We’ve spent the last few weeks seeing more and more Googlebook laptops with premium hardware, but pricing remains one of the biggest unanswered questions. A new ASUS leak may finally give us a better idea of where at least some of these machines might land, and even the lower-powered models shouldn’t be particularly cheap.
A now removed Canadian retail listing spotted by GbookHub presented an ASUS Googlebook CX9406 with an Intel Core Ultra 5 325 processor, 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. The laptop is listed for roughly C$1,900, which translates to about $1,380.
ASUS hasn’t officially announced the CX9406 or confirmed pricing, and the Canadian prices don’t necessarily reflect the eventual US MSRP. Still, it’s one of the clearest indications we have of just how expensive Intel-powered Googlebooks can be.
This is nowhere near the best ASUS configuration
What’s interesting is that this isn’t one of the higher-end Google Books we’ve seen leaked. The Core Ultra 5 325 is an octa-core Panther Lake chip with four performance cores and four low-power efficient cores. GbookHub also spotted earlier benchmark and certification listings for higher-powered CX9406 configurations with 32GB and 64GB of RAM, including a pairing of the top model. Core Ultra 7 355 with 64 GB memory.
In other words, the roughly C$1,900 list price has been attached to a 16GB model that sits well below the expected CX9406 lineup. If the retail price is close to accurate, higher-end configurations could become significantly more expensive, especially if memory prices remain high.
You may have to get the cheaper Google Books elsewhere
We previously reported that plans for a Googlebook using Qualcomm’s older Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 processor are also in development. These machines already seemed like a possible path to more affordable Googlebooks, and this ASUS listing makes that possibility even more important.
Intel-powered models from ASUS and Acer are increasingly looking like premium laptops rather than Chromebook replacements built around affordability. Snapdragon models could give manufacturers room to move the Googlebook further down the price ladder without abandoning the platform’s focus on proper hardware.
Google is holding an embargoed media event in New York on September 15, where Googlebook hardware from its partners is expected to be available for hands-on testing.
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