The hardware side is largely beyond complaint. The cheapest model starts at $900, a price where buyers expect quality processors, metal builds, good displays and excellent keyboards and trackpads, and the Googlebooks deliver all of that, along with very good battery life and at least 16GB of RAM in every unit tested.

The software is the sticking point. Googlebook OS has ideas about how a laptop and phone can work together, but in practice it is described as frustrating, buggy and short on app support, feeling more like an Android tablet with a keyboard and trackpad attached than a cohesive laptop operating system. Scores cover hardware and software as they stand today, and they are bad.

There are some distinctions between models. The Acer Googlebook 14 is the only 2-in-1 convertible, with a 2880 x 1800 120Hz OLED touchscreen and stylus support, though Googlebook OS does not yet support portrait orientation, limiting the stylus use. Its $900 launch price is, according to an Acer representative, only available for a limited time. The Dell XPS Googlebook, at 2.2 pounds with a 13.4-inch screen starting at $999, is held up as the model that makes the most sense, on the theory that Googlebooks may work best as light secondary computers rather than primary machines.