LG Gram 17 review: a large and portable laptop for business

Apart from gaming laptops, productive 17-inch laptops are extremely rare. However, we need the laptop to be light, convenient, portable and powerful. The task is complex and often impossible. However, LG Gram 17 was created to change that.

LG's Gram 17 is quite different from other laptops in its category. It's thin, compact and shockingly light. But, it costs about $1,700 (110 thousand rubles). For this money we get a quad-core processor, 16 GB of RAM and a huge 17-inch display with a resolution of 2560×1600 pixels.

Is the device worth that kind of money? Or is it easier to buy a compact 15-inch gaming laptop for the same amount? I tried to figure it out.

Specifications LG Gram 17

LG Gram 13 review

A thin and light ultrabook, but nothing more.

With portable and powerful laptops priced below the psychological barrier of 50,000 rubles, the premium segment is the only one where the device must justify the price tag. As a rule, manufacturers set themselves the task of standing out through unique design, functions or characteristics (fingerprint scanner, long battery life, etc.).

The LG Gram 13 from our review is cheaper than the 12-inch Apple MacBook, comparable to the Dell XPS 13. The list of characteristics of the Gram 13 is more similar to Dell's offering than Apple's MacBook, having significantly fewer ports and a different processor class (Intel Core i5 LG vs Intel Core m5 Apple).

• Pros: Battery life | Fingerprint scanner | Thin frame;
• Cons : Scanner position | Camera position | Build quality;

However, we see the LG Gram 13 struggling to justify its hefty price tag, especially when it sits next to expensive Ultrabooks.

Price and Availability

LG currently sells two variants of the LG Gram 13. One version - the one we received - features a touchscreen, while the other laptop comes in white and lacks a touchscreen and fingerprint scanner.

A laptop with a touch screen costs $1,099 (about 62,000 rubles), and without it costs $999 (57,000 rubles). *International prices are 20-30% lower than retail prices in Russia.

We haven't seen any models with improved specifications or the ability to customize the LG Gram 13's components.

In addition, the laptop is widely available only in US retail stores; the likelihood of finding it on store shelves in Russia is close to zero; the only option remains a few online stores and, of course, Amazon. In other words, if you live in Russia, where LG doesn't directly offer sales of the Gram 13, you can order it online.

As for whether it's a necessary purchase, we found laptops at a comparable price with better build quality (but not better battery life) than the Gram 13, but that's okay.

Specifications LG Gram 13

Here's the configuration of the LG Gram 13 we received for review:

• Processor
  : Intel Core i5-7200U 2.5 GHz (3 MB cache, up to 3.1 GHz);
• Graphics
  : Intel HD Graphics 620;
• RAM
  : 8 GB DDR 4 (2133 MHz);
• Screen
  : 13.3-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS LCD, touchscreen;
• Built-in memory
  : 256 GB SSD;
• Ports
  : HDMI, 2x USB 3.0, USB 3.0 Type-C, MicroSD, headphone/mic jack (3.5mm);
• Connectivity
  : Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 8265 / Bluetooth 4.1;
• Camera
  : 1.3 megapixel;
• Weight
  : 921 grams;
• Size
  : 307 x 211 x 15 mm (W x D x H);

Design

LG praises the design of its 13-inch laptop, the Gram 13 is made of magnesium alloy "Nano Carbon", a metal compound that feels more plastic than the aluminum frames of competing laptops, but the Gram pays for the feel in a lightweight design.

With the lid closed, the Gram 13 measures 15.24mm tall at its thickest point. On the right side of the laptop, you will find a MicroSD slot, a headphone/microphone jack (3.5mm), and a USB 3.0 port.

On the left side of the laptop, you will find a charging port, another USB 3.0 port, a full-size HDMI, as well as a USB 3.0 Type-C. In addition, here you will find two indicator lights - one is a charging indicator, the other is an indicator of hard drive activity.

Lift the lid of the laptop and the first thing you will notice is a black rectangle in the upper left corner of the touchpad. True, at first we decided that this was another sticker, like “Intel Inside” or “Energy Star”.

After a few seconds, however, it became clear that this was a fingerprint scanner. It's an odd place to put it, considering you won't be scanning your fingers as often as you'll be using the pad. While the scanner doesn't interfere with operation, we intuitively didn't use the left side of the touchpad.

