Early reviews panned Googlebook’s Glowbar, but adore Macbook’s glowing logo

I have spent a good part of my morning laughing at the memes rolling across my social feeds today. Apple just showed off its latest batch of $3,000+ MacBooks, and the tech internet is practically throwing a parade for the return of the glowing Apple logo on the lid. Nostalgia is running wild, influencers are swooning, and early hands-on impressions are treating a single-color backlit cutout like pure design magic.

The irony here is thick. Just a couple of weeks ago, when the first Googlebooks hit the scene, most reviewers dunked on the “non-functional” Glowbar, saying that it didn’t serve any purpose since it is facing away from the user all the time. It was largely dismissed by almost everyone as a gimmick that was largely unnecessary.

Yet, when Apple slaps a static, white backlight onto an aluminum lid that does literally nothing, it’s just incredible. Nevermind the fact that Google’s Glowbar not only creates a brand mark, but actually delivers a bit of info to the user when the lid gets closed. The double standard is pretty silly.

The Glowbar actually does useful things and looks really cool doing it

Apple’s revived logo does look cool and adjusts to match the screen brightness, but other than glowing when open, it literally has no functionality. And I’d argue it doesn’t need to. It’s a brand mark that draws attention (and battery) to the device. That’s all it really has to be, right?

I’d argue that the Glowbar provides a cooler brand mark and actually helps the user here and there. When your Googlebook is plugged into a charger on a desk across the room, the Glowbar fills up horizontally to show your current battery and charging progress at a glance without having to open the lid or wake the display.

When you are using voice input, it animates smoothly to give you visual feedback that Gemini is listening and processing your request if you are interacting with it when not in front of the screen.

And then there’s the sheer personality of it. As we uncovered with the hidden system-level Glowbar Disco app – which Google’s own team built as a delightful built-in Easter egg – you can customize themes, choose preset light animations, and even sync the bar to system audio. It has character, versatility, and software backing it up.

Don’t get me wrong: I love fun hardware touches. Tech can be sterile and boring, so bringing back glowing accents or retro flair is something I will always root for in an industry full of identical devices.

What bothers me is the immediate, reflexive cynicism that hits anything new from Google, contrasted with the automatic reverence reserved for Cupertino. Googlebook OS and its launch hardware aren’t without their growing pains – I’ve been very clear about some of my early gripes; but the hardware itself has been ambitious and fun. If reviewers are going to celebrate aesthetic lighting on a $3,000 MacBook, it’s time to give Google credit for actually giving that light something smart to do.