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Chromebook Plus laptops like Lenovo’s sleek, new 14-incher are getting free Gemini AI features

Features include select-to-search images and on-screen text, smart grouping of tabs and documents, and automated image editing.

Features include select-to-search images and on-screen text, smart grouping of tabs and documents, and automated image editing.

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The new Chromebook Plus 14 was light enough for me to lift with just three fingers.
Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
is a reviewer covering laptops and the occasional gadget. He spent over 15 years in the photography industry before joining The Verge as a deals writer in 2021.

Google announced a handful of new Gemini AI features for Chromebook Plus laptops, including a sleek, new 14-inch flagship device from Lenovo that I got to handle recently.

The new AI functions include select to search, which allows you to long press the launcher icon or take a screenshot and do a Google search based on on-screen images or text. (It’s like circle to search on phones, but for Chromebooks.) Text captured this way can be imported into a calendar or Google Workspace apps like a spreadsheet or document. On-screen text that’s a bit technical or jargon-y can also be simplified. And now, the Quick Insert key — the “Gemini button” that replaces the Caps Lock key on Chromebooks — gets a shortcut to AI image generation.

<em>Select to search can pull up search and shopping links for things you highlight on your screen.</em>
<em>Select to search can detect things like a school event flier and make an event for it in Google Calendar. Though, this example from Google seems to get the start time wrong.</em>
<em>The new simplify option under Gemini’s “Help me read” feature can rephrase text to be easier to comprehend. The example shown takes a blurb that’s not very complex and shortens it.</em>
<em>Using the Quick Insert key to generate an image for an email.</em>
<em>Images can be cut out from their backgrounds and turned into stickers straight from the Gallery app, like this creepy-looking piggy bank.</em>
<em>Smart grouping automatically sorts your tabs and documents according to what you’re working on.</em>
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Select to search can pull up search and shopping links for things you highlight on your screen.
Image: Google

There are two more new Gemini features: a smart grouping tool that automatically organizes your current tabs and documents based on what you’re working on, and some image editing built into the Gallery app for automated tasks like background removal and making stickers. These new functions use on-device AI and are exclusive to Lenovo’s new Chromebook Plus 14 laptop, which launches today alongside Google’s new tools.

The Lenovo Chromebook Plus (14-inch, 10th-gen) starts at $649 and uses a MediaTek Kompanio Ultra chip capable of 50 TOPS. It’s an eight-core Arm-based processor with Wi-Fi 7 and support for up to two external 4K monitors. Lenovo’s new flagship Chromebook also has a 14-inch OLED display capable of 1920 x 1200 resolution and 400 nits of brightness, with the option for a touchscreen version starting at $749. Its other key specs include up to 256GB of storage, up to 16GB of RAM, a fingerprint sensor, Bluetooth 5.4 support, and a four-speaker Dolby Atmos audio setup. For ports, it has just two 5Gbps USB-C, one 5Gbps USB-A, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack.

<em>Lenovo’s new Chromebook Plus 14</em>.
<em>The laptop’s screen is a nice OLED, though a touchscreen version costs more than the base $649.</em>
<em>The keyboard looks and feels like a lot of other Lenovo laptops, aside from that Quick Insert button found only on recent Chromebooks. The fingerprint sensor is below the keyboard on the right.</em>
<em>In addition to this silver, the Chromebook Plus 14 will come in a color called seashell.</em>
<em>Right-side ports are just one USB-C and the 3.5mm audio jack.</em>
<em>Left-side ports are a USB-C and USB-A.</em>
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Lenovo’s new Chromebook Plus 14.
Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

I got to briefly hold and see the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 at a recent Google preview event, and it was certainly a svelte and sleek machine. It weighs just 2.58 pounds, making it easy to lift up from a corner with just one hand. And, as usual for OLEDs, its screen had a deep and colorful contrast that was pleasant to look at. In addition to this being the first Arm-based model for Google’s Chromebook Plus range of laptops, the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14’s 60Wh cell is claimed to have the best battery life among its peers.

Buying the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 or any Chromebook Plus device in 2025 gets you free access to Google’s AI Pro Plan for one year, which includes Gemini 2.5 Pro, the Veo 3 AI video generator, and 2TB of cloud storage.

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