Windows PC owners now have 2 options from Google.

Getty Images

Google responded to Microsoft’s premature killing of Windows 10 with an offer to “install our fast, secure and free operating system to modernize" their devices. This is aimed at PC owners “with a difficult decision: spend hundreds on a new device, or continue using an insecure, outdated one.”

Last month, Google made the upgrade even simpler. A $3 USB stick turning a complex process into a plug-and-play. The offer was a hit — the USB sticks were quickly out of stock on Back Market’s website, and haven’t been back since. The software is still available, the USB stick is not.

Now Google has another upgrade offer to change the PC landscape. “Over 15 years ago, we introduced the Chromebook, a laptop built for a cloud-first world. Now, as we are moving from an operating system to an intelligence system, we see an opportunity to rethink laptops again.”

These “new laptops,” Google says, “are built with Gemini’s helpfulness at their core, premium hardware and work seamlessly with Android phones.” Chromebook was all about the internet, Googlebook is all about AI. This offer isn’t free, but it does more than delay obsolescence.

While the Googlebook won’t pull in many Windows 11 users, it does provide a cheaper and simpler alternative to new PCs for owners of old Windows 10 PCs, especially if they’re doing little more than basic emailing and web browsing. In which case, an AI upgrade could well appeal.

Googlebooks are likely to be more expensive than basic Chromebooks, but with those additional AI features. And with Microsoft pushing Copilot AI Windows 11 PCs, there’s considerable pricing headroom to play into as Windows 10 users explore their upgrade options.

Forbes‘Initially On Pixel’—Google’s Android Upgrade Offer For 2026By Zak Doffman

“We are working with industry leading partners like Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo to make the first Googlebooks,” Google says, “and they’re just as excited as we are about them.”

The core upgrade proposition for Windows 10 users remains the same. Even Microsoft’s extended support option runs out in October, at which point their PC is a security risk. Meantime, Secure Boot certificates on those PCs start to expire next month. An upgrade is needed. And now Google has two options for hundreds of millions of Windows PC owners to consider.