Review of LG GRAM (2021) laptop in the UAE

LG Electronics, a well known global brand for electronic products which includes televisions, home appliances and B2B products and solutions.

LG had 1st introduced the LG Gram series laptop in March 2016 and called it the world’s lightest laptop in the world. The two models in the LG gram series were14 inches and 15.6 inches).

And now after 5years, LG Electronics (LG) is bringing its new series of lightweight laptops to the UAE under the same name series Gram

We have received the 2021 LG GRAM (Model No: – 14Z90P-G) from the LG PR team and have reviewed it for more than 2 weeks.

Design & Specification

The LG GRAM Notebook PC comes with the dimension of 15.0 x 10.3 x 0.7 inches and weighing 1350g. The body is made of Magnesium Alloy (MIL-STD 810G grade).  It comes with a display size of 17 inches and an IPS panel. It has non-touch WQXGA panel (2560px X 1600px) and color gamut sRGB 96%. It comes with a 16:10 aspect ratio It comes with Windows 10 Home (64bit) for Operating System.

As for the storage, it has 1TB NVMe M.2 2280 SSD and 16GB LPDDR4X on board. It uses Intel 11^th Gen i7-1165G7 (2.8GHz, Turbo up to 4.7GHz, L3 Cache 12MB) and has Intel Iris Xe Graphics.  As for the power and battery, it comes with 80WhBattery which can last you more than a day on average usage.

On the left side of the LG GRAM notebook, it has HDMI, Thunderbolt 4 USB Type C as charging port and an additional USB Type C port which can be used for charging, data, or connecting to a display. It also has a 3.5mm headphone combo jack.

On the right side of the notebook, it has a Kensington lock, 2 X USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports and a Micro-SD slot.

As for the audio, it comes with 1.5 Watt x 2 dual speakers which are placed on either side of the notebook.

As for connectivity, it comes with Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 for wireless connectivity. For LAN connectivity it uses the USB-C Port which supports R45 gender at 10 / 100Mbit speed. It also comes with Bluetooth 5.1.

The Review

The LG GRAM notebook PC came in a white colour matt finish box with “gram” written in silver colour on the front of the box and LG logo and GRAM logo on the sides of the box. It also has an Intel logo on the side with details of the device with DTS and HDMI Logo.

Once you open the box you will find the LG GRAM notebook in a white sleeve and has a separate compartment for the charging cable which comes with a USB Type C charging pin. It also comes with a warranty card.

The LG GRAM comes in a matt silver colour and the front cover is protected by a removable transparent non-adhesive plastic sticker. The bottom panel has visible perforated holes for heat depletion and for the speakers. It has hard rubberized silicone studs to increase the space between the notebook and the table for better ventilation.

The body is made of magnesium alloy but it looks and gives a little plastic feel. But as mentioned by LG it is a MIL-STD 810G grade which means it can take quite sturdy and tests against road hazards like shock, vibration, rain, dust, and temperature and humidity extremes. The edges taper slightly from back to front, although the base remains the same thickness throughout.

On opening the notebook, you can the Intel EVO logo with i7 on the bottom right side of the keyboard.

The power button which is on the upper right corner of the keyboard also doubles as a fingerprint reader to sign in to Windows OS.

You can use it with Windows Hello to log into your Windows account without typing a password or PIN.

The 720p webcam shoots decent video in brightly lit rooms but lacks IR sensors for face-recognition logins.

The keyboard is quite sturdy. The white labels use a large, thick font and stand out well against the black keys.

Audio

The Audio speakers are only 2 watts each and performance was average compared to price even with DTS mentioned on the packaging. On audio testing the notebook, the volume was good but lacked Bass in the speakers. You can feel the stereo of left and right channels. No doubt, it is sleek and light but we have seen other brand laptops with similar price ranges with better speakers.

Performance

While testing the review unit, the Intel 11^th Gen i7-1165G7, 1TB SSD and 16 GB RAM, worked efficiently from installing apps to browsing the internet with more than a dozen browser tabs open. Even better, the cooling fan never spooled up to a distracting level in my testing. But you can feel the heat on the bottom panel while running the benchmark application, so much so, you can’t keep it on your lap and it is better to keep it on the table and not directly near your skin.

As for the benchmark test, we ran the PC MARK 10 and got a result of 4509 and it is good for a 17inch, sleek and light notebook with built-in Intel Iris Xe Graphics. This notebook is good and competent to handle simple games like Minecraft or browser-based games and websites but can’t perform like AMD and NVidia GPUs in a similar price range.

The colour gamut is 96% DCI-P3 which is good and gives vivid looks.  Its resolution of 2,560 by 1,600 pixels fits between full HD and 4K. While testing for photo editing on Adobe Photoshop CC, it performed extremely well with the launch of the program, the opening of the photo file and editing too. But as mentioned on a big hi-resolution file with multiple layers, could feel the heat on the bottom. The same heating could be felt during rendering files on the Handbrake app.

The screen opens up to 120 degrees viewing angle. I really wished the screen was also a touch screen panel then could have used the full functionality of Windows 10.

Power and Battery

The lithium-ion battery weighs just 0.62 pounds and manages to deliver 80 watt-hours from just two cells. Most other laptops with batteries of similar capacity use more cells (six are common) and are heavier. During review which combined working on articles, watching the video and social media, the notebook battery lasted for more than a day. On the video test, it was around 16 to 17 hours on a single charge.

Conclusion

The LG GRAM is a big, sturdy, sleek and light notebook. It is a perfect device for corporate and executives who would like to have light and fast notebooks with a vivid display screen.

But the 17inch IPS panel screen is glossy which give a great colour gamut but also creates a reflection on the screen especially if there is light behind the user. Wish the screen was a matt finish and also a touch screen for the price. The audio speakers are good but lack bass. The Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 helps for better connectivity. The Thunderbolt 4 helps to charge the laptop faster and also helps to transfer data at great speed. The keyboard buttons are nice and big with big lettering, so even with fat fingers, the user will have not issues while typing. The power button with a fingerprint reader was very responsive and login in less than a second.  Due to the 1TB SSD, 16 GB RAM and 11^th Gen i7 processor, the booting of the notebook, the opening of files, multiple applications and tabs were fast and smooth. But during the rendering test, loading program, you could feel the heat on the bottom of the notebook.

Who should buy an LG GRAM notebook PC?

The large screen and lightness is the major selling point for the LG GRAM notebook PC. It is ideal for corporates and executives and even students who would want a powerful notebook to carry in the bag pack. As mentioned by LG, it is a MIL-STD 810G grade which means it can take quite sturdy and tests against road hazards like shock, vibration, rain, dust, and temperature and humidity extremes.

Price & Availability

The LG GRAM is available in 3 different models: – 17inches, 16inches and 14 inches with 11^th Gen Intel Core processors (Tiger Lake-U). It is available in the UAE in three colours: –  silver, black and white. Pre-order started from 1^st July 2021 with bundle offer. Please check for the current offers from LG online and retail stores near you.

Specification and price

About The Author

Ranbir Sen

Tech enthusiast, who writes about the latest update in technology news, and reviews of products and software.

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