Let's discuss LG Gram Laptops. Not owned by LG or run by LG. Simply fans and users of LG Gram series of laptops.
LG Gram 16 2023 impressions after two weeks
Hi all, I got the LG Gram 16 2023 from Costco two weeks ago and thought I'd share my impressions for those who are still on the fence. A friend of mine bought one and took it with him to the EU for me. This is a black colored gram in a 1TB SSD, 32GB RAM, RTX3050 config.
A bit of context:
I work as a consultant in product and am out and about for half of my workweek. I'd describe my workflow as 'light creative'. My daily use consists of various office and communication tools, VDI's, and a web browser with ~10-20 tabs open. I also do some occasional photoshopping, light video editing and I play a casual game once in a while.
Good to know is that I am kind of a productivity/gadget freak and have owned too many laptops / convertibles to count. Some of the devices I've owned are a Surface Pro, Surface Book 2, XPS 15, Macbook Pro 16, Macbook Pro 13 M1, Zephyrus G14 (2022), Zephyrus G16 (2023) and probably more that I forgot about. So I do have some reference for comparison :P
Impressions (in no particular order)
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Overall build quality is really good. Materials used/texture feels nice. Nice clean aesthetic. This laptop definitely does not feel flimsy.
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Chassis flex is more than acceptable. This is such a big relief as this was my biggest concern. All these laptop reviewers are really exaggerating chassis flex on laptops IMO. They way they film it also makes it look way worse than it really is. Yes there is some flex if you really apply pressure, but that's not regular use. If you are just typing or grabbing the laptop from a table you won't notice anything. Huge relief.
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Keyboard is solid. Typing is more on the tactile side, which I like. This is the first time that I have a numpad on a laptop, which means the keyboard is slightly off-centered, but I got used to it within 15 mins. The trackpad is glass, smooth with good tracking as well.
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Screen is excellent, with one small caveat:
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Colors are good, it comes very close to my G16
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VRR is very nice and not many devices have this
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The brightness is just okay. I find myself setting the brightness indoors on about 60-70% which means that it might be problematic outdoors.
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Port selection is excellent. Would have liked to see regular SD instead of micro SD.
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USB Type-C charging is very convenient (especially coming from Zephyrus devices with huge power bricks lol)
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For bottom firing speakers the sound quality and overall volume are surprisingly good. On higher volumes the bass muffles away though.
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Black color collects fingerprints
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Battery life looks like it is excellent. I easily get 1,5 workday of my regular use on battery.
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There is heat, but not really problematic in daily use. Heat only builds up in heavier workloads. The heat is located near the top of the deck at the function keys, so you won't notice it too much.
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The fans spin up in medium-high workloads. On medium load they spin up but are more than silent enough. On higher loads they can get louder than I’d like. It hasn't happened to me that often fortunately. I do feel like that overall the thermal solution is a point of improvement for LG, but it's definitely not a dealbreaker as-is.
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LG Software adds some nice useful features > mainly the smart assistant
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LG Software adds some bloat & maybe even spyware? Looking at you Glance.
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Hinge tightness is good, the screen does wobble when adjusting, but when put in place there is no wobble during usage. Opens one handed.
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This is the first laptop I have ever owned that hasn't shown some modern standby issues. Not sure what LG did, but I love it.
In conclusion I am very happy with this device as it seems perfect for my use case. Most negatives are minor. I think that screen brightness is it's biggest weakness together with the thermal solution in heavier workloads.
If you have any questions or like me to do some tests / video or extended review just let me know :)
I agree with most of your comments. Before I had the 2018 15in Gram, then the 2021 16in Gram and now I have the same version with you but the 2X1TB model.
The cooling is much better in our model with the RTX3050 (two fans) compared to the normal ones with just the iGPU (one fan). Also the speakers are 3W instead of 2W, I notice a huge improvement. The brightness of the screen must exceed 400nits which is much better than my 2021 Gram which also had a glossy screen instead of the nice matte screen of the 2022-23 models. The VRR looks good too. I use 0-40% brightness indoors and I find it very pleasurable to work outdoors (the 2021 version with glossy display full of reflections and lower brightness was not a pleasant experience outdoors).
The fan noise is much louder in this version than in the 2021, but only with medium/high load. My previous Grams were the quietest laptops I had, not this one, when plugged and charging and/or when the load starts getting high, the fan gets loud. But you can decrease this if you set the cooling mode in low at the smart assistant. This laptop is so much more powerful that I can accept the increased fan noise.
Just a detail, the 2nd SSD is only PCIE 3.0, I get from the D: drive only half the speed of the C: drive which is PCIE 4.0, according to LG this is how it is. Probably because of the RTX3050, there is less bandwidth.
Finally I want to emphasize how much I agree with you about the keyboard and the flex and how prejudiced some YouTube reviewers are. The 2023 is a bit sturdier than my 2021, but already the old one was great and I had found the keyboard thousand times better than the shallow keyboards of the Macs.
This is one of the best laptops available, especially considering its weight, but gets little love from the reviewers
Your last sentence is exactly how I feel too haha. There simply is nothing really like it on the market right now!
Regarding the screen, I'm probably just kinda spoiled by my previous laptops. Haven't tested it outside but hearing this I should be fine ;)
I am curious why LG chose the 3050 and not the 4050 by the way. As far as I know the 4050 allows for the same power on a much lower wattage, which would've helped with cooling. But maybe there's some other reason.
Oh and yeah, mac keyboards are surprisingly shit :P
Hey, I bought LG gram one week ago- 16", 2022, i7, 16 gb, 1tb. Upgraded from Thinkpad X1 extreme gen 1 with touch 4k HDR screen. First impressions were that LG is feather light and the system is snappier than TP. Screen: 4k touch panel on TP is hard to beat, lively colours, very good contrast, good antireflection, touch, only complaint that drows a lot of battery power. LG is reasonably good, the matte screen is even better in eliminating reflections however at cost of contrast, gain on battery life is worth it. I would say that LG screen is perfect for my needs. Chassis: LG seems fragile compared to TP, it doesn't bother me, it is very light and maybe somwhat flimsy but stable enough for comfortable typing. Speaking of the keyboard, I have to admit it is very good. As a long time Thinkpads user I am used to good typing experience, LG is not disappointing. Overall it is excellent system, snappy, light to carry around, good keyboard, long battery life. I went with the 2022 model cause it is much cheaper where I live.
why lead you chose from an 13inch small size laptop to a 16inch big size laptop?
FYI -
I saw several people asking about sleeves (was searching as well but couldn't find any answers). I think if you buy one that is listed as compatible for macbook pro 16 (latest edition) it should work. I picked up this one:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HCF0ZMI
It fits my laptop (same 16" with RTX 3050) just barely. It's a little thick but has a lot of padding and corner edge guards. I have no idea if it's going to last as I just got it today but seems like it's made well enough. The charger and cable fit in the front although a slimmer charger would be good. Looking at some two port slim chargers for travel and most do 65W from a single usb-c port, 45w from the usb-a port or when using both ports 45W USB-C and 10-20W USB-A. Looks like they'd fit better in a slim pocket like this sleeve has or in general for travel.
Hi
I am thinking of buying that laptop as it is on sale right now. That would be to replace an M1 macbook pro 13. I love the M1 chip but I need at least 4tb of storage and ports connectivity (sd, hdmi, usb A). And I'm really tired of Apple's policy of removing all of that, it really put obstacles in my workflow. I also need something very light while still having a big screen which is why I am looking at the LG gram lineup.
So because you owned a macbook pro 13 as well, I have a few question:
do you feel the screen quality of the gram 16 is on par with the macbook's one? or lower?
i've seen that the touchpad is practically the same and I know macbooks are unbeatable when it comes to touchpad. how do you find the LG's touchpad in comparison?
how do you feel about battery life compared to the macbooks's one?
Being a photographer, I do a lot of photo editing and some light video editing. how do you feel the LG compares for that to the macbook? I am in France and can only get the version without dedicated GPU, so with intel iris Xe. If you have time, could you run some test with lightroom or photoshop without the RTX activated and let me know how fast it is? (navigating the interface, importing and exporting).
Nicely done. Just bought one today. Thank you!
I bought LG Gram 16 almost 3 years back. The best decision I have ever made. Till date no issues, only the speaker volume is a disadvantage but except from that I feel its a fantastic device. Its just too good.
Im using my LG garm from 2017 right now and really love it. Was looking for upgrade and tried searching for newer models but all the reviews seem to hate it not sure why. LTT kept bashing the gram, yet in this years CES they loved the msi prestige which as almost the identical specs 😮💨 Ill probably buy the latest gram never the less cuz i think the reviews are out if touch and biased
I literally just bought a demo unit from Costco for $800 and think its a stellar deal for the laptop. Considering the prices of the ones they pitted it up against, I find it a KILLER deal :)