LG - gram 17" Laptop - Intel Core i7 - 16GB Memory - 512GB Solid-State Drive - Dark Silver

Speed and weight are the two most obvious metrics that get balanced against each other in the laptop market. To have one usually means a sacrifice to the other; a laptop with desktop-level performance might tip the scale like a dumbbell weight, while the lightest machines struggle to load a second tab in the web browser. Now on its third generation, LG’s Gram series has lofty goals to knock out the fat from workstation machines, making high-performance laptops as light as possible while keeping them durable enough to handle the rigors of daily use and transport. New for this generation is a 17-inch model that provides vastly improved screen real estate while keeping within the loose definition of a 15-inch laptop. With satisfying performance, plenty of connectivity, and robust build quality, LG’s Gram 17 weighs in with a premium portable workstation experience to match its premium price. - Initial Impressions LG has aimed high with how they packaged the Gram. The minimalist packaging echoes premium brands, and although instructions are sparse they’re hardly needed for a plug-and-play laptop. The included power brick is on the smaller side, and the inclusion of a USB-C to USB-A dongle is a nice touch. The laptop was also padded and protected well, which was a welcome discovery after the delivery carrier mishandled it. The most impressive thing about this laptop is, obviously, its weight. At just under 3 pounds this laptop weighs less than most small-screen budget laptops, which makes build quality a crucial factor. Despite an all-plastic chassis with only a magnesium lid, the laptop exhibits minimal flex and feels very sturdy. A matte texture all around, including on the keyboard surface, hides fingerprints excellently. The only issue I found is that the display hinge, while strong, allows an average amount of wobble. Setup was very straightforward, though the initial configuration took a while (likely due to a Windows update that came out between the laptop’s release and today). Refreshingly, LG included no superfluous bloatware out of the box. Only a few pre-installed apps beyond the typical Windows 10 advertisements are to be found, and they are all specific to the Gram 17 or LG’s support services. - Keyboard & Trackpad The typing surface is well-reinforced and exhibits only the smallest amount of flex under hard pressure. Keys have a short travel (a necessity given how thin the laptop is) but actuate well and register accurately. I had no issues with keys registering, though it took a while to get used to the narrow numpad and the limited selection of function keys. On a number of occasions I was tripped up by an errant Num Lock press doing heavy Excel work. This will still satisfy most accountants’ portable data entry needs, but as a workstation a separate tenkey board is still recommended. A neat addition is the combination power button and fingerprint reader, allowing Windows Hello logins to bypass the password altogether. The reader on the LG Gram 17 is very accurate and had no trouble picking up my fingerprint from a bevy of angles and partial scans. Just make sure you don’t push so hard that you trigger the power button! The spacious trackpad appears to use the Windows Precision drivers, and doesn’t get in the way while working (about the highest praise one can give a trackpad). The trackpad clicks depress the bottom corners of the pad for a physical “click” that I found mushier than I’d like, but this is a matter of preference as I’ve been spoiled by haptic feedback touchpads. - Screen & Audio With a 16:10 aspect ratio and 2560x1600 display, LG does what few manufacturers do and offer a laptop with an ideal workspace. The additional screen height makes multitasking considerably easier, and the high resolution makes it possible to view applications and websites side-by-side at their native resolution. Windows display scaling is enabled by default but can of course be dialed back. Resolution is nothing without good color reproduction, and LG’s IPS panel here does not disappoint. Colors are rich and vibrant with solid black levels, and viewing angles are pretty good as well, helped further by a partially matte finish that slightly reduces glare. Though not quite reaching 100% sRGB gamut, this screen is still accurate enough to allow most production and design work after calibration. That being said, any audio work will require headphones. The speakers on the Gram 17 are the weakest part of the entire laptop, delivering tinny, weak audio that doesn’t get very loud. This isn’t a major issue given the ubiquity of studio headphones and the Gram’s included headphone jack, but was a mild disappointment given the excellent impressions I have of the laptop otherwise. - Performance The Intel quad-core processor, generous RAM, and solid state disk all harmonize into a fantastic workstation experience on par with desktops. With a high turbo frequency, the processor continuously adjusts its performance on demand to balance battery life against power, but even at low speed the processor is so fast it you’d hardly notice. CPU-intensive apps run flawlessly, and memory-hungry ones have a good amount of room to reach their performance potential. The SSD is a SATA type rather than an NVMe type, which means transfer speeds are 1/4th as fast as they could be, but the system is still snappy and responsive enough that this is a trivial concern. Of