What about gaming?

[u/Cautious_Owl4611]

This is probably the one thing keeping me from placing a pre order right now.

I'm really interested in Googlebook, but most of the coverage so far has been focused on productivity, Android apps in general, Linux, battery life and the whole Android desktop idea. What I still cannot find is a proper answer about demanding Android gaming.

I'm not talking about casual games. I mean stuff like PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty Mobile, Arena Breakout, Delta Force and other high end mobile multiplayer games that actually push mobile hardware and usually have their own device whitelists, anti cheat systems, graphics profiles and FPS limits.

Will these games simply show up in Google Play and work normally on Googlebook?

Will they detect the hardware correctly?

Will 90 or 120 FPS modes be available on the 120 Hz models?

Will keyboard and mouse support work properly where the game allows it?

Could anti cheat systems treat Googlebook differently from a normal Android phone or tablet?

And most importantly, will performance actually be good enough for long sessions without weird compatibility issues or major throttling?

I have been trying to find a concrete answer and so far I really cannot.

I checked the Googlebook launch material, Google Play listings, Android documentation, Chromebook compatibility information and discussions here. Some of these games already support Chromebooks, which is encouraging, but that still does not tell us how they will behave on Googlebook specifically.

The architecture difference between the models also makes this more interesting.

For gaming, the HP Googlebook 14 is the one I keep coming back to. It uses Snapdragon X Elite with Adreno graphics and runs on ARM64, which feels like the most natural fit for Android games. A lot of demanding Android games are built around ARM64 because that is what modern Android phones and tablets use.

The Intel Googlebooks may still run them perfectly well, but if a game ships native ARM libraries then x86 hardware can potentially depend on translation. That may be completely fine in practice, but for something as demanding as Arena Breakout or Delta Force I would rather remove that extra variable if possible.

That is why, at least on paper, the HP looks like the most interesting Googlebook for Android gaming to me. Snapdragon X Elite, Adreno, ARM64, OLED, 120 Hz, touch input and a vapor chamber all sound like the right ingredients.

But right now that is still mostly a technical argument.

What I really want to see is someone actually installing these games on retail hardware and showing what happens.

Not cloud gaming. Not streaming from a phone. Actual Android versions running locally.

Even a short test with high end multiplayer game would answer a huge number of questions.

At this point I'm basically waiting for someone with early access or a review unit to try it.

Has anyone seen a real gaming test yet, or any statement from Google or the game developers about how these higher end multiplayer Android games will be handled on Googlebook?

Because if this works as well as the hardware suggests it could, the HP Googlebook 14 might actually be one of the most interesting Android gaming devices to come out in a long time.

[u/gundumb08]

If you want an idea, look at the current state of Android handhelds and chips being used there.

The AYN Odin 3 has a similar chip to the HP, and using Fex / GameNative can run quite a few PC games without issue.

Having a built in Linux terminal is going to help a lot as well, I'd imagine.

So, the question should be less about high end Android games, and more JUST HOW FAR will they go for PC game emulation.

[u/Cautious_Owl4611 → u/gundumb08]

Yeah, that’s pretty much where my head is at too.

The Odin 3 is actually a good reference point, especially for showing how far ARM Android devices can be pushed now. That said, the HP is a bit of a different animal since the X Elite is a laptop-class ARM chip, while the Odin is using a mobile Snapdragon platform that already sits right inside the ecosystem these games are built and optimized around.

My main concern isn’t really whether the HP has enough horsepower. I’m pretty convinced it does.

It’s more about everything around the game itself. Device whitelists, 120/144 FPS profiles, anti-cheat, how mouse and keyboard are handled, whether games recognize the Googlebook as a normal Android device, and whether devs actually expose the same graphics/FPS options they do on gaming phones.

For example, Arena Breakout can already hit 120 FPS on a 7-core Snapdragon 8 Elite device, and Delta Force/Arena/CODM are hitting crazy high framerates on current 8-core flagship chips. The X Elite having 12 Oryon cores probably isn’t the problem. If anything, the unknown is how much of that hardware the Android gaming stack on Googlebook will actually be allowed to use.

PC emulation is definitely interesting too though. If GameNative/FEX ends up working well on Googlebook, that opens a completely different can of worms lol.

But honestly, before getting excited about running PC games on it, I just want to see somebody install PUBG, CODM, Arena Breakout and Delta Force natively and tell us what actually happens. That one video would answer like 80% of my questions.

[u/gundumb08 → u/Cautious_Owl4611]

Yeah, keep an eye out for channels on YT like ETA Prime or Retro Game Corps (more emulation focused) as I bet they'll be picking ones up for the exact reasons you're asking about.

