Up until now, Google has been content to play in the budget PC space with its affordable Chromebook laptops. Priced to suit students, these computers primarily relied on web-based apps within ChromeOS. Shedding the budget-only perception, Google unveiled the Googlebook overnight, a more premium range of laptops made by the biggest laptop brands.
Much like the interplay between iPhones and MacBooks, Googlebook aims to streamline the connectivity between Android phones and laptops. This comes via “Googlebook OS”, a platform that combines a ChromeOS and Android-like experience for cross-device compatibility. Anything you start on an Android device can be quickly continued on the laptop, in addition to quick file sharing and browsing, and app casting between a phone and the laptop.
In Australia, Google’s new laptops start at $2,299, with models coming from Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. 16GB of RAM is the baseline spec, with 32GB the maximum available. According to Google, the laptops’ batteries last up to 16 hours of web browsing or up to 14 hours of video playback.
Google’s Gemini AI technology features heavily throughout the brand’s new laptops. Wiggling the mouse cursor conjures Gemini to provide context-specific suggestions, while Google’s new Rambler dictation tool automatically cleans up voice notes into complete sentences, like Nothing’s Essential Voice feature.
Asus to debut Googlebook soon
Asus is the first brand to confirm its Googlebook availability in Australia, launching on 5 October. Its range consists of two models: one costs $2,999 and includes an Intel Core Ultra 7 chipset, while the $2,799 model runs on an Intel Core Ultra 5. Aside from the third-gen Intel Core Ultra chips, Googlebooks will also come in Snapdragon variants.
Image: Asus.
Asus advertises its first Googlebook as weighing a svelte 0.99kg, made from a magnesium-aluminium alloy, and sporting a 14-inch 3K OLED touchscreen. It also includes a full array of I/O ports, including two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C slots, two USB-A (3.2 Gen 2) ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Googlebook is a bold play from Google. Windows has bridged the gap in cross-device functionality in recent years, but few integrations are as seamless as the connectivity between Apple’s laptops and phones. If it comes off, Google’s laptops could make life a lot easier for Android users, leaving Windows in an awkward position.
Modern smartphones and tablets are powerful devices, but it’s all too easy to get caught scrolling Instagram for 30 minutes when you wanted to do something more productive. iFLYTEK’s AINOTE 2 devices are designed to stop that.
With a conventional tablet, all your social media apps, videos, and games are there all the time. Now, we’re only human, and it’s easy to get distracted when everything is within reach of our fingertips.
What you and many other workers need is a lean, focused device that’s nearly distraction-proof. And iFLYTEK’s AINOTE 2 series is just that.
A more focused tablet experience
Both units in the AINOTE 2 range are super-lean, super-clean e-ink tablets built around productivity. One is the AINOTE Air 2, the 8.2-inch model. Notably, it has a cool-to-warm adjustable reading light, rear camera, and speakers.
It’s great if you want to keep a bit of that classic tablet functionality, or you do a lot more reading than taking notes. Though it is absolutely a note-taking device too.
Then there is the iFLYTEK AINOTE 2, a super-thin 10.65-inch tablet. It doesn’t have a camera, speakers, or a reading light, but it’s heavily geared toward note-taking, with a new stylus from Wacom, a massive battery, and just more overall.
Of the two devices, the AINOTE 2 is the flagship model. It lets you make notes, does real-time transcription, converts handwriting to text, and handles your schedule too.
But those are just the core features. The AINOTE 2 isn’t just a walled-off notepad; it has a full open Android operating system. You can get select apps from the Play Store or even sideload apps, with full APK installation support.
Organising your thoughts
So much of daily life relies on taking notes. Keeping track of important meeting actions, remembering grocery items, and managing the household schedule: it all quickly adds up. Rather than trying to remember everything, it’s best to note important information down so it’s there when you need it.
The AINOTE 2 is built around note-taking and staying organised. You can jot down notes using the stylus on the responsive e-ink display, and the AINOTE 2 converts them to text. It then keeps things tidy and organised.
AINOTE 2.
This is where the AINOTE really earns its stripes. Thanks to integrated AI, you can search for your notes using natural language. It’s incredibly helpful when you need to recall something at a moment’s notice.
