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On the regular Gram 17, fresh air comes inside through the bottom of the laptop, through the punctured intake grill. However, that intake grill is only partially open over the CPU and is covered over the fan and the heatpipe, in an effort to channel the air over the CPU, into the fan, and then out through the exhaust grill. The Normal profile cuts the fan to around 31-32 dBA and 12-18W of sustained power. That’s the same as on the Gram 17. The CPU runs cooler in this mode, fluctuating between 70 and 85 degrees Celsius. The performance takes a dip, though, around 20-25% lower than on High. Our review unit is the Intel Core i7-1260P + Iris Xe variant of the Gram 16 16Z90Q, but LG also offer a Gram 16 Pro model with RTX 2050 graphics and some slight internal changes, which we’ll discuss perhaps in a future article.
Samsung’s Galaxy Book2 Pro offers some direct competition thanks to an even more impressive all-up weight of just 1.1kg. Even the Galaxy Book2 Pro 360, which is the fully convertible version, only weighs 1.4kg in 15.6in form. An RTX 2050 dGPU is also available on some variants of this laptop, and I expect that to come with an updated cooling module, so I can’t judge its capabilities based on this iGPU-only unit. These are some good runtimes for a 12th-gen Core P implementation, and slightly longer than on the Gram 17.We’ll discuss them all in this review, so you’ll know what to expect when looking at one of these LG Gram 17 notebooks. Specs as reviewed – LG Gram 17 LG updated the fonts that they’re using for this generation, and the smaller writing is more visually pleasant imo. Hence, the LG Gram 16 is not for everyone, especially when you also factor in the price that you’re paying for it. But that’s where things get interesting. At MSRP prices, the slightly larger LG Gram 17 makes more sense to me. If you’re going for this sort of large-screen laptop for daily use, why not get the largest possible display, especially when the Gram 17 also offers a brighter panel and a full keyboard, plus a minor bump in performance based on our experience with the two units? It’s still ludicrously light and portable for a 17in laptop, but this year’s version has better battery life, improved connectivity and faster performance. If you hanker after something that works just as well as a mobile workhorse as it does a desktop replacement, it’s pretty much the perfect solution.
There was a hardware fault with the camera module out of the box so that never worked for me, hopefully not a common issue and it wasn't a deal breaker for me (at the time - you don't realise how much you miss something until you don't have it). It’s not the regular matte finish available on ThinkPad or ZenBooks, but rather a balanced anti-glare finish that cuts out most of the reflections and doesn’t add noticeable graininess, a middle-ground implementation that I found excellent during my time with this laptop. In the past, LG offered glossy screens on their Grams, so this is a much-welcomed change. Here’s what we got in terms of battery life, with the screen’s brightness set at around 120 nits (~60 brightness). Our test version is the standard configuration of the 2022 LG Gram 16 16Z90Q, with an Intel 12th-gen Alder Lake Core i7-1260P processor + Iris Xe embedded graphics, 16 GB of LPDDR5-5200 memory, and a fast 512 GB SSD.The LG Gram 17 gets a basic thermal module with a single fan and a short heatpipe, much like all the other past Gram. Here it is important to understand very subtly the target audience for each model from the point of view of marketers and its size. If they are stupid or just sawing the company's budgets, there will be no sense – sales will be minimal. For example, why does LG make the Gram 16 series with a mutilated numpad, when there is a 17 series with a full-fledged one? Who would agree to carry a 16" (which is uncomfortable in itself) instead of a full-fledged by keyboard 17? From my point of view, the 16" series is pointless to buy.
For biometrics, there’s no longer a figner-sensor integrated within the power button with this 2022 Gram 16 generation, as on the previous models, which instead has been replaced by an IR-capable camera. Having both would have been nice. Screen The camera has been updated from the previous Grams as well, and is now a higher-quality and higher-resolution FHD 2 MPx shooter. It’s better than the average laptop camera, but still not amazing by any means.LG’s genre-bending Gram 17 was one of my favourite laptops of 2020. By squeezing a huge 17in display into a laptop nearly as light as a MacBook Air, LG achieved something special and in a world of identikit 13.3in ultraportables that’s something to be applauded. All these negative aspects generally result from the fanatical struggle of marketers (and therefore engineers) with the weight of a laptop (this is a Gram series). A sturdy case with a magnesium alloy frame to support the motherboard and case strength (like the Thinkpad T+ series) will drastically add weight. A better cooling system (+1-2 massive heatpipes, bigger cooler and heatsinks) will drastically increase the weight. You complain about small speakers – big ones will add weight. Large battery (with no real fundamental progress in batteries) – will increase the weight drastically. Even +2 memory slots and a second M.2 (which might be placed near battery) will add weight. That is, all the shortcomings of this series stem from a key advantage – low weight.
The 2021 has now been released and the latest model takes that recipe and refines it. It’s still the lightest 17in laptop you can buy and it’s an even more impressive machine than last year’s model. In fact, the only threat to its lightweight laptop crown comes from the new LG Gram 16, which is cheaper, even lighter and has a display that’s almost as big. At the same time, it’s important to understand that this is a power-limited implementation of the Core P hardware, and other i7-1260P models capable of higher sustained power around ~30W will offer a 10-20% boost in multi-threaded CPU and GPU performance. On High, we’re looking at 15-22W of power with fan noise around 37-38dB and CPU temperatures in the mid-70s and to mid-80s C. An RTX 2050 dGPU is also available on some variants of this laptop, but that comes with an updated cooling module, and I can’t judge its capabilities based on this iGPU-only unit.EASY SETUP] - You can easily set up the +view monitor with a USB Type-C Thunderbolt connection. Even better, the USB Type-C ports are on both sides and no additional power is required. The Normal profile cuts the fan to around 31-32 dBA and 12-17W of sustained power. The CPU runs cooler in this mode, fluctuating between 70 and 85 degrees Celsius. The performance takes a dip, though, around 20-25% lower than on High. Gaming laptops have been evolving very well to enable the same level of productivity to replace desktop PCs when plugged in on a desk, but when it comes to laptops meant for mobility, the vast majority of them just fall short of their price tag.
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