LG Gram 16 review | Laptop Mag
Our Verdict
The LG Gram 16 offers incredible bombardment life and a large super-high-res display, but the functioning could be stronger.
For
- Extremely long battery life
- Attractive, lightweight design
- Good port selection
- Solid performance
Against
- Weak audio
- Dim display
- Awkward touchpad placement
Laptop Mag Verdict
The LG Gram 16 offers incredible battery life and a large super-high-res display, simply the performance could exist stronger.
Pros
- +
Extremely long battery life
- +
Attractive, lightweight design
- +
Expert port selection
- +
Solid functioning
Cons
- -
Weak sound
- -
Dim display
- -
Awkward touchpad placement
The LG Gram 16 tries to respond the question, "What if you fabricated a big-screen MacBook Air?" Such a device would have to exist lightweight and powerful enough to meet the needs of a large variety of consumers. That includes anybody from students in need of a portable jack-of-all-trades notebook to productivity users treatment documents, spreadsheets and Zoom meetings.
The LG Gram 16 makes a compelling case for a big screen on a sparse and lightweight form factor. It brings understated looks with a solid display and a good array of ports to minimize the dongle-life while packing a great battery to get you through a decorated mean solar day. This all comes in a package that is lightweight, but big enough to non feel constrained. The featherweight chassis could, at times, experience like a bit of a drawback due to the flexibility of the magnesium alloy chapeau, and I have some gripes with the brandish and audio quality. But overall, the Gram xvi is a great choice.
LG Gram 16 (2021) pricing and configurations
Our review unit came with an Intel 11th Gen Intel Cadre i7-1165G7 processor with 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB NVMe M.2 2280 SSD. The display is a 16-inch IPS LCD with a 16:10 attribute ratio at WQXGA (2560x1600) resolution. Our review unit retails on LG's site for $i,699 and is available in silver or blackness. There is besides a configuration with an Intel 11th Gen Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage at $1299, which only comes in white.
LG Gram 16 (2021) Blueprint
The LG Gram is a walking conundrum. At first chroma, it looks pretty big and you expect a certain heaviness due to its big dimensions. But when I lifted the laptop, information technology was surprisingly lightweight. The fabric is a magnesium blend that somehow does non manage to feel similar metal.
In terms of the overall design, the Gram 16 is nothing to write home about. It takes a very no-frills approach as a thin, gray laptop with a black keyboard. You know, the usual. It looks pretty much like whatever other Ultrabook that has come up out in the post-MacBook Air era. This is both a souvenir and a curse in that the Gram would fit in comfortably in a dorm or boardroom, but could too easily pb to the device being overlooked in favor of other sparklier devices such as the HP Spectre x360 15.
The LG Gram 16 measures at 14 10 9.6 x 0.vii inches and weighs in at only ii.6 pounds TIt Information technology'due south much lighter than the Dell XPS 17 (fourteen.7 x 9.eight x 0.6 inches, 5.5 pounds), merely only a tad heavier than the Acer Swift v (12.half dozen ten viii.two x 0.vi inches, 2.3 pounds).
LG Gram xvi (2021) Security and Durability
On the security front, the Gram 16 has a congenital-in fingerprint reader on the power button. It is pretty nifty that lets you employ your fingerprint to login and bypass the Windows login screen. While not a killer feature in and of itself, it does save you a few seconds.
The LG Gram 16 has also gone through MIL-STD-810G testing according to LG, which means information technology'southward more rugged than the average laptop. It passed vii MIL-STD-810G tests including transport shock, vibration, depression pressure, high-temperature, low-temperature, dust, and common salt fog. In other words, it could more than than handle the bumps and dings of the average commute if that ever makes a comeback.
LG Gram xvi Ports
Port selection is where the Gram 16 truly shines. LG made good utilise of the relatively large, simply thin frame, fitting an HDMI port, ii Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a headphone-mic combo jack on the left side of the machine. On the right are 2 USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports, a microSD carte slot and Kensington Lock slot.
LG Gram 16 (2021) Display
The display is ane of the principal highlights of the Gram xvi. If you've spent nigh of your fourth dimension on a 13- or 14-inch brandish, y'all'll immediately fall in beloved with the sheer roominess of this 16-inch screen. The minimal bezels besides contribute to the feeling of expansiveness when y'all're watching movies or browsing the web.