Instead of having to remember when you made a note, or what title you used, you can just ask the AINOTE 2 to show you the specific notes you need. For example, you could ask about any shopping lists you’ve written, and the device will find them.
More than just a note-taker
With the AINOTE 2, notes are really just the start. This smart little tablet combines note-taking with scheduling functions — including daily, weekly and monthly scheduling — and AI processing to create a powerful but focused tool for managing your work.
Running on software called NOTE OS, the tablet also includes a microphone array on the top edge. This powers up the AINOTE 2 into a voice-to-text transcription powerhouse.
Combine transcription with AI, and what you get is a tablet that listens along to meetings, takes notes, and can then generate minutes, or even a dot-point summary. All with a single tap.
That’s perfect for busy, on-the-go people who have regular work meetings and need to manage a household’s schedule. With a pen-and-paper system, it’s easy to lose track of so many moving parts.
Instead of all this information going into one big note that you have to decipher later, the AINOTE 2 can organise it all and match it up to your schedule.
If you have a busy week packed with deadlines and tight timings, the AINOTE 2 can look at your notes and meeting transcriptions and generate a daily or weekly report, based on what tasks are involved.
You can ask the device to produce a report on your tasks, and the AINOTE 2 will use its AI smarts to look through the notes and any meeting transcriptions, pull out the tasks, put them in your schedule and generate a report for the week.
It’s a clever way of reducing cognitive load that makes finding important information easy.
Flexible technology without the distractions
You might have a particular work style, but the genius of the AINOTE 2 is that it can suit anyone. Whether you’re in a highly structured corporate environment, out on the street as a journalist, deep into a complicated trial as a solicitor, providing healthcare, or even just reading — the AINOTE 2 can work for you.
iFLYTEK talks about this tablet making mind and hand one, but it’s even more than that. It’s also about increasing focus. No more distractions from entertainment apps, and no more frustration at the time wasted sorting through notes or manually entering tasks and events into a calendar.
It’s not just the smarts inside that make the AINOTE 2 a great device. It is currently the world’s thinnest e-ink tablet, so it’s really light to hold and carry around. It weighs just 295 grams, so you won’t even realise it’s there.
There’s a 4,000mAh battery — that’s massive for an e-ink device — so you don’t have to charge this every night like your other devices.
The e-ink display itself is optimised for that natural pen-on-paper feel. The refresh rate is really high, and the latency on the handwriting — that’s the time between you moving the stylus and the line appearing — is just 20ms.
Even the stylus — iFLYTEK calls it an EMR pen — feels premium, just the right amount of weight to feel comfy.
Focus without limitations
Usually with a device like this, you get focus at the expense of flexibility. Just a few, select apps, and maybe a branded app store with a couple more on it. The AINOTE 2 is a fully open Android-based tablet. In fact, it’s even more open than many smartphones — you can sideload apps via an APK file.
This isn’t about being able to put TikTok on the AINOTE 2, though; it’s about deep user customisation and extensive compatibility with different file types. You get support for all the top eBook formats: PDF, EPUB, MOBI and more. And there’s a document viewer for fast browsing of Office documents, which is a big time saver on a device like this.
There’s also a lot of tweaking you can do to the refresh rate, so third-party apps work properly, without the weird refresh glitches you might see on other e-ink devices. And, as you might expect, there’s support for cloud storage. Right now, there’s OneDrive connectivity, and iFLYTEK says Google Drive and other options are on the way soon.
Breath of fresh air
An alternative is the AINOTE Air 2, a smaller version of the AINOTE 2. With an 8.2-inch e-ink display and a reading light, the Air 2 has a slightly different emphasis from the AINOTE 2. It’s great for eBooks; you can just curl up for hours. But we’re here to work!
AINOTE Air 2.
The Air 2 is definitely a more discreet device, like a smaller notepad instead of a big portfolio-style book. It’s a bit thicker than the AINOTE 2, but that lets iFLYTEK include a 5MP camera. And finally, it has a glass cover over the display. It gives it a clean, tech look and feel.
Ultimately, choosing the AINOTE 2 versus the Air 2 comes down to your personal preference.
Using the AINOTE as a fourth device
For many people, the standard setup is a smartphone, tablet, and laptop. But whichever tablet you choose from the AINOTE 2 series, it can have a role to play as your fourth device.
It’s focused, it’s lightweight, and it manages your messy thoughts and the stuff you need to know. So, all the convenience of a modern device, without the distractions.
Samsung’s Bespoke AI Combo puts a washer and dryer into a single unit. But it’s much more than that, thanks to the use of a heat pump, AI to analyse your loads, and a range of other time and energy saving features. I replaced my standalone washing machine with this unit to see how it performed, and whether it could take the drudgery out of my laundry routine.
At 19.5kg wash capacity, and 10kg dry, it may still appeal to single or a couple household, however, a full family would get the full benefit.
Key features
19.5kg wash / 10kg dry capacity
AI Wash & Dry Plus, with load sensing for weight, soil level and fabric type
AI Energy Mode, up to 20% energy savings on washing and up to 10% on drying
Heat Pump drying technology, closed loop, no humidity released into the room
BubbleWash and BubbleSoak
AI VRT+ noise reduction
Super Speed cycle, full wash and dry in 68 minutes
7 inch touchscreen with SmartThings app and Bixby voice control
10 year motor warranty and 7 years of software updates
It’s a handsome machine, not that my laundry room compliments it. Also, it’s taller than a regular washing machine or dryer. Energy ratings shown on right. Credit Valens Quinn
The Bespoke AI Combo is bigger than a single washer or dryer, so it stands higher, at 1110mm tall. The footprint is about the same as my old washing machine, 686mm wide and 875mm deep, but the unit stood about a third taller to make room for the dryer inside it.
Otherwise, it connects the same way you’d expect, with hot and cold connections as well as a drain pipe, so you can use your laundry room’s existing fit out without any challenges. Other than some balancing with the extendable feet, it was ready to go.
I used Samsung’s SmartThings app and connected it to the Wi-Fi network quickly. From there, the touchscreen is the primary way you interact with it, and it’s all pretty straightforward, with an intuative layout and lots of options to play around with.
The Bespoke AI Combo 19.5kg in Dark Steel, from different angles. Credit: Samsung
Design and build
I like the way it looked too, with a simple touchscreen and a nice dark grey metallic finish, called “dark steel”. It also has quite a large door for chucking your clothes in, and inside the drum is sparkling stainless steel and there’s a smoky glass look on the washer’s porthole door that matches the dark grey metallic finish.
Wash and dry cycles
There’s also a huge range of wash and dry cycle types to suit different needs: AI Wash & Dry Plus, Super Speed, Towels, Eco Cotton, Bedding, Cotton, Less Microfibre, Pet Care, Delicates, Wool, Sanitize, Single Garment, Baby Care, Shirts, Denim, Hand Wash, Rinse and Spin, Spin Only, Air Sanitize, Air Bedding Care, Down Jacket Care and Cool Air. You can also save your own customised cycles, I set one up for quick t-shirt washes.
A few of these go beyond a simple label. Eco Cotton washes cotton loads using less water and energy, Sanitize uses hot water to eliminate bacteria, Air Sanitize sanitises and deodorises without using any water, and Air Bedding Care removes dust and lint from bedding using air alone.
Or you can just go with AI Wash mode and let it figure everything out for you. When it’s washing, it uses sensors to detect the weight, soil level and fabric type of each load, then adjusts the amount of water and detergent it uses accordingly. There’s also a fast wash that gets you through a full wash and dry in 68 minutes, called Super Speed, which is very handy.
Once a cycle finishes, the door opens automatically, a feature called Auto Open Door+, so humidity doesn’t get trapped inside. It’s also designed with pet owners in mind, dealing with fine pet hair as well as odours and allergens.
Lots of cycles to choose from, but the AI Wash & Dry+ is my daily driver. Credit: Valens Quinn
Wash performance
Everything came out nice and clean, no problems there. I love that the auto detergent and fabric softener dispenser, Samsung calls it the Flex dispenser, takes care of adding liquids so you don’t have to get your hands messy. It’s pretty much a one button, set-and-forget type of thing, you put your clothes in and they come out clean, dry and smelling lovely.
I can play music, check the weather, and yes, even watch myself on YouTube while folding the laundry. Credit: Valens Quinn
The machine also prevents wrinkles with a feature called Wrinkle Prevent, which agitates the drum at intervals after a cycle finishes to reduce creases for up to three hours if the laundry is left in the washer, handy for when you forget the laundry is done. It’ll also send a message to a compatible Samsung TV, like my OLED in the living room, or to your phone, plus a friendly little chime. I like to set my fabric softener to a light dosing rather than something heavier, and you can adjust that for both detergent and softener. The dispenser holds enough for 22 loads if you’re using both detergent and softener, or up to 40 loads if you’re only using detergent, so I don’t need to refill it often. You can also select Bubble Soak mode, which adds extra soaking time to really get stains out.
Dry performance
The only thing I noticed with drying is that it takes longer than a conventional dryer, but I’d much rather that than burning a huge amount of energy and filling the room with humidity. On average I’d say the dryer takes about 30 to 50% longer than a conventional dryer for normal clothes, and more for something fabric dense like towels. There’s also a Dry Prep mode, which gives you a 10 minute pause after washing ends, so you can pull out anything that shouldn’t go into the dryer before it carries on automatically. You can schedule laundry to start and finish whenever you want though, so I don’t see it as a problem, and you can also choose to just wash or just dry.
The lint filter comes out of this panel, and a look inside the drum. Credit Valens Quinn
The other thing I find incredibly desirable about this machine is that it doesn’t pollute my laundry room with humidity, because the dryer uses a heat pump, so it’s a closed system. It’s also very quiet, and I can barely hear it. Essentially, doing the laundry no longer means figuring out how to ventilate the room to stop humidity coating the walls, or putting up with the rumble, rattle and booming of a washer and dryer during spin cycles. It feels like a more sophisticated way of doing things, the sort of thing you’d expect in the modern age, and once you’ve experienced it you wont ever want to go back to the old way. There’s also the benefit of a 10 Star energy rating on the dryer, because it’s so much more efficient at drying, which is normally a notoriously high energy use activity. Worth noting the washer itself carries a 4.5 star energy rating, it’s the dryer side, running on the heat pump, that earns the maximum 10 stars.
Two of my favourite features – the auto dispenser for detergent and fabiric softener (left) and the Super Speed cycle (right). Credit: Valens Quinn
AI features in daily use
The thing about pairing it with SmartThings is that you can operate it from your phone, or just check in on its status, as well as access broader functions like enabling AI Energy Mode, getting suggestions about how to use it, and customising your different wash cycles. You can also control it by voice using Samsung’s Bixby, though I didn’t actually use that feature myself. From the touchscreen you can also receive calls, and check in on your security camera or doorbell camera feeds if you’ve got them connected through SmartThings. Some of this can be a little finicky to do from the touchscreen, but otherwise the screen gives you plenty of information at a glance, including maintenance alerts, energy consumption, water consumption, what cycle you’re on and how much time is left.
I’ve been using AI Energy Mode, which Samsung says can save up to 20% on washing and up to 10% on drying. From my side it doesn’t seem to make any real difference to how the cycle runs, maybe it goes a little longer, but I’m happy to save some energy for that. You can also monitor your energy consumption in real time through the SmartThings app, and even set an estimated electricity bill alert that flags if you go over a preset target. I plugged my cost per kilowatt hour into the app, which then reports how much energy each wash and dry cycle uses, and it really isn’t much, only a few dollars a load.
I entered my kilowatt-hr pricing and it appears that I’ve spent around $1 on my last wash! Water usage included too. Credit: Valens Quinn
Maintenance
There’s auto cleaning for the drum, called Drum Clean Plus, which uses a combination of soaking, pulsating and spinning to remove dirt, plus a water jet and high spin speed to clear grime from the door gasket. It reminds you when it’s time to run one. There’s also a dual layer lint filter, which is large and easy to clean. Separately, an auto condenser cleaning system uses a nozzle to spray the heat exchanger with water, keeping lint and dirt from building up in the dryer over time.
Capacity
I probably didn’t make full use of the 19.5kg capacity, but there was always plenty of room for a very large load, and I can see this being a genuinely useful size for a family.
The BespokeA AI Combo is so quiet and smooth when running thanks to Samsung’s AI Vibration Reduction Technology (VRT+) system. Credit: Samsung
Value
Yes, the purchase price is not cheap, with an RRP of $4,499. But the ability to contain all the moisture, wash incredibly quietly, handle all sorts of different loads and do the thinking for you, including dosing the detergent, really feels worthwhile, and I wouldn’t go back to something less sophisticated. It also comes with a 10 year warranty on the motor and seven years of software updates, which adds to the sense that this is built to last rather than a short term buy. The touchscreen is great and easy to interact with, but you can always fall back on the SmartThings app if you’d rather, and if you like getting into the data there’s plenty to look at.
Who is it for?
Samsung’s Bespoke AI Combo 19.5kg is great for families who don’t want to spend a lot of time thinking about laundry, value energy savings, and may have less space in their laundry room. It’s stylish, quiet, and all but eliminates humidity, and is definitely worth the additional cost for those who value these things. It’s also great for people who want to complement their laundry with a stylish looking machine, not to mention access to the latest laundry technology right from their smartphone.
Frequently asked questions
How much does the Samsung Bespoke AI Combo 19.5kg cost in Australia?
The Samsung Bespoke AI Combo 19.5kg (model WD90H19AHSSA) has an RRP of $4,499 AUD.
What is the wash and dry capacity of the Samsung Bespoke AI Combo?
It washes up to 19.5kg and dries up to 10kg in a single combined unit, a size best suited to a family household.
How long does the Super Speed cycle take on the Samsung Bespoke AI Combo?
Super Speed mode completes a full wash and dry cycle in 68 minutes.
Does the Samsung Bespoke AI Combo use a heat pump dryer?
Yes. The dryer side uses a closed loop heat pump, so it doesn’t release humidity into the room, and it carries a 10 star energy rating. The washer side is separately rated at 4.5 stars.
What is a heat pump?
A heat pump dryer uses a refrigerant cycle to extract moisture from clothes and recycle the heat, rather than venting hot, humid air outside like a conventional dryer. This makes it more energy efficient and means it doesn’t release humidity into the room it’s in.
Samsung Bespoke AI Combo 19.5kg
Washes, dries and thinks for you, quietly and without the humidity. Not cheap, but for families short on space and time, it earns its price tag.
Performance
9.1
Features
9.1
Ease of use
8.9
Design
8.9
Value for money
8
Positives
Combined washer and dryer fits into smaller spaces
Doesn't vibrate and is very quiet
Heat pump means it doesn't pollute your laundry room with humidity
Smart automatic detergent and fabric softener dispenser
Uses considerably less energy when drying
Watching YouTube videos while folding your clothes!
Negatives
Takes longer to dry compared to a conventional dryer
No option to wash and dry different loads at the same time, since it's one drum
We were talking about printers at the GadgetGuy office, and it turns out everyone either had a home printer or knew someone who did. We still need printers for kids’ schoolwork, printing and signing contracts, concert and travel tickets, etc., or even to make the occasional sign. So if you need a printer for that occasional paper fix, what really is the cheapest printer you can get away with?
I visited Officeworks and found an HP printer for $38, so why would you consider Epson’s cheapest ($399) all-in-one EcoTank ET-2910 printer instead? First, let’s understand the difference between the two.
Both are inkjet printers that work by spraying ink onto paper to form text or images. The HP is an inkjet cartridge printer that uses cartridges to store the ink. These need replacing when the ink runs out. The Epson is an inkjet printer with an ink tank reservoir (Ecotank). This can be refilled from a bottle.
Ink bottle. Image: Angus JonesInk cartridge.
Ink tank vs cartridge printers: which is cheaper to run?
An ink tank printer will produce approximately 4,700 to 7,500 pages per bottle of ink. A cartridge printer may print as few as 100 pages per cartridge. There are, of course, many variables: ink bottle and cartridge sizes and the amount of ink required on each page. For example, a half-page of text will use less ink than a page covered in pictures.
I’ll use today’s pricing from the Officeworks website for a cheap cartridge printer and a cheap ink tank printer for our comparison.
