LG Gram Style 16 Review - Super Light OLED Laptop | Tom's Guide - video Dailymotion

Tom's Guide

The LG Gram Style is a stunningly light 16-inch laptop with a head-turning iridescent design and brilliant OLED display, but its performance doesn’t quite match the looks or price.

Transcript

00:00 This is the LG Gram Style, and while it may not quite weigh a gram, it is the lightest

00:04 laptop I've ever tested with a big 16-inch OLED display.

00:08 It's also stunning, with an iridescent finish that shifts colors in the light, and a seamless

00:13 touchpad that stays hidden until needed.

00:16 This is one of the best Windows laptops for those who are looking to make a statement.

00:23 We need to talk about the LG Gram's obscenely light weight.

00:27 At 2.76 pounds, the LG Gram Style is by far the lightest 16-inch laptop we've tested.

00:32 By comparison, the 13-inch MacBook Air is a wee bit lighter at 2.7 pounds, but who doesn't

00:37 want an extra 3 inches?

00:40 Carrying the Gram Style in my backpack for a week was barely noticeable.

00:43 However, that weightlessness may come at a cost, and it's just not that sturdy.

00:48 Placing the Gram Style down on a desk, the display wobbles back and forth, and there's

00:52 just too much flex to the chassis.

00:54 The Gram Style definitely stands out in a sea of look-alike Windows laptops.

00:58 The Gorilla Glass 3 lid and deck are both iridescent, so the color shifts from a pearlescent

01:03 white to pink to blue depending on how the light reflects off the surface.

01:08 It's an eye-catching look that I love.

01:10 The touchpad, on the other hand, is the opposite of eye-catching.

01:14 Illuminated by LEDs on the left and right, which disappear from view when you're not

01:18 using it, the pad is spacious enough that I never worry I'm off target.

01:23 The palm rejection, however, could be better.

01:26 The typing experience itself is just okay.

01:28 The keys offer a good amount of travel, but it feels somewhat hollow and trampoline-like

01:33 compared to my MacBook Pro 14-inch.

01:36 This might have to do with the overall super-light weight of the system.

01:39 The Gram Style's port selection isn't skimpy, but it could be better.

01:42 The USB-A port has a flip-down door that I suppose helps save a bit of thickness in the

01:47 design but just gets in the way.

01:49 I think I'd prefer an extra millimeter in exchange for a fully-exposed port.

01:54 As you can see, the Gram Style has an underwhelming webcam.

01:57 Yes, it's 1080p, but it's a little bit darker than we'd like, and there's this weird purple

02:01 cast over Google Meet, which we don't see on other laptops that we've tested.

02:06 The bad news is that there's even more of an underwhelming speaker system.

02:09 The two-speaker setup does support Dolby Atmos, but if you're looking for a robust bass, look

02:14 elsewhere, as the sound gets a little muffled with the speakers on the bottom of the chassis.

02:19 The LG Gram Style has impressive staying power, lasting 10 hours and 54 minutes in our testing,

02:24 with its display set to 60Hz mode.

02:26 That is way better than the 13-inch Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro and Lenovo Yoga 9i.

02:31 Among 16-inch laptops, it also beats the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra, but of course loses to

02:36 the king of laptop battery life, the MacBook Pro 16-inch.

02:40 But if Apple can claim to be the king of battery life, then LG can claim the crown when it

02:44 comes to displays.

02:46 Their OLED TVDs are consistently the best, and so it's no surprise that the 3K 16-inch

02:51 OLED display on the Gram Style is one of the most stunning panels I've seen on a laptop.

02:56 For starters, I love that this screen is bright enough that I can use it outside in direct

03:00 sunlight.

03:01 However, while enjoying that healthy dose of sun, the shiny iridescent body could get

03:06 distracting.

03:08 Another plus is the 120Hz refresh rate, which makes for swift scrolling when surfing the

03:13 web and overall smooth motion.

03:16 In our lab tests, the Gram Style's panel nearly doubled the Galaxy Book Ultra and the

03:20 MacBook Pro, reaching 156% on the DCI-P3 test.

03:24 When playing HDR content, the LG Gram Style reached 477 nits of brightness, which is good

03:30 but is less than half the MacBook Pro 16-inch.

03:33 And that brings us to performance.

03:36 I do find the Gram Style capable of juggling my everyday workload.

03:39 A few Chrome browser windows, Slack running, and Spotify playing in the background only

03:43 causes a minor stutter now and then when switching between, let's say, Chrome and Slack.

03:48 On paper, the LG Gram Style should have plenty of muscle for nearly any task.

03:53 You get a 13th-gen Intel Core i7 P-Series processor, a 1TB SSD, and you can upgrade

03:59 to a hefty 32GB of RAM, 16GB is standard.

04:02 However, the performance in some of our tests falls short of other Windows laptops with

04:07 similar specs.

04:08 The Gram Style held up well in Geekbench, beating the Galaxy Book 3 Pro but falling

04:12 a bit behind the Lenovo Yoga 9i on multi-core.

04:16 The Style's SSD also proved fairly speedy, surpassing the Samsung and finishing just

04:20 behind the Yoga.

04:21 The Gram Style fell behind the pack in graphics and gaming tests.

04:26 Its 3DMark Time Spy result trailed both the Samsung and Lenovo by a wide margin, and it

04:31 couldn't crack 30 frames per second on our not-very-demanding Civ 6 gaming test.

04:36 On our handbrake test, the Gram Style took a leisurely 11 minutes and 41 seconds transcoding

04:41 video.

04:42 The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 took just 7.59 with the same CPU.

04:48 As you'd expect, the MacBook Pro 14" is in another league with its M.2 Pro chip, taking

04:53 only 4.02.

04:55 So don't expect the Gram Style to be a great partner if you're a creative pro.

04:59 And that's a problem when you're paying nearly $2,000 for a laptop.

05:03 The LG Gram Style is out now and starts at $1799 for the 13th-gen Intel Core i7 processor,

05:09 16GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD with the 16" OLED display.

05:14 The model we tested bumps that up to 32GB of RAM for $1999.

05:18 The 14" version costs $1499 and features a 13th-gen Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM,

05:25 and a 512GB SSD, but it does weigh less than a kilogram.

05:32 The LG Gram Style is the kind of laptop that makes you go "wow" when you pick it up.

05:36 No 16" laptop should be this light or eye-catching, and yet it is.

05:40 But this is also the kind of system that makes you say "hmm" when you see the price.

05:44 For $2,000, you're getting a laptop that isn't particularly great at anything.

05:48 If you're a gamer, you're better off with the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra.

05:52 If you're looking for longer battery life and more creative pro performance, get a MacBook

05:56 Pro.

05:57 But if you like the idea of owning the lightest possible big-screen laptop, the LG Gram Style

06:02 is definitely worth a look.

06:03 Make sure to check out our full review at TomsGuide.com, and if you want to see who

06:09 came out on top between the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra and the MacBook Pro, you can click here.

06:14 Also follow us on social @tomsguide.

06:16 I'm Mark Spunauer, and I'll see you in the next video.

06:19 [BLANK_AUDIO]

LG Gram Style 16 Review - Super Light OLED Laptop | Tom's Guide

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended