LG Gram Review
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2017-05-06
·
1,710 words · ~8 min read
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it feels like most computer manufacturers approach their design in
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one of a handful of ways sacrificing weight and size to the performance gods
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or delivering the best possible spec for a killer student-friendly price features
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and build quality be damned for example but I don't think I have ever seen a
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computer with this kind of laser-like
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focus meet the LG gram a 15-in notebook
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designed to be as light as possible so light in fact that I can hold it up by
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the corner with two
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fingers cooler Master's master case maker 5 features their free form modular
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system allowing you to customize adjust and upgrade make it yours at the link in
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the video description so let's begin then I suppose with a tour of the device
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the outer shell is made out of of blasted magnesium a metal in the same
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family as lithium and one of the lightest on the periodic table with a
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subtle champagne finish that both looks good and does an amazing job of
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repelling fingerprints they absolutely nailed this the material choice is a big
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part of what gives the Graham its astonishingly low curb weight and it
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comes with some other advantages as well it still feels like metal when you touch
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it giving it a more premium feel than a plastic notebook can achieve but it
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warms up almost as fast as plastic with the heat of your hands no more cold
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wrist rest first thing in the morning and its excellent heat conductivity
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means that the gram runs fanless until it's seen about a minute and a half of
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sustained load at which time those two tiny vents near the screen hinge are
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called into action to keep that dual core hyperthreaded core i7 6500 U cool
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and all of this is at very reasonable temperatures and barely audible noise
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levels so then you're probably asking yourself at this
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point why doesn't magnesium get used more often if it's so awesome well it's
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not the first time I've seen it done to be clear I remember Aug a Panasonic
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tough book in my local London Drugs in the mid 2000s but magnesium comes with
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some baggage it's really really
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malleable so it takes some clever alloying with other metals and
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structural reinforcement in order to achieve even the strength that you see
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here with the mushy wrist rests and screen that can be bent to a subtle
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curve then straightened again without much force at all but LG apparently
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thought that this R&D work and ruggedness compromise was worth it
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because they looked at competitors like apple who seemed to be going as far as
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to treat their thin and light models like track cars and thought there must
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be another way because the gram has
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ports on the left you'll find a power plug that I wish was a little more more
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robust or even magnetic USB 3 HDMI and a
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type-c USB 3 Port though it's unfortunately not equipped with
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Thunderbolt then on the right you'll find USB 2 USB 3 again a headphone
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microphone combo Jack and a bit of an odd one a Micro SD slot I mean don't get
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me wrong it's better than nothing but the number of times I found myself
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thinking gosh I sure wish I had a Micro SD reader on my laptop can easily be
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counted on one hand while an SD slot
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which can be easily adapted to micro would have probably been worth the extra
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couple of grams to me but would there have even been room so my signature
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edition model Sports 8 gigs of ddr3l memory a 512 gig Samsung pm871 SATA
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based m.2 SSD an Intel AC Wireless 7265
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Wireless module and a 44.95 mamp battery
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that LG advertises as being capable of 7 hours of use but in practice pretty much
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all laptops it only hits that kind of a number when it's used in airplane mode
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with the screen dimmed all the way something I normally don't test but I
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was actually stuck on dark buses for hours with this thing so yeah the
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standardized PC Mark battery test I usually run gave the gram a respectable
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but less impressive score and the thing to remember here is that is in spite of
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the non-benchmark shattering dual core
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processor a more normal 15-in laptop you
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might look at and go well it lasts for a similar amount of time but that one will
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do much more in that battery time if
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you're looking to tackle heavier tasks like working in Photoshop or light video
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editing while you're on the go but that normal laptop probably won't have such
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an interesting form factor let's take a look at the screen the bezels are
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impressively thin meaning that the gram is going to be smaller in almost every
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Dimension than other devices rocking a 15inch matad finish IPS display now the
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1920x 1080 resolution with no upgrade
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options might raise some eyebrows in the age of 3K and 4K notebook screens but
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honestly it doesn't bother me at 15 in I
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agree with LG's choice to salvage some battery life or allow me to run the
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backlight a little bit brighter as a tradeoff for that extra resolution which
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isn't to say though that I agree with every trade-off there made presumably to
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save on weight the webcam has been put in that horrible unflattering position
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below the screen on the bottom bezel which is a shame because otherwise the
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image quality and sound is pretty good
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and the keyboard oh the keyboard okay positive things first the tactile
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feedback considering the Z depth that is the thickness of the laptop is not bad
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and the keystrokes are very quiet for working on your novel in the local
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Starbucks without disturbing the other patrons but I think it would take me a
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very long time using only this machine to get used to some of its
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eccentricities like the layout of the three column number pad and the
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proximity of the arrow keys to the space bar and in this day and age I understand
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that weight savings was the name of the game here a non-backlit keyboard is a
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total drag the good news is that having
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a number pad is something that a lot of people will find very valuable and the
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click pad is pretty good with two-handed
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operation only sometimes glitching out and tracking feeling responsive and
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accurate leading us then nicely to I guess the final summary there are things
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that laptop Shoppers will like and there are things that they will dislike about
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the gram no device is perfect unexceptional battery life tablet-like
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performance no touchscreen and
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lackluster ruggedness are low points I mean I seriously I wouldn't even put
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this thing in an overstuffed backpack back for fear that it would bend but the
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good if not high resolution IPS screen complete lack of junk wear Steam and Ida
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were installed by me loud enough speakers standout Aesthetics one finger
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hinge which blew me away given how light this thing is and of course the overall
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weight of the device are enough for me to even if I can't give it an
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unconditional buy now recommendation
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feel the need to congratulate LG on their achievement here in a sea of
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devices that seek to strike a balance between battery performance price Etc
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and all end up being pretty much the same damn thing for it LG's gram team
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had a unique vision and saw it through that is what makes people pretty much
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universally including myself say wow
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this thing is cool when they hold it for the first time so I've got to give them
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mad props for that the device they built is unlike anything else and if you want
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a big screen on a notebook that you'll hardly even realize you're carrying then
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look no further because nothing else Nails this quite like the
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gram and on the subject of extremely unique products this is a funny one that
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mass drop's featuring this is the Red Scarf 2 plus version B custom mechanical
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keyboard kit so this is a build it
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yourself mechanical keyboard kit featuring a unque 78 key layout it
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consists of a PCB clear acrylic bottom
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and a CNC aluminum case plate and feet
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this allows for customization of lighting layout including ISO and ANC
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and color the RS 78 is fully programmable allowing users to utilize
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the unique layout as they see fit and there's a variety of choices of anodized
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aluminum color it comes in black gray red or silver you can also add a set of
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standard layout blank or laser etched front printed pbd key caps in Cherry
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profile and the lighting can be controlled via a remote check out it and
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any of the other awesome products on mass drop where they just find
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manufacturers who are willing to give a volume discount and a lot of consumers
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who are committed to buy and they put them together and they get awesome
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prices on some very unique products all the way from camping gear to build it
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yourself keyboards that link draw up SL whatever
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one we got down there in the video description so thanks for watching guys
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if this video sucked you know what to do but if it was awesome get subscribed hit
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monthly contribution through our community Forum which is linked in the video description now that you're done
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doing all that stuff you're probably wondering what to watch next so click
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that little button in the top right corner to check out eight Gamers one CPU
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the followup to the Epic 7 Gamers one CPU now with more gamers than ever
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before