Item
Price
Page yield
HP printer
$38
–
HP black ink cartridge
$29
120 sheets
HP tricolour ink cartridge
$29
100 sheets
Epson EcoTank ET-2910 printer
$399
Included ink: 3,600 pages black, 6,500 pages colour
Epson black ink bottle
$17
4,700 pages
Epson yellow ink bottle
$16
7,500 pages
Epson cyan ink bottle
$16
7,500 pages
Epson magenta ink bottle
$16
7,500 pages
Of course, once you have used up all the ink in the Epson, you will need to buy more at a cost of $65 for the 4 bottles required. But you can see from the below calculations that although the $38 printer seems cheap, the $399 Epson is the cheapest printer in the long run.
Scenario
Cartridge printer
Ink tank printer
Black and white, 7,500 pages
$1,865 (printer + 63 cartridges)
$464 (printer + a full set of 4 colour ink bottles)
Black and white, 2 pages a day for 3 years (about 2,190 pages)
approx. $560
$399 (within included ink)
Colour, 4,500 pages
approx. $1,343
$399 (within included ink)
Colour, 2 pages a day for 3 years (about 2,190 pages)
approx. $647
$399 (within included ink)
Looking beyond the maths
The Epson ET-2910 allows you to print, scan, and copy documents. Epson does have a cheaper model, the ET-1910, for $299, but it only prints. The Epson ET-2910 will print on paper, but also allows you to print photos using special photo paper up to 10 x 15cm (4 x 6 inches). I reckon the extra functionality is worth the cost.
The printer is designed to be wireless-first, meaning you connect to it via your home Wi-Fi network. You can also use your smartphone to connect directly without Wi-Fi. It does not have an Ethernet port, but you can connect directly to a PC via a USB cable.
Ink is restocked by buying bottles of black ink, allowing you to print about 3,600 pages, and the three coloured bottles plus black allow you to print about 6,500 pages. Refilling is not a concern as the bottles are designed for mess-free transfer and will not allow you to overfill your printer. The rear paper feeder can hold up to 100 pages, and a front tray is provided to catch the output pages.
Setup can be done either with the Epson app or on your PC (requires a USB cable for the initial setup). I did have an issue with the PC setup procedure, but I overcame it by downloading the smartphone app and changing my setup method.
The Epson EcoTank ET-2910 provides good-quality prints at a low total cost per page. It is a handy addition for home use, allowing you to photocopy, scan and print documents. If you only ever printed one page a day, the supplied ink would last you up to 10 years.
Based on the 500m queue to get into Sydney Olympic Park when I left, this weekend’s Everything Electric show is going to be popular. The show centres on electric cars, but also electric charging, solar, batteries, and even electric lawn mowers.
Plug-in hybrid utes are set to take off
Beyond more Chinese electric brands entering Australia is the battle for the plug-in hybrid ute. Joining BYD, Chery, GWM, and MG, new models have been announced. These are proper 4WDs with hybrid engines capable of 3.5-tonne towing, all battling it out for what has been the top-selling vehicle category for the last few years.
Images: Angus Jones.
Also interesting: beyond Hyundai, none of the traditional top-selling car brands were present.
Vehicle-to-grid savings could be lucrative
Another trend was in the V2G (vehicle-to-grid) space, where you use your car’s battery to power your home and potentially sell power back into the grid.
Image: Angus Jones
Encouraging Australians to get on board, Amber has partnered with BYD to run a local trial where customers get a 6% discount on their BYD, essentially paying for the V2G infrastructure. Amber mentioned one customer on the trial making $700 one night by selling power to the grid. Although this return is rare, we will see V2G become a reality in homes soon.
Electric chargers get smarter and more plentiful
Sydney’s 2026 Everything Electric event also showed that electric car chargers are becoming more accessible. Companies like myenergi sell smart home chargers for less than $1,000 that let you harvest power from your solar panels, helping you use most of your free power from the sun. This is a big improvement in the tech at such a low price.
Ausgrid, on the other hand, is planning power-pole chargers where, no matter who your home retailer is, you can charge your car on the street and have the cost appear on your monthly home electricity bill.
Images: Angus Jones.
Other fun things at the show, besides test-driving the latest electric cars, included an exoskeleton that reduces physical exertion by 40%, electric outboards, and an Australian-designed moped with a 120 km range and an 8 km/h top speed.
Images: Angus Jones.
If you’re keen to take a look for yourself, Everything Electric Sydney is on now until 20 September 2026.