Its 2560 x 1600-pixel resolution is only right for productivity work. Desire to have two documents side-by-side? Desire to lookout man Hard disk or 4K content with a minimal hit to battery life? This is the style. Y'all become a comfy display with battery life to go you through your workday (but more on endurance later on).
The display is brilliant and detailed. Watching the trailer for Peak Gun: Maverick, the details were and so crisp that I saw the age lines along role player Tom Prowl's forehead as he grimaced in the cockpit.
Just it's not all sunshine and rainbows on the brandish front. While viewing BTS's "Deoxyribonucleic acid" music video, the colors of the video, which are normally saturated, pushed the envelope on the Gram sixteen. The hues seemed to bleed a lilliputian, especially the bright blue in the background. It bandage a bluish tint over the singers' skin tones, making them look done out.
In testing, the LG Gram 16's brandish reached a effulgence of 279 nits compared to the Acer Swift v'southward 350 nits and Dell XPS 17's 605 nits, making it significantly less bright than its competitors. In fact, the Gram 16 came in well below the premium laptop average of 392 nits.
In terms of colors, the Gram 16'southward display hits 121.9% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which is in line with the category boilerplate of 122%. For comparison, the Acer Swift 5 manages to cover 75% and the Dell XPS 17 reaches 121.6%.
LG Gram 16 (2021) keyboard and touchpad
The keyboard and touchpad take some getting used to. The key travel on the full-sized, island-mode keyboard is definitely improve than that plant on the Butterfly keyboard of a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, but information technology doesn't experience as good equally, say, a Lenovo ThinkPad T490S. The keyboard likewise includes a number pad on the correct side, which seems like a good addition for productivity use, just in my opinion, information technology is slightly too narrow and, therefore, uncomfortable to use. I would have preferred if the keyboard took up the full deck sans number pad.
The keyboard may take a bit of getting used to. On the 10fastfingers typing test, I achieved an boilerplate of 54 words per minute vs. my usual 60-wpm result on my MacBook Air. This number would likely get higher over time; it just requires a bit of getting used to the keyboard alignment.
The drinking glass touchpad measures 5.1 inches past three.iii inches and feels very spacious. It is responsive to clicks and gestures, with very few errors. Clicking the lesser corners of the touchpad produces an advisable tactile response, without feeling mushy. It is, withal, subject to accidental input due to its placement on the keyboard deck.
Because of the number pad, the keyboard is slightly to the left and the touchpad appears to be aligned too close to the center. This is aesthetically pleasing but hinders usability, leading to adventitious clicks or swipes from your right hand when typing. If the touchpad were aligned slightly more to the left, it would be significantly more comfy to use.
LG Gram 16 Sound
Want to watch a movie on this Gram's gorgeous brandish? Bring headphones. The speakers are bottom-firing, which leads to low book and distant audio. On Free National'south "Dazzler and Essex," the bass is reduced to a whimper and there'due south little difference betwixt the main song and bankroll vocals and echoes.
The LG Gram sixteen comes with the DTS:Ten Ultra app which allows boosted customization of EQ, with some presets for listening to music, watching movies or playing games. For example, the Music preset focuses on the lows and makes music audio more than bassy, but it does it in a mode that disregards the mids and highs. The Movies preset does false-surround sound sound that n improves things when watching movies with activity scenes, just you'll all the same take a hard time hearing dialogue. None of the settings made the speakers whatever louder.
LG Gram sixteen Performance
The LG Gram will accept all the Google Chrome tabs your piece of work or school life tin can throw at it. And information technology volition easily power your documents and spreadsheets on your office suite of pick even when Spotify is playing in the background (with headphones of form). One of those madlads that loves the Outlook desktop app? Sure, go for information technology. This calculator is a productivity animate being, even if it falls brusque confronting the competition. This is in no small part due to Intel'south 11th Gen Cadre i7-1165G7 CPU and 16GB of RAM.
On the Geekbench v.three synthetic benchmark, the LG Gram sixteen achieved a score of 5,145, surpassing the category boilerplate of 4,250. However, the Acer Swift 5, with the same 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7-1165G7, achieved significantly better results at 5,916.
