A large screen meets a deficient weight in the LG Gram 17 and 16: just under 1.2 kg paired with a 16-inch display announcement. In addition, there is an impressive performance and a lot of storage space. But can lightweight construction survive in everyday life?
At the end of 2020 and the beginning of the new year, we rediscovered the importance of being able to always be efficient, reachable, and productive even from home. These needs translate not only into the need for a notebook but a real ally to carry out all the daily tasks, work, order online, pay taxes and enjoy some carefree moments with video calls or streaming movies. Contingency has taught us that having a working, updated, and, why not, beautiful notebook at home is an added value that we have neglected for a long time.
Pros and Cons
| LG Gram 17 | LG Gram 16 |
| Thin and light | Large display with high resolution |
| Comfortable keyboard | Big SSD |
| Long battery life | Long battery life |
| Small to a medium touchpad | No touchscreen |
| It lacks a dedicated GPU | No IR camera |
General Info
| LG Gram 17 | LG Gram 16 | |
| $ | CHECK PRICE | CHECK PRICE |
| Brand | LG | LG |
| Model | Gram 17 | Gram 16 |
| Weight | 1.35 kg (2.98 lbs) | 1.48 kg (3.26 lbs) |
| OS | Windows 10 Home | Windows 10 Home |
| Display | IPS LCD | IPS LCD |
| Dimensions | 17 inches | 16 inches |
| Type | Laptop | Laptop |
LG Gram 17
LG Gram in its 17-inch version could be the perfect solution because it has a large and very comfortable display for working with side-by-side windows or applications rich in instrument panels, but it is also thin and light. It is a useful laptop in these times when almost everything is done from home, but with an eye to what will be newfound mobility.
LG Gram 17 is an impressive light and thin body; everything is necessary to meet the scheduled and unexpected needs that a student, a family, or a worker needs day after day.
Now you can also buy the LG Gram 17 17Z90P model for 2021 updated with Intel Core 11Gen Tiger Lake processors with powerful integrated Intel Iris Xe (XeLp) graphics for 1899 euros in Italy. The new processor brings the Thunderbolt 4 ports with it and changes the design slightly, with sharper edges than the 2020 model.
LG Gram 16
The optically prevailing trend towards shiny silver notebooks has been criticized several times, and the criticism also applies to the LG Gram 16. The design language is successful, but it seems to come from the everyday construction kit currently used by most manufacturers. And the color combination – silver housing, black display frame, black buttons – is nothing new. Most noticeable is the narrow edge below the screen.
LG doesn’t try to experiment with the processor: Inside the Gram 16 is an Intel Core i7-1165G7, currently the fastest Intel chip for flat notebooks. The quad-core CPU has speeds between 2.8 and 4.7 GHz and can execute up to eight threads in parallel. Next to it is an Iris Plus Xe GPU, which has a clock rate of 1.3 GHz. In the test model provided by LG, there was also an ample working memory of 16 GB, which is unfortunately firmly soldered.
Display
| LG Gram 17 | LG Gram 16 | |
| Display Type | IPS LCD | IPS LCD |
| Display Size | 17 inches | 16 inches |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz | 60 Hz |
| PPI | 178 PPI | 189 PPI |
| Aspect ratio | 16:10 | 16:10 |
| HDR support | No | No |
| Touchscreen | No | No |
LG Gram 17
LG Gram 17 received a 17-inch IPS display with a resolution of 2560 × 1600 pixels. Although not as sharp as 4K screens, the picture is sharp, bright, and has a wide range of colors. The test results showed that the panel covers 70% of the Adobe RGB gamut with an average contrast ratio of 930 units. Color accuracy is excellent, rated at 1.81 and brightness reaching 395 nits.
Putting those numbers into reality, this 17-inch display has proven to be a great choice for relaxation and productivity. You can even create content on it. You can open multiple windows and work comfortably even with small text, as well as clear images. Thanks to the glossy surface, the brightness is high, although glare appears.
LG Gram 16
The LG Gram 16 distributes a weight of just 1.19 kg in a body with an edge dimension of 35.6 x 24.3 x 1.7 cm. Because of the size, this is very light; thanks to the narrow bezels around the display, the cut is still comparatively slim.
