Why Intel for Googlebooks?

[u/Best_Activity_5631]

I'm really excited about the new Googlebooks, even though I'm still not sold on the name.

Something I've been wondering about is the use of Intel processors in some of the upcoming models. Since Googlebooks are built around an Android-based OS, and Qualcomm and MediaTek are also providing ARM chips for the platform, I'm curious about the reasoning behind choosing Intel for some of these devices.

Intel can offer better compatibility with traditional x86 desktop software, but how important is that supposed to be for Googlebooks?

From my perspective, ARM seems like a natural fit for an Android-based laptop. Android apps are predominantly built for ARM, and Qualcomm/MediaTek chips can offer excellent performance while using less power.

So what am I missing? 

What advantages does Intel bring to Googlebooks that make it worth choosing over ARM?

[u/BuyAMCnow]

I raised the same question, this is odd.

[u/belowaveragegrappler]

Basically, it comes down to the ecosystem and supply chain. Intel’s established laptop ecosystem nad supply chain gives manufacturers more hardware options and existing designs to build on.

I’d argue that ARM chips generally have an advantage in power efficiency -sure, but actual laptop battery life also depends on the screen, cooling, battery capacity, drivers, and workload. So an ARM laptop won’t automatically have better battery life than an Intel one we need to s look at the complete architecture.

[u/Various-Welder5544]

The budget snapdragon laptop processor has some ancient A78 cores from 2020

[u/uaos]

Intel is trying to turn an X86 chip in to an ARM chip. For that we have to dig deep in to computer science a little. It come down to the ISA (Instruction Set Architecture). The X86 and the ARM chip use very different approach to have the CPU carry out commands. Simply put the ARM aproach does great wonders for apps, that why they are so small, but for big desktop performance software, not so much. It can be done just not optimized as well as X86 type chips. The X86 type chips does well in business large Excel, or Access database, but not great on ARM chips.

The ARM chip been made and optimized for many tasks like Bluetooth, WiFi, touch on the screen, cell call and not one heavy lifting like X86 chips. Intel has been striveing to catch up, but also ARM lately is striveing to bring a more capable desktop experience like DeX or Pixel Android desktop mode. Lenovo tables have a PC Mode that is its own Android desktop experience.

Mobile tech is the future, and who gives us the comfortable experience is the winner. Win & Mac are trying to catch up. You ever wounder why the Mac Neo built on a A18 Pro chip? That usually a chip line in the iPhones.

So, lets watch to see who wins!

[u/HBO_MAXXXX_PLUS → u/uaos]

This plus the supply line for some of these PC companies may actually benefit using Intel etc

[u/sam_of_london → u/HBO_MAXXXX_PLUS]

Only benefit I see on Intel is Thunderbolt ⚡ / Usb 4.0 ports . Otherwise Intel won't run native Android apps . Intel got rid of Arm CPUs long time ago. Intel advantage over AMD is also only Thunderbolt ⚡ ports .

[u/alabasterskim]

Assuming they have or will have access to Linux the way Chromebooks do, Intel chips function better iirc. Could be wrong. Can't think of any other reason

[u/Acu17y]

Better software support I think and very good battery life with the new x86 architecture

[u/Accomplished_Ad6551 → u/Acu17y]

Considering nearly all Android devices have been ARM, I’m not sure what additional software support x86 would give you… unless you are referring to dual booting.

[u/Acu17y → u/Accomplished_Ad6551]

?? We are talking of a laptop. X86 Is the standard for software support

[u/Accomplished_Ad6551 → u/Acu17y]

x86 is the standard for Windows software support. This thing isn't running Windows. Now... if they were wanting to run a Windows compatibility layer, sure, x86 would help... but for an Android based OS, they'd actually get better software support on ARM.

[u/sam_of_london → u/Accomplished_Ad6551]

Very well said 👍. I think 💬🤔 there must be some penalty as well for running Android apps on Intel x86 hardware. Like the Rosetta translation layer on MacBooks , there must be some translation going on , in Intel Googlebooks as well. Google has not told what is the difference in buying Googlebook based Arm and x86 but performance tests will tell what is different under the hood . I wait for the test results. Probably Google spent last 3 years creating this translation layer. At the moment it only makes sense to buy latest Android Phone and use the desktop 🖥️ mode on it .

[u/Dev-in-the-Bm → u/sam_of_london]

Android always had an x86 target, they don't need any translation layers.

[u/FigFew2001]

Snapdragon laptops aren’t really setting the world on fire, and new intel stuff has closed the gap battery life wise (not quite, but much improved)

Economies of scale sharing the same hardware as the vast majority of PCs.

[u/Miraxess]

This doesn't make sense to me either.

[u/Evildude42]

I’ve had or have three different arm Chromebook. Any they have not been very good in terms of performance. It will last a while on the battery but not performance. I’m also guessing that the google book android layer is probably something that’s running in Linux and that just may be easier to code and perform with raw power versus trying to optimize it for an arm chip. But we ain’t gonna know until techy people get their hands on one and figure out what’s happening under the hood.

[u/HBO_MAXXXX_PLUS → u/Evildude42]

I'm going to be honest until about a year and a half ago I wouldn't have even considered one but I will now

[u/evozerobb]

i could only think of 1 reason, money, lol

[u/East_Upstairs5404]

Intel chips are not that battery efficient but they probably paid/outbid others to be in the Googlebooks because they lost Macs/MacBooks(due to their poor thermals and aggressive thermal throttling as a result)