In our Handbrake video test, the Gram sixteen transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 17 minutes and 58 seconds. This is slower than the premium average of sixteen:55 and significantly slower than its competitors the Swift 5 and XPS 17 at xiii:55 and eight:41 seconds, respectively.
Graphics are one of the device's weak spots. The LG Gram 16 is running on Intel's integrated Iris Xe Graphics. On 3DMark Timespy information technology scored 1692, below the category average of 1905. On 3DMark Burn down Strike, the Gram sixteen scored 4,698 versus the premium laptop average of 4,687.
LG Gram 16 Battery Life
One matter the LG Gram 16 has is longevity. When nosotros ran the Laptop Mag Bombardment Test, the notebook lasted 13 hours and 41 seconds. That's significantly longer than the premium laptop boilerplate and the MacBook Pro, which each lasted 10:07. It too edged out the Dell XPS 17 and its time of nine:05. In a existent-globe context, I successfully used the Gram 16 to go through a full workday of emailing, web browsing, Zoom and Google Meet video calls. I still had enough battery life to spotter a few episodes of WandaVision.
LG Gram sixteen webcam
The LG Gram has a 720p webcam. Despite not being full Hard disk, it is clear and more than adequate for daily Zoom meetings. Faces wait well-baked even in sub-optimal lighting conditions, like on my desk-bound which faces away from my window and is poorly lit. That said, the paradigm is a lilliputian noisy and details get washed out (I wish my skin was as clear every bit information technology appears in the test shots). The webcam besides gave my skin tone a pink hue.
LG Gram 16 rut
The LG Gram can get pretty warm when pushed. In our testing, which involves playing a fullscreen HD video for 15 minutes, the touchpad measured 86 degrees Fahrenheit and the center of the keyboard hit a whopping 101 degrees, above our 95-degree comfort threshold. The bottom temperature readings fared a scrap improve, reaching only 89 degrees.
LG Gram Software and Warranty
The LG Gram comes with quite a few bundled apps. Update Center updates the device drivers and firmware. Control Centre allows you to control power management, audio and brandish settings. Virtoo lets you sync your phone notifications, telephone call and texts with the laptop. LG also currently has a promotion that includes a one-year Microsoft 365 Personal license. This is a pretty nice deal as information technology is a $69.99 value if information technology were purchased separately, and could be useful for the Gram'south target demographics.
At that place is a lot of pre-installed software of varying degrees of usefulness. The Amazon Alexa app comes pre-installed and at that place is a trial for CyberLink'due south suite of apps (PowerDVD 14, PhotoDirector, PowerDirector, AudioDirector and ColorDirector). There are besides Windows Store links in the Outset menu to mutual apps like Adobe Photoshop, Spotify, Hulu and Facebook Messenger, which could exist helpful or slightly annoying. Any the case, they tin can be hands removed.
The LG Gram comes with a standard one-year warranty covering parts and labor. There does non appear to be an option for purchasing an extended warranty through LG. Brand of that what you wish.
Lesser Line
The $1,399 LG Gram xvi is a nice laptop for those who demand a large brandish on a very lightweight notebook. Most similarly sized notebooks tin be anywhere from 1 to 2 pounds heavier. And at a time when premium laptops are skimping out on ports and dongles,, it is refreshing to encounter the LG Gram not defective any connections. And thanks to its long battery life, you may not even have to pack your charger nearly days if yous were using this as your work or school laptop.
But, that can also exist a double-edged sword in that LG Gram is a premium laptop that doesn't quite feel as premium as its price would suggest. Its brandish is impressive but at times imperfect. The keyboard is so shut to existence comfortable to use but comes up merely short. If you're looking for a laptop with comparable battery life, slightly stronger functioning, and a brighter display, I'd recommend the Acer Swift 5, which is also $100 cheaper. All the same, yous're giving upwards that large, 16-inch, screen.
The LG Gram 16 is truly a jack-of-all-trades, merely a master of none. That's not necessarily a bad thing as it can serve a bunch of varying use cases in its incredibly lightweight chassis. It's not a powerhouse like the Dell XPS 17 or 16-inch MacBook Pro, but for many consumers, information technology's more enough.
Source: https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/lg-gram-16
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