course, without a dedicated GPU, this machine isn’t designed for gaming. eSports titles are passable at minimum settings and half resolution, but even then the Intel UHD graphics struggle to maintain a fluid framerate and the laptop gets warm. Best to stick to rounds of Bejeweled rather than Fortnite when you need a break from work. One thing to be mindful of is that the Gram only has a small, low profile cooling fan for the CPU that vents below the screen. The fan rarely kicks on and is barely audible on most productivity sessions, but will not be enough for sustained full saturation of the CPU (e.g. video rendering) without significant performance throttling. - Connectivity / Peripherals The Gram 17 keeps the standard array of USB ports that business users will appreciate, all of which are USB 3.0. The USB-C port is indeed a Thunderbolt 3 port, allowing ultra high speed data transfer along the PCIe bus, which keeps it relevant for future uses such as plugging in an external GPU for accelerated graphics rendering or GPU compute. A full-size HDMI port ensures that the laptop can connect easily to any projector or television display without needing to carry around adapters and cables. Although there’s no Ethernet jack, the WiFi and Bluetooth adapter maintain strong connections with high signal strength even at long distances from an access point. The webcam and microphone are both just adequate for mobile needs. The camera is a bit washed-out and grainy in low light situations, and the microphone is a bit quiet but serviceable. They’ll both do for video meetings but you’ll definitely want to grab a speaker at minimum for a conference with multiple people in the room. - Battery & Charging LG’s claims of a 19 hour battery life are overly optimistic and unrealistic. I average about 11 hours per charge dependent on use, though I suspect 13-plus is possible at full power saving mode and lower screen brightness. Certainly nothing terrible by any stretch. I was disappointed that there only seemed to be DC-plug charging on the laptop, but to my surprise when I plugged in a USB-C charger, the Gram accepted the connection and began recharging the battery. A minimum 10 watt power adapter (5 volts at 2 amps, similar to most tablet chargers) is needed and the machine won’t charge nearly as fast as it would on the DC power brick, but the option to bring just a universal USB-C charger along is a fantastic option for travelers. Given the power brick weighs nearly a third that of the laptop itself, lower bag weight at the expense of charging speed is a fair tradeoff. - Bottom Line LG’s Gram 17 laptop takes a few light jabs for some minor annoyances but ends in a knockout victory. This is a startlingly light laptop that almost feels impossible in the hands, but the performance and usability on tap makes this an excellent machine all around. It’s a worthy consideration against premium rivals not just in the Windows space, but against those running alternative operating systems as well. I went in with considerable expectations given its price but still came away highly impressed and reconsidering my notions of the sacrifices that a powerful machine must make to bring the desktop experience to the road. A winner by unanimous decision after going all 12 rounds, the LG Gram 17 comes highly recommended!

Out of all the laptops shown this CES 2019, the LG Gram 17 was the only one that caught my attention. An ultrabook with a 17-inch display and still light as a 13.3-inch ultrabook. I’ve heard of how light the LG Gram laptops are but I never held one in person. Taking it out the box for the first time I couldn’t believe how light it was. The best way to describe it is like picking up a display model without the internals. The weight is distributed very well so any side you can easily pick it up one-handed. The build is made of what LG calls nanocarbon and magnesium. It's not quite feeling of some of the aluminum build laptops but neither does it feel like cheap plastic. There is some flex on the body and screen so it’s not 100% solid feeling but not flimsy either. If you want something that feels solid like a tank this will not be it. It does feel hollow in some ways due to how light it is. Overall is a nice combination of light hardware that doesn’t feel like it will come apart or break on the first drop. With a rating of 810-G military ruggedness small drops and bumps the laptop should come unscathed. As for design, it has the MacBook style to it. The display is huge, colorful, sharp and bright with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600. The 16:10 aspect ratio is a sweet spot between the 16:9 and 3:2 ratios. It has become my go-to device when it comes to web browsing and especially consuming media. Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube look amazing on this 2k display. It’s a glossy display but bright enough to use outdoors. Even though it’s not a touchscreen display I’m fine with it since it’s not a 2 in 1 device. Color accuracy is very good and supports HDR Video. The display offers so much screen real estate that makes it an excellent productivity machine to get some work done. It’s wide enough to comfortably work with a split screen view of a word/excel document and web page at the same time. Too bad you can’t enjoy some Triple AAA games on this display more on that later. The speakers on the Gram 17 are actually pretty good they can get loud and have a nice crisp sound to them. The DTS software allows you to increase the bass and choose from surround sound to 3d effect. My preference so far has been the 3d effect because it increases the vocals and sounds much louder overall. Some more bass to them would of sweeten the deal. Most ultrabooks have a poor selection of I/0 ports. LG did not hold back when it came to ports selection. You get a full-size HDMI port, x3 full size 3.1 USB port and 1 USB Type C Port with full Thunderbolt 3 support for eGPU support and multi-display output with charging capabilities. LG does include a barrel charger but you can also charge it via the USB C port. With a proper USB C charger, it charges just as quick as the barrel connector provided from LG. I would prefer to have USB C on both sides for the flexibility of charging from either side. Don’t worry about the dongle life LG has you covered. It also comes with 3.5mm headphone jack and micro sd slot. The keyboard is ok for the most part. The keys have a travel distance of around 1.2mm The keys are also backlit and you can adjust the brightness or turn it off completely. You also have the option to use the hotkeys without the function button. Windows hello is supported via the fingerprint/power button located on the top right-hand corner. The fingerprint scanner is accurate and fast. The trackpad is average size but with a slick surface. So far this is my favorite trackpad on a laptop. It’s very slick that it actually took me a little bit longer to adjust to it since my finger glides without any friction. Another thing I like about it how clicky it is and not wobbly either. Since it’s an also a Microsoft Precision Driver trackpad the multi-gestures work very good. Even though it feels like there is no internals in it LG packed in some serious hardware. Let’s start off with the quadcore 8th Gen i7-8565U 1.80GHz/4.60GHz it’s fast and slightly faster than last year 8th Gen i7 8550u. Unfortunately, there is no discrete GPU just the Intel UHD 620 so don’t expect to be doing any type hardcore gaming. You might be able to do some Overwatch or Fortnite at low settings with a resolution of 720p with framerates around the low 30s. To help keep things moving fast memory comes in at 16gb dual channel configuration. If 16gbs of memory is not enough for you there is one slot available to swap out the 8gb stick for 16gb or 32gb stick if you desire. For storage, you get a 512gb m2 SATA 3 drive. Read/Write speeds are around 500mb which is still plenty fast compared to a mechanical drive but falls short of the NVMe speeds of around 1800mb. Windows still boots up quick under 20 seconds including fingerprint recognition. The motherboard does support m2 NVMe drives and you have the option to another m2 drive if you happen to run out of storage on the main drive. Since this an ultrabook heat and noise dissipation are minimal. It did get warm when Windows was performing updates on the first boot but nothing like gaming laptop territory. As for the fan noise, you can barely hear it. On the LG Control center, there is an option called stealth mode which will limit CPU performance to keep the fans turned off. The performance will take a slight hit to accomplish this but it’s hard to notice it. This combination of hardware will perform well on all kind of task you throw at it including light video editing. As for wireless connectivity, you get Intel latest 802.11 A/C (2X2) 9560 WiFi card and Bluetooth 5.0. WiFi speeds and signal were very good. Front facing camera is on the top bezel and video quality is decent. Battery life even though I wasn’t able to achieve the 19.5 hours that LG claims I still managed to get right around 10-12hrs of mixed usage before needing to plug in the charger. This was a combination of web browsing, a couple of hours of Youtube and Netflix streaming and office productivity work. For the most part, the brightness was kept around 50% and half of the time I was using Bluetooth headphones too. I can confidently take this laptop fully charge to work without needing to bring the charger along and still come home with enough juice left over to relax with some Netflix streaming. An intensive task like video editing will drain the battery quicker. You will not be disappointed by the battery life. Last but not least is the price. At this price point, there’s plenty of good options to choose from the ultrabook segment. For the most part, the specs will be the same except for display type, discrete GPU (MX150) and build quality. With the LG Gram 17, you’re getting an amazing display along with very good build quality. The determining factor is going to be the GPU and overall size. Most 17-inch laptops available are either going to be gaming or workstations. They’re heavy and battery life not even close to what the Gram offers in terms of overall size, weight and battery life. Ultrabooks are not meant to be gaming machines the chassis are too thin to be able to provide adequate cooling needed for those type of chips. I can see why LG did not include an MX150 due to added weight from the additional heatsink and fan. LG goal was to create the lightest 17-inch laptop and I strongly believe they achieved that. For the 2nd gen version, I would like to see LG offer it with a Ryzen 7 since the integrated Vega GPU is much better than the Intel offering or the option to get with an MX150. At the end of the day If you’re looking for a productivity road warrior with strong battery life that won’t feel like a chore carrying around the LG Gram 17 should be on top of your list.