Above the keyboard, built into the laptop's hinge, is a 1.3-megapixel webcam, moved there from a more traditional location above the display. By moving the camera downwards, LG was able to reduce the bezels on the Gram 13's screen, both on the sides and at the top of the screen. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said about the panel below the screen.

In total, the Gram 13 weighs 939 grams, if you're curious. It's an incredibly lightweight laptop that won't weigh down your backpack when you're walking to meetings or between classes.

For comparison, Apple's MacBook weighs 921 grams, while the Dell XPS 13 weighs 1,225 grams.

Fingerprint's scanner

Setting up and using the Gram 13's fingerprint scanner is similar to how the scanner on any modern smartphone works - in fact, the process is very reminiscent of LG's flagship phones.

After placing your finger on the fingerprint scanner, Gram 13 recognizes the fingerprint and uses Windows Hello to unlock the computer using the scanner instead of a password.

Windows Hello is a convenient way to streamline authorization in the system after switching accounts or enabling Gram 13.

We didn't experience any problems with the scanner during our review, and scanning takes very little time from inserting your finger to unlocking the computer.

Muted speakers

A design decision that raises questions is the placement of the Gram 13's stereo speakers. Each speaker is located on both sides of the device.

During review, the speakers were often muffled or unintentionally obscured when using the Gram 13 on your lap by simply placing your hand on the side of the device.

Even when the speaker slots remained unlocked, the sound quality and volume left much to be desired. Listening to music often required volume levels of 70% or higher to ensure comfortable sound.

The Intel Core i5 processor inside the Gram 13 isn't the fastest, especially at this price point. And with Intel's Intel HD Graphics 620, the Gram 13 isn't great for gaming.

This doesn't mean you can't enjoy casual gaming sessions, however, it's just that you'll have to lower the resolution and detail otherwise you'll have to endure low frame rates.

The Full HD (1080p) display is standard and gets the job done. Typically, a 256 GB SSD supported by 8 GB of RAM is the starting point for the Gram 13, with potential and room for subsequent upgrades.

Costing $300 less, the Dell XPS 13 can be configured with comparable specs, offering nearly identical performance for the same price. However, the LG Gram 13 lasted much longer in our battery tests.

Benchmarks

Here's how the LG Gram 13 performed in our review tests:

• 3DMark Sky Diver
  : 1136 |
  Fire Strike
  : 313 |
  Time Spy
  : 327;
• Cinebench CPU
  : 326 points |
  Graphics
  : 38.17 FPS;
• GeekBench
  : 3065 points (
  Single-core
  ) |
  6706 points ( Multi-core
  );
• PCMark 8 (Home Test)
  : 2427 points;
• PCMark 8 ( Battery)
  : 5 hours and 52 minutes;
• Battery life
  (video test): 9 hours and 11 minutes;

Performance

One look at the Gram 13's performance is enough to make it clear that the laptop is not the fastest on the market. However, in real-world operating conditions, overall performance is not sluggish.

There have been times when applications take longer than they should to launch after a reboot. But, as soon as the application starts working, the lack of performance practically does not make itself felt.

Gaming or video editing push the Gram 13 to its limits, but there's enough performance under the hood to at least let you edit videos and play games.

If you're someone who regularly works with video or wants to play serious PC games, the affordable Dell Inspirion 15 Gaming is a gaming laptop done right.

Wobbling screen

During our testing of the LG Gram 13, the touchscreen was used extensively to scroll and select items on the display. The screen itself remained responsive, accurately recognized touches and did not slow down.

The problem is the floating hinge, which allows the screen to wobble and shake with every press, which is very distracting from work and, frankly, annoying.

Often I had to hold the screen on one side with my free hand while working with the panel with the other hand. This should not happen to a user of a touchscreen device, ever.

This is not how flexibility works...

It may seem strange, but believe me: When you press the body of the Gram 13, it feels hollow. The Gram 13 doesn't feel like a premium product when it comes to build quality. In other words, the laptop body is too flexible.

Grip the HP Specter 13 in a similar way and there's just a little flex, but nothing beats the Gram 13 we reviewed.

Obviously, the Gram 13 isn't empty inside, but every user has to wonder how well a case that flexes under the pressure of your fingers is expected to be transported in a backpack or accidentally dropped off a table.

Battery life

LG's marketing materials claim that the laptop can offer 15 hours of battery life, thanks to optimizations implemented by the manufacturer, along with battery saving modes. While our results fell far short of those promises, the LG Gram 13's battery life is still better than most Ultrabooks we've tested.