As the screen size grows, so do the individual pixels, unless their density is also increased. LG takes this effect into account. While Full HD is still the measure of all things in most notebooks, the Koreans rely on an IPS panel for the Gram 16 that not only has a diagonal of – the name suggests – 16 inches, but also with 2560 x 1600 pixels is also quite high resolution.
Specification
| LG Gram 17 | LG Gram 16 | |
| Processor | Intel Core i3 1115G4 | Intel Core i3 1115G4 |
| Graphics | Intel Iris Xe Graphics G4 | Intel Iris Xe Graphics G4 |
| RAM | 16GB | 16GB |
| Storage | 1024GB SSD (M2) | 256GB SSD (M2) |
| Upgradable | Yes | Yes |
Performance
| LG Gram 17 | LG Gram 16 | ||
| CPU Base frequency | 1.7-3.0 GHz | 1.7-3.0 GHz | |
| Turbo frequency | 4.1 GHz | 4.1 GHz | |
| Cores | 2 | 2 | |
| Threads | 4 | 4 | |
| L3 Cache | 6 MB | 6 MB | |
| Integrated GPU | Intel Iris Xe Graphics G4 | Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EU | |
| GPU base clock | 300 MHz | 300 MHz | |
| GPU boost clock | 1100 MHz | 1100 MHz |
Multimedia
| LG Gram 17 | LG Gram 16 | ||
| Web-cam | Above the display | Above the display | |
| Webcam Resolution | 1280 x 720 | 1280 x 720 | |
| Microphone Jack | Yes | Yes | |
| Wi-Fi standard | v6 | v6 | |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth v5.1 | Bluetooth v5.1 | |
| USB Type-C | 2x USB 4.0 | 2x USB 4.0 | |
| USB-A | 2x USB 3.2 | 2x USB 3.2 | |
| HDMI | 1x HDMI 2.0 | 1x HDMI 2.0 |
LG Gram 17
No other 17-inch laptop will ever feel like the LG Gram 17. It’s really comfortable. On the left side, there are USB-A ports, HDMI, and Thunderbolt 3 USB-C. On the right, there are 2 more 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.
LG Gram 16
There are no major surprises with the interfaces. WLAN 6 is available for network access; the Bluetooth module is based on specification 5.1. The functions are in the Intel chip and are therefore more or less standard; with AMD, it is comparable.
LG also offers four USB interfaces. The connections, designed with a classic type A face, support the 3.2 standards; the two types of C sockets offer USB 4. This means that screens can be connected using DisplayPort, but an HDMI port has also been integrated for this purpose. You can also use microSD cards.
Battery
| LG Gram 17 | LG Gram 16 | |
| Battery Type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Fast charging | Yes | Yes |
| Power | 65 W | 65 W |
LG Gram 17
The battery of a regular laptop lasts a maximum of 9-10 hours of Internet use. But, a 4-cell 72-watt lithium-ion battery is installed here, which means the autonomy should be higher.
LG claims the Gram 17 will last up to 19.5 hours away from the outlet. The battery with a 1080p video loop and the laptop lasted approximately 15.5 hours. This clearly falls short of LG’s promises but impressive. In a standard test with Wi-Fi on, maximum display brightness, and 1080p video looping, we got about 5 hours.
LG Gram 16
When it comes to energy consumption, Gram 16 shows interesting behavior. While the consumption in the browser is at the expected level – around 15% of the reserves are used up in one hour – it is not even 25% when playing Asphalt 9. Other notebooks with comparable hardware, but smaller displays, can easily double that here. How does it work?
LG attacks in two places. On the one hand, a huge 80 Wh battery is installed. On the other hand, the manufacturer apparently relies on rigid energy management. Apart from the stationary power supply, the maximum clock rate of the chip is limited.
Conclusion!
The LG Gram 17 is the lightest, smallest, and most self-contained 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.
The lack of discrete graphics and a slow SATA SSD of the minuses. With an 8th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and Thunderbolt 3 support, it will stand the test of changing technology for at least 3 years.
The first plus points of the LG Gram 16 become clear when you touch it for the first time. And it doesn’t stop there. The display and input devices can be listed; the same applies to the hardware equipment, especially concerning the large SSD.
There is also good battery life. The notebook is an excellent companion in work life if you value a lot of screens. Only the lack of touch sensitivity can be viewed as a deficit.
