NotebookLM is designed for a distinct use case compared to using Gemini's models in a general chat-style interface. It's specifically geared towards research and operates primarily as a RAG system for documents you upload.
I’ve used it extensively to cross-reference and analyse academic papers, and the performance has been excellent so far. While this is just my personal experience (YMMV), it’s far more reliable and focused than Gemini when it comes to this specific use case. I've rarely experienced a hallucination with it. But perhaps that's the way I'm using it.
2. Useless with large context. Ignores, forgets, etc.
3. Terrible code and code understanding.
Also this is me hoping it would be good and looking at it with rose tinted glasses because I could use cloud credits to run it and save money.