Old shipping manifest suggests that the new Googlebook may feature a high-end Panther Lake model

Google was very stingy with information about the new Googlebook series of laptops, said to be designed around the Gemini AI model. The company did not unveil much about the hardware at all; instead, it focused on a few new features, such as the Magic Pointer and Widget Creator. Then, Intel officially announced its partnership with Google on the hardware powering the new Googlebook. Thanks to an old shipping manifest, we may have a hint about what CPU lineup will actually be used in Googlebooks.

Last year, a shipping manifest surfaced mentioning a Chromebook laptop with Intel's Panther Lake 12 Xe3 CPUs. This Chromebook, "Felino," was spotted in the manifest before Panther Lake was even officially unveiled, which makes it rather interesting. The code on the manifest is PTL 12Xe, which corresponds pretty well with Panther Lake as we know it today. Furthermore, this "Chromebook" had this CPU months before anyone knew about Googlebook.

We do not know which Panther Lake CPU is specifically mentioned, but all Core Ultra 300-series CPUs with 12 Xe3 cores are high-end SKUs, with up to 16 cores. Therefore, this laptop was a high-end model, probably targeting a premium segment. Looking back, this high-end Chromebook was either scrapped or, more likely, it will be repurposed into a top-end Googlebook variant. Of course, Panther Lake was delayed multiple times, so this laptop might have been released with a different CPU.

Previously, it was speculated that Intel's Core 300 "Wildcat Lake" CPUs would be the driving force behind the new Googlebooks. The pairing makes sense, given that Googlebooks are meant to be a Chromebook replacement, and Wildcat Lake is Intel's mid-range offering that slots in under the top-end Panther Lake. Given that Wildcat Lake CPUs have P-cores paired with LPE (low-power efficient) cores, it would make sense to use those CPUs in a laptop like the Googlebook, where efficiency and value are important.

2

However, we also know that there will be other CPU options available in Googlebooks, since Mediatek and Qualcomm are also official partners. Therefore, we will see a host of Arm CPUs in the Googlebooks, in addition to Intel's offerings. It seems likely that Intel might also put a few Panther Lake CPUs in the high-end Googlebook variants, while most of the lineup is powered by the more sensible Wildcat Lake and Arm options.

If Intel and Google do release a Googlebook powered by a high-end Panther Lake CPU, say a Core Ultra X7 368H or an X9 388H, we might see Googlebooks race past the $599 MacBook Neo in performance. However, the price has to be a concern with such models. We are set to see Googlebook devices from several manufacturers starting this fall, including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo.