Googlebooks vs. MacBooks: Which Laptop Line Does It All Better?

🔗 원문 전체 보기 → PCMag.com

요약

The new Googlebooks are ready to pair and play nice with the very latest Android phones, but how do they compare with Apple's MacBooks, and their formidable iPhone synchronicity? I've tested both platforms and come to a definitive conclusion. Design: Google's…

본문

Design: Google's Best Laptop Attempt Yet, But It Falls a Bit Short

The first Googlebooks are made by a handful of the usual-suspect PC makers: Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. While Google appears to have stricter guidelines for its manufacturing partners regarding product design than it did for Chromebooks, Apple's standards have been ironclad for years. Where does that leave the two? Let's start by detailing the overall Googlebook design.

So far, Googlebooks come in 13-inch to 15-inch screen sizes, similar to the MacBook Air line, and measure anywhere from 0.5 to 0.63 inch thick. Their weight varies quite a bit across the different screen sizes, with the 15.3-inch Lenovo Googlebook weighing 2.84 pounds and the 13.4-inch Dell XPS Googlebook weighing just 2.2 pounds.

All Googlebooks have a metal chassis, and while most include hinge mechanisms beneath their touchpads, the Lenovo Googlebook has haptic motors beneath the touchpads to simulate the clicking sensation. Every Googlebook, save for the HP model, comes with a backlit lattice or chiclet-style keyboard similar to what you’ll find on MacBooks. Also, every Googlebook includes a fingerprint reader in its power-button key.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Although the port layouts on Googlebooks vary, most provide more hardwired connections than MacBooks do. The Dell XPS Googlebook is an unfortunate exception (it has just two USB-C 3.2 ports), but several of the first Googlebooks combine high-speed USB-C ports (generally Thunderbolt 4) with legacy USB Type-A and HDMI-out connections.

The MacBook Air line, on the other hand, is consistent in this regard, using the same general chassis design between its 13.6-inch and 15.3-inch screen options. This includes two Thunderbolt 4 ports, not needed for charging thanks to the dedicated MagSafe power connection, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The cheaper MacBook Neo bucks this trend with slower USB-C ports and no MagSafe charging.

Apple's backlit Magic Keyboard comes standard on all MacBooks and uses a lattice/chiclet layout. Likewise, all MacBooks have haptic, glass-covered Force Touch trackpads. Touch ID comes standard as well, baked into the power key. Again, the MacBook Neo is an exception to this, offering Touch ID as an upgrade and using a hinge mechanism beneath the trackpad.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

The MacBook Air measures just 0.44 inch thick in the 13-inch configuration and 0.45 inch in the 15-inch variety, with the 13-incher weighing 2.7 pounds to the 15-incher's 3.3 pounds. Meanwhile, the Neo measures exactly half an inch thick and weighs just as much as the 13-inch MacBook Air.

All told, this is a relatively easy win for the MacBook line, as its design has inspired countless hopeful imitators, including Googlebooks. Regardless, in practice, the MacBook Air's dedicated charging solution does more to free up its other connections than its Googlebook competitors, which all charge over USB-C. Also, the MacBooks come in various interesting colors that the Googlebooks simply can't match right now.

Winner: MacBooks

Displays: Google's New Laptops Score Here

As I've already mentioned, the first five Googlebooks come in screen sizes ranging from 13 to 15 inches. However, they have a few things in common that Google likely mandates: They're at least 1600p in resolution (maxing out at 1800p), have touch screens with a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, and shine at up to 500 nits of brightness.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Some of them differ in a way that matters quite a bit in comparison with MacBook screens: A few of the first Googlebook models have OLED displays, arguably the best panel technology for color coverage at the moment.

Apple's MacBook displays, on the other hand, come in 13-inch, 13.6-inch, or 15.3-inch sizes, ranging from the MacBook Neo to the larger MacBook Air. These panels are all standard LED-backlit IPS screens in the company's Liquid Retina family, with custom resolutions for each specific product. The resolutions generally amount to 1600p or 1800p, with the Neo coming in just a bit short, at 2,408 by 1,506 pixels.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

However, Apple has always been more concerned with pixel-per-inch (ppi) ratings; these screens display either 219ppi (MacBook Neo) or 224ppi (MacBook Air). These panels are also rated for a maximum brightness of 500 nits but refresh at just 60Hz.

The MacBook screens have always been top-notch, meeting P3 color-gamut standards despite being IPS panels, and some have adopted additional features like True Tone ambient color adjustment. But they’re falling behind the competition in speed, overall color, and touch technology.

Winner: Googlebooks

Performance: Apple Silicon Holds Pole Position

This is where comparisons become truly woolly. Googlebooks come with one of two processor options right now, while the comparable MacBooks have two chip choices. Starting with the Googlebooks, you can buy one with either the Intel Core Ultra 5 325 or the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100). These are locked into the Googlebook model you choose and run on different architectures: x86 for Intel and Arm64 for Snapdragon.

The Intel Core Ultra 5 325, released in early 2026, is an eight-core processor with four Performance cores, four Low Power Efficient cores, and a maximum clock speed of 4.5GHz. The chip supports up to 128GB of LPDDR5X RAM. Googlebooks also have an Intel Graphics integrated GPU (IGP) with four Xe cores with support for ray tracing.

Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100) first landed in laptops back in 2024 and gained popularity in 2025. It's a 12-core part that runs at up to 4.0GHz and supports LPDDR5X. As for the GPU, it's the Adreno X1-85 IGP.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

As for Apple, it shares even less detail about its M-series silicon. The Arm-based M5 processor available in both MacBook Air models has 10 CPU cores, with four super cores and six efficient cores. The onboard GPU is either an eight-core or 10-core component (your pick) with Neural Accelerators and ray-tracing support. Apple doesn't detail the speeds of its unified memory.

Meanwhile, the MacBook Neo runs on an A18 Pro chip, first released in iPhones and adapted to run macOS. That's a six-core CPU with two performance cores and four efficiency cores, paired with a five-core GPU that also supports ray tracing.

As for starting memory and storage capacities, all Googlebooks start with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB PCIe 4.0 solid-state drives. These are configurable depending on the model, with some configs available with up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSDs.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

The MacBook Neo is naturally more limited than the Air laptops, maxing out with 8GB of memory and starting with just 256GB of SSD space. You can double the storage capacity with a $100 upgrade that includes the Touch ID button. The MacBook Air laptops start with 16GB of memory (upgradable to 32GB) and 512GB of storage, which you can boost to up to 4TB before checkout.

These being two deeply different platforms, our ability to compare their performance is limited to the Geekbench benchmark and our own local video battery-rundown test. Here's how that shakes out; the results are nuanced, but not exactly shocking.

As expected, the 13-inch MacBook Air outran the Googlebook group by a country mile in both single-core and multi-core speeds on GeekBench. Meanwhile, the MacBook Neo's iPhone-grade chip outperformed Googlebooks’ processors in single-core performance, while losing out on multi-core performance by varying (but overall large) margins.

Apple's M-series silicon has long held a single-core advantage over its contemporaries. At the same time, the A series has historically focused less on multi-core speeds that aren't as crucial in smartphones and tablets.

As for battery life, the MacBook Air wins most of the face-offs here, but loses to some key rivals, namely the HP Googlebook 14, by a fair margin. The Neo managed to outlast the Lenovo Googlebook 15, but otherwise simply isn't as long-lasting as the others here.

In the end, Apple silicon continues to have a leg up over the competition, especially in the single-core tasks that comprise most of the time you’re using lighter laptops like these. It's only bound to stay that way once the MacBook Air line jumps to the newest M6 chip and the MacBook Neo to a later version of the A series.

Winner: MacBooks

Operating Systems: Android on a Laptop Is Still Young

Google may say that Googlebooks run on a custom operating system known as Googlebook OS, but look a little deeper, and you’ll learn it’s simply a modified version of Android 17. This isn't necessarily a knock against Googlebook OS, but it colors the OS's strengths and limitations.

Recommended by Our Editors

Before digging into that, the interface looks a lot like macOS, with an app drawer at the bottom of the screen with a search function and a status bar at the top with app-level options, time, battery, notifications, and connectivity controls. The OS also has a more complete file-management system than ChromeOS does, plus many multitouch touchpad gestures that will feel familiar. However, it's still not quite as robust as macOS.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Android means there will be deep familiarity for anyone who's used a Google-based phone for some time, which is welcome. However, this also means that Googlebooks are limited solely to running Android apps.

If you download Photoshop on a Googlebook, for instance, it will look and feel like a lightweight version compared with the full-fat macOS or Windows program. That's simply the nature of Android and the support it has received so far. This will be fine for the average user, but if you're looking for more capabilities out of your $1,000 laptop, you'll find that Googlebooks come up short. They're even more limited in app support than MacBooks, as macOS has access to more software than ever.

On the topic of macOS, that operating system has far more years of development under its belt and is arguably an inspiration for Googlebook OS. It has far deeper file-management capabilities, greater app-management depth, and simply more customization potential. Apple's OS can also run apps from any source, so long as it comes in a .dmg installer package.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Apple developers don't necessarily need to go through the Mac App Store approval process to bring their apps to you. Yes, you can sideload Android apps onto Googlebooks via APK packages, but not many app makers list their Android apps like this. Instead, they often redirect you to the Play Store via their links. It’s an interesting twist between the two interfaces.

As a desktop interface, macOS wins this one handily.

Winner: MacBooks

Phone Connectivity: Still a Catch-Up Game for Google

One of the marquee Googlebook features is connectivity with your Android phone. This comes in two flavors: the Continue On and Cast My Apps features. The first is the ability to take work in Google-made apps on your phone and pick up that work on your Googlebook seamlessly. The second allows you to run streamed versions of your Android phone apps on your Googlebook as if they were on the device.

