, but it's an option here for those who do like it. The hinge feels very smooth, and the overall feel of this Googlebook is solid and well-crafted, if not terribly exciting. It reminds me of a more refined version of the Acer Chromebook Spin 514 , which I picked as one of the best Chromebooks out there last year.

In keeping with the more premium Googlebook vibe, this new laptop is a half-pound lighter than that older Chromebook, and it has a much larger, nicer trackpad and a 2,880 x 1,800 OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. Adding in 16GB of RAM and the aforementioned Intel Core Ultra 5 plus 512GB of storage helps to justify the $899 price. From a design perspective, it feels like the most "standard" laptop of the five I tried — it's a convertible Acer through and through, but as the sole Googlebook priced under $1,000, it's got the best bang for your buck in this group.

The ASUS Googlebook offering isn't markedly different from the Acer model, though a few things stood out to me. First, its lightweight design: it weighs only 2.2 pounds, which doesn't sound much different from the 2.5-pound Acer. But dropping that weight while keeping roughly the same size frame and 14-inch display really makes it feel premium and ultra-portable.