First off this thing is IMPOSSIBLY LIGHT!! It's legitimately amazing for 2019 in that sense. I was able to successfully prank a coworker that they'd sent me a laptop without any components inside ( just the case ) with it. Can easily, securely be held in 2 fingers. Design isn't as bad as many laptops, but could've been better simply by using a gray color for accents on the keys instead of a muted orange, and/or by using a different font on the keyboard, and/or by excluding the numberpad, and absolutely most importantly by excluding LG's eyesore logo. It's too ugly to fit in in our modern, design-conscious society. Overall this laptop is pretty cool. 16:10 is great. It's thin and light. It has a high-quality screen... Here's the major dealbreaker though: The screen resolution + size combination. 2560x1600 at this size just doesn't work, you can't use it comfortably at 100% scaling and 200% scaling is only 1280x800 ( unusably large ), so LG sets it to 150%, which results in off-looking font-rendering, icon and interface sizing mishaps, and an overall unpleasant, unattractive experience. If they'd gone w/ a 1920x1200 screen instead, such that you could use it at 100% scaling, ironically even at the cost of some pixel density the laptop would've been much more usable. Heck even 3840x2400 would've worked ( at 200% ). The touchpad is shockingly decent and uses Precision drivers. It's tied for the best Windows touchpad I've used. The CPU they chose is basically an i7-8550u that turbos to 4.6. Or at least it would have if they would've figured out the thermals a bit better, I haven't seen it break 3.3Ghz even after tweaking all the settings to max performance and using the power adapter. Also haven't put the battery through its paces yet but that's also supposed to be other-worldly at a claimed 20 hours plus. The chip and lack of graphics also make the system feel noticeably slower than most systems w/ a dedicated graphics card when you hook up a monitor or 3 to it. The SSD performance also seems to leave something to be desired, at least at this price point. Takeaway: LG, you did good. Just a few bad decisions here and there like aesthetic and most importantly screen resolution. Keep trying and you can CORNER the mobile thin-and-light workstation market.

So I've given myself a few days with my laptop and I have to say "I LOVE IT!" I said "bigger is better", because the screen is beyond other laptops I've had. I am pretty sure it's the more square design as opposed to rectangular like others that make the landscape of the screen amazing. It honestly feels like the iMax of laptops. It is coined the Gram for a reason and at first when I was handling it I felt like I had a children's toy in my hand because it was too light to be real so this is going to do so well in my work bag. My current tablet is heavier than this so I am already so happy about my LG Gram. I opted for the laptop and not the tablet because I've had a touch screen laptop and it just didn't work for my needs, I am dismayed that when I ran my audio test it is not up to par with my previous laptops. Unfortunately design wise, LG decided to put the speakers below the laptop so everything is muffled. I know that ideally this should be on a table but that isn't always the case. Honestly though, I never work and play music on speakers, I am always wearing my noise cancelling headphones. LG did bring in some cool applications likes their photo/video editing software which works with my 4K gimbal camera! I am enamored with the screen and clarity of the pictures. As a fan of art Windows has their CAS app which finds art near you where you can use it as a background. Little surprises like this nestled in a laptop are always a win for me! Overall a great laptop and the battery lasts a long time! I can wear a laptop out with all the multi tasking I do but this Gram holds up and really surprised me with how long it lasts. It really stays in stride with me!

Great laptop, I was surprised how light it is, I could not believe it was in the box it was shipped in due the weight (or lack of!). Its very thin, the screen is almost bezeless and its fast! It comes with a great amount of RAM and a speedy 4 core 8 threads cpu! The storage is a speedy 512 Gig SSD, making it boot super fast. I'm in love with the IPS screen. I'm not sure if its one of LG's oleds, but if its not, I'm amazed. The blacks are truly blacks and I didn't see any of the classic IPS backlit glow at all. The keyboard is illuminated and very soft while providing great tactile feedback. It took me a little to get used to the numpad being somewhat close to the main part of the keyboard, but in such a limited space, works ok. The construction is very sturdy and I love the gray metal. I like also that the webcam is on the top, and not bottom of the screen like other laptops, no more showing your nostrils! The only con I would say is the integrated intel GPU, while great for light workloads, video and productivity, not that good for gaming, but this is not what this laptop is intended for. I find carrying this laptop everywhere and I have barely used a tablet I have, since the laptop is so thin and lightweight, its just way better. I will highly recommend it to anyone traveling a lot or wanting to make some work/homework on the go. Lastly, the battery life is superb!

I have been using this notebook computer for about a week now, I have owned and used MANY notebook computers of all different sizes and weights over the last couple of decades, and I have nothing but high praise for this LG Gram 17-inch laptop. It is very light (2 lbs, 14 oz. on my kitchen scale) and very thin (5/8-inch thick at the widest point when closed). It is relatively large both length and width-wise as it has a 17-inch screen, so if you’re looking for a lightweight laptop computer with a more desktop-like large screen, this is it. The image quality is excellent with the display resolution at 2560 x 1600. The keyboard is typical of laptops. It is soft in feel but, I do like the relatively short key travel, and it is comfortable to use. The touchpad works well, also. The computer does have fingerprint-ID log-in capability so you can set it up to log into Windows by simply putting your finger over the power button. This is a nice feature for a quick log-in and doesn’t require you to remember a PIN or password, so the possibility of someone accessing your account without your permission or knowledge is pretty much eliminated. The specs on this machine are strong. Intel Core i7-8565U CPU with 16 GB of RAM and a 550 GB solid state hard drive running 64-bit Windows 10 Home. There are three standard (USB-2) ports, one USB-C port, a headphone port, a micro-SD card slot, and an HDMI port. As is typical with laptops nowadays, no CD-drive is included and wouldn’t be expected on a machine this thin. In addition to the power cord and a brief instruction sheet, the package includes a USB-to-ethernet adapter so you can connect to the internet through a wired connection in addition to the built-in wireless capability. In summary, this computer is very comfortable to tote around, is powerful, looks good with a beautiful screen, and is a pleasure to use.

The most immediately obvious feature of this laptop is the weight. It is crazy light, yet has a great screen and wonderful battery life. Not sure how LG did it, but they are "light" years ahead of others. Here are some comments and thoughts about the 2019 17" Gram: - Screen is edge to edge and very good. Could you just a little more sharpness, but it is more than adequate overall. - There is some light bleed in the corners of my screen, but within tolerance. - The keyboard is well laid out and responsive. It does take some getting used to the layout overall, but it works. I like the dedicated numerical keypad. - I have no trouble with the placement of the touch pad, although it could be just a hair larger for a laptop this size. The touch pad is responsive and easy to use (maybe a little sensitive). - Battery life is great. It easily goes for a full working day when doing business tasks. - Speed is good. I am not a gamer, but it is snappy with Office docs, youtube, netflix spotify, etc. even when multiple apps are open. - The number and variety of ports is fantastic. - The fingerprint sensor is okay, but loses my fingerprint pretty easily. Sorta like the iphone does. SO, I end up using my PIN most the time. This laptop doe sot have face recognition capabilities. In summary, this is a great laptop. The light weight is mind blowing, especially considering the capabilities. LG has impressed me and I look forward to future iterations of the Gram.

In the last month I have tried several laptops in search of the perfect "one". I have had yoga and Dell XPS 15 and HP Spectre. some with integrated graphics and some with 4k Screens. They all went back, and this is the one I kept. The 16:10 screen is beautiful and the resolution is perfect 4k is silly on a 15" screen, even for 4k video editing. The integrated graphics is more than sufficient for me because I don't game. It renders 4k video faster than my i7 desktop with GTX 1080 gpu because it is a newer processor. I regularly hit 4ghz on the turbo speed and cooling is more that sufficient. There are a few trade offs for the worlds lightest 17" laptop, but not many. It is also the dimensions of a 15.6. I bought a nice 15.6 case and it fits perfect because of the 16:10 and no bezel.and super thin. If you want a gaming laptop that weighs 10lbs than go buy one. This is not it.