LG perhaps isn’t known for its laptops, but its time that LG stepped into the laptop industry as well, and they have done quite so, courtesy LG Gram. The laptop which is available for as low as $1,050 is quite astonishing with its 14-inches display. On top of this, the laptop has a really comfortable keyboard, which is further helped by a long-lasting battery life.
Unlike other laptops, the laptop even makes sure that its audio quality is the very best. Though all that glitters is not gold since the laptop does suffer from a lid that sways with a certain force i.e. when using the touchscreen. Furthermore, with a laptop which is priced above $1,000, you would expect the LG Gram to have some pretty decent specs under the hood, but unfortunately, it doesn’t.
Nevertheless, it is still a great laptop at this price for its display – feel free to watch movies and listen to audio at an amazing quality.
Design
Catering to professionals and the business-minded, LG has adopted rather a subdued approach, nothing aggressive. The gray exterior is the perfect choice for that. As far as the chassis is concerned, it is made out of a magnesium alloy. At the center of the lid, you would find the “Gram” logo lettered in silver, though rather plainly as can be seen in the image.
The problem with the lid though is that it gets displaced with the slightest of touches more than on an ordinary laptop. Therefore, you won’t find much use of the touchscreen if the laptop lid is just going to wobble.
On the contrary, probably the best thing about the laptop is the bezel-less frame. Therefore, this makes it easier to fit in more screen size for the same dimensions. Even still, LG has quite skillfully managed a webcam at the top.
The laptop is quite portable being just 2.2 pounds and measuring just 12.7 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches. This makes it one of the easiest laptops to carry around all day long on your back. The thinnest laptop in the category is the HP Spectre 13 at 0.4 inches.
Ports
The problem with thin laptops is that you miss out on some ports if not all. Thankfully, the LG Gram it still has a fair number of ports. There is a charging jack, a USB 3.0 port, HDMI port and a USB-Type C port on the left side. While on the right side, there is a USB 3.0 port, a headphone jack with a microphone jack and a microSD slot too along with secure lock slot.
Display
As mentioned earlier, the laptop has a 14-inches 1920 x 1080 Full HD Display. This makes for quite vibrant colors, a vivid display. Furthermore, with the laptop having a glossy panel, the glare isn’t that much as you would expect on other glossy displays.
The proof that the display is excellent lies in the fact that the LG Gram covers a 128 percent of the sRGB color gamut. This is quite above the category average of 112 percent. The Spectre 13 has a 111 sRGB spectrum coverage. On the other hand, the XPS 13 covers 117 percent while the MateBook X Pro 124 percent.
Furthermore, the laptop’s panel recorded 307 nits on the brightness meter. Though the category average is 305 nits, the HP Spectre 13 had a much brightness reading at 247 nits. On the contrary, the XPS 13 has 372 nits of brightness level, while the MateBook X Pro averages 458 nits.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The laptop has an island-style keyboard with a quite tech-savvy printing of letters on its keys. It is true that the keyboard has a travel of just 0.9 mm, it is still comfortable enough to type. Furthermore, the keyboard is also backlit, and its style speaks for itself. Though, the backlit settings are binary i.e. high or low.
With a touchpad measuring just 4.0 x 2.6 inches, it is spacious enough to use. Furthermore, the touchpad is quite responsive and accurate and also supports multi-touch gestures.
Audio
There is a DTS Audio Application provided by LG beforehand. Courtesy this, the sound out of the LG Gram’s speakers was quite amazing and is loud enough to even fill out a medium sized conference room. You can even customize the treble and bass to your liking.
Graphics
The graphics are so good that you can even play Overwatch on it, with 55 fps, though it’s Intel UHD Graphics 620 scores a mark of 67,989 on Ice Storm Unlimited synthetic gaming where the category average is at 86,538.
Battery Life
The major selling point of the LG Gram is its battery life. The LG Gram would last you more than even a whole work day with a battery life of just 10 hours and 46 minutes and all this at 150 nits of brightness. This is way above the category average of 8 hours and 19 minutes. The Spectre 13 just lasts out 5 hours and 13 minutes, and the Matebook X Pro lasted 9 hours and 55 minutes. Only the XPS 13 with its 1080p display beats the LG Gram with nearly 12 hours of battery usage.
Webcam
Because of the nearly bezel-less display, the webcam couldn’t be that large. Due to this, the images aren’t clear and crisp, though this is the same for nearly most of the laptops out there. This means that you are better off having an external webcam.
Heat
The laptop houses some impressive features, but even still it remains cool and calm nearly all the time. The temperatures remained below 95 percent all the time, which makes the laptop quite comfortable to use even on your laps.
Configurations
The cheapest you can get a LG Gram is for $1,050. For this much price, what you are looking at is a 1.6-GHz Intel Core i5-8250U and a 256 SSD, and that too without a touchscreen. If you are willing to spend $1,550 you are getting a 1.8-GHz Intel Core i7-8550U, 8GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage with a touchscreen too.
Our Verdict
The laptop is quite portable with nearly non-existent bezels, and the sound quality is way good. Also, expect good typing speeds with the island-style keyboard, and the best of them all: The Battery Life. Though if you are spending above a thousand dollars on a laptop, you should expect at least sleek looks and an attractive design which the laptop doesn’t have.
Though, if you are looking for a work laptop, then the LG Gram does its just pretty well albeit at a higher cost.