Our video test returned 9 hours and 11 minutes of continuous video playback with screen brightness and volume at 50%, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned off. The harsh PCMark 8 (Battery) test returned 5 hours and 52 minutes.

This is a good result, against which the XPS 13 can offer a little more than half the time of the Gram 13.

Using the LG Gram 13 during work hours, we were able to get through almost a full day of mixed use, consisting of the occasional YouTube video, Microsoft's email app, open and always-on apps like Slack, Facebook and Google Play Music, the latter streaming music. .

Again, the long battery life is impressive, but a far cry from LG's promised 15 hours. And before you ask, of course, we turned off the power saving mode in regular use.

We liked

: The LG Gram 13's fingerprint scanner is a must-have feature that will allow you to forget about PINs and passwords. The laptop is far from a workhorse, but it has more than enough performance—and portability—for students and students. The thin screen bezel is also welcome and, of course, the battery life is longer than most Ultrabooks we've tested so far.

We didn't like it

: But, to call a spade a spade, our tests fall very far short of LG's marketing promises - which many buyers rely on. Using alternative materials to offer premium quality and lightweight construction has not proven to be worthwhile. In this case, you just need to pick up Gram 13 to understand everything.

Summing up

The LG Gram 13 looks like a premium device at the price tag and from a distance. Unfortunately, the illusion crumbles as soon as you unpack the laptop. Sure, it's a lightweight and easy-to-use laptop, but the build quality leaves us wanting more.

The Intel Core i5 processor offers enough performance, coupled with 8GB of RAM, to keep multiple Chrome tabs open while researching a topic. But it is not enough for the most demanding users.

If portability, battery life, and a fingerprint scanner are key features in your new laptop, the LG Gram 13 is worth a look. On the other hand, when looking for a device designed to work outside the home, we would look at other machines.

LG Gram 13 review

Anton Zim

20.04.2017

6/10

Between a screen that bounces with every touch and a body that feels hollow, there's a price tag on the LG Gram 13 that just doesn't live up to the build quality, despite its amazing battery life.

6 Overall Score

Verdict: Between a screen that bounces with every touch and a body that feels hollow, there's a price tag on the LG Gram 13 that just doesn't live up to the build quality, despite its amazing battery life.

Design and appearance

From the name it becomes clear that the LG Gram 17 is an extremely lightweight device. The laptop weighs just 1.34 kg, which is lighter than most 15-inch models, including the Dell XPS 15 and MacBook Pro. The laptop is almost not felt in your hands when compared with 17-inch competitors, whose weight exceeds 2.5 kg.

This result was achieved thanks to a special alloy, which is a combination of nanocarbon and magnesium. At the same time, Gram 17 looks great - the body is metal, but light as plastic. You can easily throw your laptop into your backpack and calmly go to work on public transport - you won’t even feel it. I have never experienced this before with any other regular 17-inch laptop.

But there were some compromises here. Although LG says the Gram 17 is MIL-STD-810g compliant, there is some flex in the body. This is especially noticeable when pressing hard on the function keys of the keyboard. This also applies to the display cover; you should be careful with it.

Otherwise, everything is assembled very high quality. The hinge securely holds the 17-inch screen, and the lid can be opened even with one hand (test on a MacBook). LG also managed to significantly reduce the overall footprint of the laptop due to minimal side panels. As a result, the overall dimensions of the device correspond to 15-inch models.

Laptop display

LG Gram 17 received a 17-inch IPS display with a resolution of 2560×1600 pixels. Although its image is not as sharp as that of 4K screens, the picture is sharp, bright and has a wide range of colors. Test results showed that the panel covers 70% of the Adobe RGB gamut with an average contrast of 930 units. Color accuracy is excellent, rated at 1.81, and brightness reaches 395 nits.

If we translate these numbers into reality, this 17-inch display turns out to be an excellent option for relaxation and productivity. You can even create content on it. You can open several windows and comfortably work even with small text, as well as clear images. Thanks to the glossy surface, the brightness is high, although glare appears.

What's the best example of using Gram 17? In bright office environments, it is enough to set the brightness to 50% so as not to notice your own reflection. In any colorful film or cartoon, the colors will be rich, as they should be.