However, before getting into this, know that these features work only on Pixel phones and some Samsung Galaxy phones with the latest Android 17 updates. That leaves a wide swath of Android phones incompatible with Googlebooks until more updates arrive.

Besides all that, Continue On has worked decently well in my experience, but only after much cajoling via the setup process. I also don’t find it particularly useful, and its performance is inconsistent, as it relies heavily on your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections. If either connection is strained by distance or wall interference, the experience suffers.

(Credit: Google)

This issue is exacerbated when using Cast My Apps. Even in positive conditions, I find the latency when using the feature to be, well, almost unusable. However, this is already beyond the point: Since both devices run on versions of the same Android OS, that undercuts the point of streaming apps significantly. This is especially true given the vast number of Android apps on the Google Play Store that already support desktop implementations. For instance, why stream Instagram from my Android phone when I can just install the same app on the laptop, where it’s already optimized for desktop?

As for Apple’s version of phone connectivity, it’s simply had more time to cook, but there’s more to it than that. For one, the iPhone Mirroring feature works with impressively low latency under conditions similar to the Googlebook. However, more importantly, since iOS and macOS are distinctly different interfaces, you’ll more likely find iPhone apps that aren’t supported by macOS, thus necessitating that you use iPhone Mirroring. 

Apple takes its Continuity suite much further, too. For example, you can use an iPhone camera as your laptop’s webcam, unlocking far sharper resolution for video calls. The basic Continuity experience also works over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but it also relies more heavily on your Apple account for easier exchanges.

(Credit: Apple)

Opening Safari browser tabs on your MacBook that you’ve accessed on your iPhone is downright simpler, as it doesn’t require the two to be directly connected—you just need to be using the same Apple ID on both devices. This is also how the clipboard syncing feature works: over iCloud and Apple ID, rather than directly via the device connection.

You can even use a connected iPad as a second screen to your MacBook using Continuity, and the list of features goes on from there. It’s simply a more complete connected experience, and Google has lots of catching up to do.

Winner: MacBooks

AI Tools: Here's Where Googlebooks Flex

This is where Google’s software muscle comes to bear. Google's implementation of its Gemini AI suite in Googlebooks is thorough, intuitive, and useful. Not only is the Gemini chatbot available in all of its forms (Flash, Thinking, and Pro), but you can access it throughout the system.

The new Magic Pointer feature helps a lot here, where you can wiggle the cursor to summon Gemini to tell you more about a given block of text or image. The possibilities are vast. I've used Magic Pointer to fact-check online articles and to identify rare bird species. (Gemini even pointed out an AI-generated bird image online and pointed me to the closest true-to-life bird species that looked like it.)

(Credit: Google)

Gemini can also help punch up your writing, create custom desktop widgets, and even generate your own Android apps based on prompts. Google's AI is truly impressive, and it comes with the backing of your Google account, which, if you’ve had one for a long time now, means a lot of history. It's also baked into all of Google's apps now, including Docs and Maps.

Apple, on the other hand, has made leaps from its Apple Intelligence launch a few years ago, but it still relies on none other than Gemini to do much of the heavy lifting. The company partnered up with Google for that after a tie-in with OpenAI's ChatGPT fell through.

(Credit: Apple)

Yes, Siri AI is powerful and uses device-level integrations to do much of the same work that Gemini can, such as Writing Tools and on-screen content identification. However, it likely couldn't do all that without help from Google's Gemini models. Apple now claims to use its own Foundation models for these functions, but more complex queries are still processed on Google servers using Nvidia hardware.

It’s a strange partnership that puts Google, at least in part, in the driver's seat as to where Siri AI and Apple Intelligence go in terms of potency and feature sets. Since you wouldn't have Apple's upgraded AI features today without help from Google, Gemini wins this one by default.

Winner: Googlebooks

Price: Googlebooks Need to Get Cheaper

Down to the final factor in this showdown: the cost. While it's a closer matchup than you might think, it’s not exactly for the best reasons. Googlebooks are downright expensive for what they are and what they can do, starting at $899.99 for the Acer model and capping out at $1,799.99 for the top-configured Dell XPS Googlebook. It's just not a good look for what's essentially a powerful Android tablet with a keyboard permanently attached.

While the 13-inch MacBook Air is simply more expensive from the jump (it starts at $1,299), that price also matches HP's model. Plus, if you configure one for $1,799, it’s a far more capable and capacious laptop than Dell's similarly priced XPS Googlebook. Pricier, yes, but MacBooks are generally more competent laptops.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Then you have the MacBook Neo, which is a more potent laptop in some ways for even less than the cheapest Googlebook. The Neo even has access to Siri AI and Apple Intelligence at its $699 starting price.

If Googlebooks were priced more like the MacBook Neo, this might be a different discussion. Alas, Apple and its MacBooks somehow win out in this cost comparison.

Winner: MacBooks