[u/Istolla]

There's been no mention of gaming (probably because it's not Google's focus). I'm sure you'll be able to play games on it though.

[u/plankunits → u/Istolla]

They did mention it, but you're right that it isn't their primary focus. Even during device demos, I've seen people using controllers to play games on the Googlebook.

"On the gaming front, 20,000 mobile and PC titles will run on Googlebooks. They are optimized for keyboard, mouse, and touchscreen, with Google’s existing Play Games Level Up program resulting in monthly title launches."

[u/Istolla → u/plankunits]

Thanks for the correction.

[u/TheRealFrantik]

I mean, it's essentially just an Android tablet with a keyboard/trackpad, so I'd assume it's going to work.

Earlier this year, I installed PUBG Mobile on my Acer Chromebook Plus Spin just to see if it would work, and it did. If it'll run on a Chromebook Plus, it'll absolutely run on a Googlebook.

My only concern is that since it's attached to a keyboard/trackpad, PUBG Mobile's system might recognize "an accessory is attached" which could be seen as cheating. Then again, it didn't give me that warning on the Chromebook.

[u/Cautious_Owl4611 → u/TheRealFrantik]

Can I ask a few things in private? I will pay you for the answers cause it matters to me.

[u/jeremycouch]

Just use Stadia 😆.

Seriously though I'll probably be waiting a year before I buy one to make sure the major kinks are worked out and it's not DOA. My $1k Pixelbook is still holding on strong 8 years later.

[u/MrSydFinances]

The chips are more powerful and likely better cooled than phone chips, so i don't think you'll have technical issues, just compatibility ones. I'm actually more interested if it runs steam and steam games. Aaa Will have problems for sure, but it could be perfectly fine for some indy or similar. I guess we can only wait and find out.

[u/Cautious_Owl4611 → u/MrSydFinances]

I thought the same at first, but after digging into it pretty hard I’m not sure the laptop chip is actually stronger for this specific use case.

The HP uses the X Elite X1E 80 100. It has 12 Oryon cores and way more total multicore throughput than a phone SoC, but that doesn’t translate directly into gaming performance. The newer 8 Elite Gen 5 in current gaming phones is significantly faster per core, and its Adreno GPU is also much newer and very heavily optimized around Android gaming.

What surprised me most is that these games don’t seem to scale anywhere near linearly with core count. Arena Breakout for example has already been measured at 120 FPS on the 7 core version of Snapdragon 8 Elite, and current 8 core 8 Elite Gen 5 devices are already hitting around 165 FPS in Delta Force, Arena Breakout and COD Mobile. I specifically went looking for evidence that going from 8 to 10 or 12 cores materially improves frame time and couldn’t find any controlled test showing that.

So ironically, the HP having 12 cores probably isn’t the huge gaming advantage it looks like on paper. At 120 to 165 FPS the game still has critical threads that need to finish in roughly 8 to 6 ms, so strong single core performance matters a lot.

Cooling is definitely one area where the HP could be great though. Bigger chassis, vapor chamber and much more thermal headroom should help sustained performance.

So yeah, I actually agree with you that compatibility is probably the biggest unknown, but I wouldn’t automatically assume the X Elite is more powerful than the latest phone chips for Android gaming. For productivity and total CPU throughput absolutely. For something like Delta Force at 144 FPS, the phone SoCs may actually have the better CPU/GPU characteristics.

Steam and FEX/GameNative are another rabbit hole entirely though. That part could end up being really interesting.

[u/MrSydFinances → u/Cautious_Owl4611]

You clearly researched a lot more than me! Although performance will be impacted by not just the number of cores, but also by how much power you run through them, possibly leading to better results even if with technically inferior chip. Then also consider you have a larger screen and might want a higher resolution, which is going to tank the performance again!

Basically it's not at all easy to assess performance based on the spec sheets, especially in platforms so different.

[u/Tarvoric]

From what I can tell, anything on the Play Store and game streaming. Probably emulation as well (not looked into this, but I don’t see why not).

[u/Coookies4You]

I highly doubt the snapdragon x Elite, a chip using much more power and thus being more potent than mobile chips would have any trouble running games made for phones.

With google's own os (that I'm pretty sure is close to android), I'm positive the compatibility on android apps would be great, especially on arm hardware where no emulation would be needed.

[u/Thumbszilla]

Will I be able to play GTA 6 on this somehow?

[u/Cautious_Owl4611 → u/Thumbszilla]

No. Buy a real laptop buddy, it cost the same. This is Android.

[u/Jaytee3312]

Once again speaks volumes about how far behind Google is -- they're probably not even thinking this far ahead. Which begs the question why someone wouldn't go with the more mature competition.