Ports and connectors

No other 17-inch laptop will ever give you the same experience as the LG Gram 17. It is truly comfortable. But this led to changes. I had to give up some connectors.

On the left side there are: USB-A port, HDMI and Thunderbolt 3 USB-C. On the right is another 2?USB-A and a slot for microSD cards. The laptop supports Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 A/C (2X2). As you can see, if necessary, you can connect up to two displays and even an external graphics card to improve performance.

Keyboard and touchpad

Laptops like the XPS 15 and HP Envy 17 have spacious and comfortable keyboards, but the Gran17 has some minor issues. The location of the touchpad is rather strange here - it is located in the center, and not shifted to the left, like most laptops. This means that the G and H keys will also be offset from the touchpad.

When typing, I advise you to either turn off the touchpad or keep your hands away from the touch surface. The touchpad keys feel too soft and have shallow travel (1.2 mm), but there is pleasant feedback when typing. It was convenient for me to type this text, and I almost immediately began to do it blindly.

For ease of use in the dark, the keyboard has two levels of backlighting. This is still not enough for me and it would be nice to have one more brightness level in stock.

The LG Gram 17's touchpad is about the same size as most 15-inch laptops. There is support for Precision drivers from Microsoft. The clicks are loud, and when pressed the panel sinks deeply into the body. The touch and smooth surface makes it easy to manipulate or drag interface elements. My subjective comment is that the touchpad for a 17-inch laptop could have been done more.

It should be noted that there is an in-keyboard fingerprint scanner for Windows Hello. It is located directly above the number pad, in the power button. Therefore, you can easily and quickly log into the system without thinking about passwords. The method works 99%. Unfortunately, there is no infrared camera for Windows Hello. LG installed only a simple HD camera.

Hardware performance

New laptops receive Intel Whiskey Lake series processors and demonstrate high performance and energy efficiency. The LG Gram 17 is no different here - it has a quad-core Core i7-8565U processor and 16 GB of RAM. Most tests were passed with high scores.

In single-core Geekbench 4, I received a score of 5026, and in multi-core - 13,952. The LG laptop was faster than the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Core i7-6820 and XPS 15 with Core i7-8750H. But, it was slightly inferior to Asus ZenBook 15 on the same processor.

In more complex tests, performance was noticeably limited by the slower SATA SSD, causing the Gram 17 to lag behind the ZenBook 15 and XPS 15 in the Handbrake encoding test. I was also disappointed by the result in Crystal Disk Mark, where the write/read speed was tested. In general, at such a high cost, I'm surprised why LG didn't install PCIe here.

However, this performance will be sufficient for most users. There were no slowdowns or lags in Google Chrome, although I had more than 20 tabs open at the same time. When connecting to a 4K monitor, everything looked sharp. The SSD drive here may not be fast enough, however, the system performance is sufficient for multimedia, browser and office work.

Performance and autonomy

LG Gram 14 is powered by an Intel Core i7-8565U processor from the Whiskey Lake line. This is the only choice, no other processors are offered. As mentioned at the beginning, there is only one configuration of this laptop. Since it uses an Intel Core i7 processor, the emphasis is on speed. At a price of $1500, this is quite natural.

This is a 4-core processor with support for 8 instruction threads and a power of 15 W. Manufacturers, if desired, could also sacrifice these processes for the sake of ease. For example, a 5W Core i7-8500Y processor would make it possible to do without fans. The Y line of processors is quite slow, so the developers decided not to install such a chip.

There are quite a few laptops with Whiskey Lake processors, all of them provide fairly good performance. For everyday work it is simply fantastic. If you need a load on the GPU, the speed is not bad, but not particularly impressive.

The operating time without an outlet at standard load reaches 8-9 hours. If you edit images and videos, this value will decrease. The battery capacity is 72 Wh and there is a USB-C charger, so you can use an adapter from another computer if you happen to have one on hand.

The PCMark 8 and PCMark 10 benchmarks were used for testing. The first contains Home, Creative and Work tests. First, let's look at the Home test, which analyzes simple actions like video chats, browsing, light games, etc.

The results are about the same as other laptops with Whiskey Lake processors. Next comes the Creative test, where the load on the video card is more serious. This is where videos are edited, heavier games are launched, etc.

This test shows that this kind of task can be performed, but not in the best way. There are gaming computers and workstations that can do a much better job. Finally, the Work test tests typing and spreadsheets.

This is where the Intel Core i7 U-series processors shine. They often outperform the 45W H-series chips.

The PCMark 10 benchmark was also launched, the results of which are shown in the graphs.

Gaming Performance

Most of the 15-inch laptops that I compared with the LG Gram 17 most have a discrete graphics card. This laptop only has an Intel UHD 620, so you definitely won't be able to play serious titles. The maximum that can be launched without lags is Indian games. As the 3DMark test shows, the Gram 17 doesn't even come close to 15-inch laptops with discrete graphics cards.

I ran Rocket League at 1080p and got no more than 29 fps. At the same time, it was quite unpleasant to play. For gaming, I would prefer a laptop at the same price, with a 15-inch screen and at least a GTX 1060.

Screen

As usual with LG's Gram lineup, the 14-inch model only has 1080p resolution. The new laptop with a screen size of 17 inches is the first with a higher resolution. Full HD has its advantages and disadvantages.

The glass feels truly premium. It is convenient to write on it with a stylus, as convenient as it can be on glossy glass. Previously, there were LG Gram models that felt cheap to the touch. It didn't make me want to write on them. This drawback has now been eliminated.

The bad news is that the screen brightness is low. All outdoor photos taken for this review were taken at maximum brightness. And at the same time almost nothing is visible on the screen.

As for color accuracy, there are no problems with it. With this size, I would like to get a higher resolution and, especially, brightness.

As is already clear, input is supported using the stylus, which is included in the package. Unfortunately, the stylus cannot be attached to the device. You will have to carry it with you separately and try not to lose it.

Autonomy LG Gram 17

The battery of a regular laptop lasts for a maximum of 9-10 hours of browsing the Internet. But, a 4-cell 72-watt lithium-ion battery is installed here, which means autonomy should be higher.

LG claims that the Gram 17 will last up to 19.5 hours away from a power outlet. I tested the battery while playing a 1080p video on loop, and the laptop lasted about 15.5 hours. It's clearly not quite what LG promises, but it's impressive.

In a standard test with Wi-Fi turned on, maximum display brightness and looped 1080p video, it took about 5 hours. In the iMacro test, the large LG laptop achieved about 12 hours.

| BATTERY LIFE

Perhaps our favorite aspect of the Gram 14 (2 in 1) is its battery life. With a 72W battery, LG promises a potential runtime of up to 23 hours. We weren't able to come up with these numbers, but we did squeeze in 10 hours and 45 minutes in the video test. The C930's battery was more impressive: 13 hours and 10 minutes on the same test. At the same time, HP's X360 15T lasted 6 hours and 56 minutes.

These results lead us to the possibility of using a laptop full time. At the very least, you get enough time to watch a few movies during the flight or on the way home.

Bottom line

The LG Gram 17 is the lightest, most compact and battery-powered 17-inch business laptop I've ever seen. It is ideal for business people and those who cannot always connect an additional monitor when multitasking.

Among the minuses, I would like to note the sagging screen cover in places, the lack of discrete graphics and the slow SATA SSD. With an 8th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and Thunderbolt 3 support, it will withstand changing technology for at least 3 years. But I think the price of $1,700 (110 thousand rubles) is overpriced.

Is it worth buying?

No. If you like the idea of ​​a 17-inch screen, the Gram 17 might be a good choice. For most, this is too expensive a device, without a dedicated GPU, fast storage or solid build quality.

Advantages

• Lightweight design.
• Thunderbolt 3 support.
• Efficient performance.
• Great battery life.

Flaws

• Slow SATA 3 SSD.
• Doesn't feel strong enough.
• No dedicated GPU.

Eventually

Pros:

• weight;
• screen diagonal;
• availability of all necessary ports;
• decent performance;
• decent autonomy.

Minuses:

• the keyboard is hard, with shallow travel;
• unresponsive trackpad;

Many of the users will probably be suspicious of the “weightlessness” of Gram 15. After all, everyone remembers that “heaviness is reliability.” And completely in vain.

If you're thinking about buying a MacBook Air 2020....no. Do yourself a favor and get an LG Gram

Yes, it is not without its shortcomings - the keyboard and trackpad could be of better quality. But overall, the LG Gram 15 is an ideal ultraportable laptop that, despite its weightlessness, is capable of performing all everyday tasks. Being light and compact, it will delight you with decent performance, an easy-to-use screen and a very reasonable price for such a device.