Table of Contents
amazon LG gram 14 reviews
Design:
An LG laptop makes me very curious about the design because it is very strange, at least Samsung is more familiar. The LG Gram has an extremely simple design with an unremarkable appearance. This 14″ version has only one color, dark gray, the top right corner of the lid has a chrome-plated LG logo but it is also quite sunken. If you just look at it, it’s hard to tell which brand this laptop belongs to.
The thin bezel design makes the LG Gram 14 “have the same form as the 13”. The dimensions of the sides are 32.3 x 21.2 cm and 1.45 – 1.67 cm thick. With this form of a machine with a weight of only 970 g, the LG Gram has very high mobility, putting it in a backpack almost does not feel like there is a machine inside.
Light weight is achieved thanks to the material of Gram’s case, namely Magnesium Carbon Nano alloy. Magnesium is a “weight loss” solution that many laptop manufacturers use, such as Microsoft with its Surface line. Of course, the feeling of touching Magnesium is very specific, it is rough, slightly hissing, and not as smooth as the anodized surface of aluminum. If you are using Surface, the feeling is similar.
In addition, the Magnesium alloy that LG uses is durable but quite flexible, holding the screen and gently pressing is curved. Therefore, when using LG, I do not feel as high-end and solid as the anodized aluminum material of MacBook or XPS 13.
The ports on the LG Gram are very complete with 2 x USB 3.0 (USB-A), 1 x USB 3.0 (USB-C) (does not support Thunderbolt 3), HDMI, a 3.5″ audio jack, and a reader slot. microSD card LG Gram uses a pin-pin charging port and a USB-C port that also supports charging. This is very convenient but why doesn’t LG remove the separate charging port to reduce the hassle? LG includes a USB adapter- C out to LAN so that you can use the wired network when needed.
The hinge of the LG Gram is very well made, I can open the screen with one hand and the feeling of the opening is very smooth. However, the point I have to criticize this hinge design is that the finished outer shell is very boring.
Screen and sound:
The 14 “screen of LG Gram Z970-G has a thin border design, the top border is 8.9 mm and the side border is 5.9 mm, slightly thicker than the Dell XPS 13 (5.2 mm), HP Specter x360 (5.45 mm) but still thinner than many other thin-edge laptops such as ASUS Zenbook 3 (7.6 mm), ASUS Zenbook UX430 (7.18 mm).
Although the screen is not covered with overflow glass, the screen of the LG Gram 14” has a glossy finish with a glossy finish. The downside is strong reflection, however, LG has equipped with a Daylight feature for the screen, pushing up the contrast for better viewing when used outdoors, quite similar to the ClearBlack feature on Lumia phones in the past.
Brief experience with the screen of LG Gram 14 “, I found the display quality of the screen very good. Quick test with AIDA64 and test with Spyder4Elite, the LG panel equipped with Gram 14 “with code LP140WF7, I have checked this screen is also used by Lenovo for the Yoga 710-14IKB series sold in some foreign markets.
The screen has a resolution of FHD 1920 x 1080 px, and a 16:9 aspect ratio, so the pixel density is 157 PPI with a 14″ screen. The smoothness is quite high, but pixels can still be seen when viewed at a distance close.
The maximum screen brightness is 327 nit, which is 300 nits higher than the standard brightness level on laptop screens, and at maximum brightness, the screen contrast reaches 650, at 50% the contrast is 570, and at full brightness. 0%, the contrast is 23720. With a black level of 0.5, the screen of the LG Gram 14″ offers a very eye-catching experience, the blacks are very black and deep, very suitable for entertainment with movies. Color gamut reaches 74% AdobeRGB, 68% NTSC and 93% sRGB for fresh and real colors.
The brightness difference and the color difference between the screen areas are also not significant. However, the color accuracy according to the Delta-E scale of the screen is quite high for some colors of yellow, red, and orange, Delta-E to 12 means your eyes can recognize the difference when compared with standard color. The other colors, though, all have a lower Delta-E, below 6, and an average of 3.64. With this ratio, the screen of the LG Gram is more suitable for movie entertainment because the colors are fresh and eye-catching, but editing photos or drawing pictures will be much wrong.
The webcam is always integrated into the middle of the hinge with 2 mics, this position is the first time I see it on a laptop, usually on the screen border, top or bottom border. This position makes the angle of rotation a bit less flexible, but if you use it in normal positions, it shouldn’t be a problem. The quality of the webcam is also very poor, noisy, and too bright.
LG Gram 14” is equipped with 2 speakers at the bottom, each speaker is 1 W and the sound quality is enhanced by DTS Audio software. The output volume of this pair of speakers is on average 78 dB, which is very loud. In addition, the DTS Audio software adds many great customizations, such as Surround Sound – which simulates surround sound, when opened, the sound is more resonant, and the loudness also increases to 87 dB, bringing an immersive experience. Watch movies more interesting.
Keyboard
The interior of the LG Gram is quite nice, still a monolithic Magnesium alloy material with a black keyboard, and a large key size with the size of 16 x 16 mm for the main keys. The key travel is about 1.5 mm and the feeling of pressing is quite strange. Scissor key bone structure with high bounce, and clear and uniform force points on all keys, so the press feeling is very confident even though the stroke is not too deep.
Layout keys are designed reasonably and are friendly. Although the navigation keys are not big, they are separate and easy to press. The Fn key row is integrated with many more features with the icon made in orange color quite beautifully. The power button is also integrated into the keyboard, but the design is “anti-mistaken” when lying completely down, equal to the surface of the key card, and has LED status lights. Speaking of lights, the keyboard also has backlit lights with 2 levels of brightness.
The trackpad of the LG Gram 14 ” is also very good quality with a size of 10.2 x 6.8 cm which is quite large, allowing us to manipulate many fingers comfortably. The surface of the trackpad is covered with glass, the smooth surface reduces friction making it easier to move the mouse and perform gestures on Windows 10 more accurately. 2 mouse keys are integrated under the trackpad and have a very good bounce, must say is the best and most feel I have ever. used on Ultrabooks running Windows. When pressing down on the mouse button, it clicks clearly but not too loudly.
Unfortunately, this trackpad does not use the Microsoft Precision Touchpad driver, so many operations are not smooth, such as zooming in and out on the browser, even though we have tried it with Microsoft Edge.
where can you get a LG gram 14 online
LG Gram 14T90P – 14″ WUXGA (1920×1200) 2-in-1 Lightweight Touch Display Laptop, Intel evo with 11th gen Core i7 1165G7 CPU , 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, 24.5 Hours Battery, Thunderbolt 4, Black – 2021: Buy it now
LG Gram 14T90N 14″ WQXGA (1920 x 1080) 2-in-1 Lightweight Touch Display Laptop, 10th Gen Core i7 , 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, USB-C, HDMI, USB- Silver: Buy it now
LG Gram 14T90P – 14″ WUXGA (1920×1200) 2-in-1 Lightweight Touch Display Laptop, Intel evo with 11th gen Core i5 CPU , 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 24.5 Hours Battery, Thunderbolt 4, Black – 2021: Buy it now
Performance:
Regarding configuration, LG Gram 14 “Z970-G is equipped with the following configuration:
CPU: Intel Core i5-7200U (Kaby Lake) 2 cores 4 threads, speed 2.5 – 3.1 GHz, 3 MB Cache, TDP 15 W;
GPU: Intel HD Graphics 620;
RAM: 8 GB DDR4-2133 MHz;
SSD: 256 GB SanDisk M.2 SATA;
Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.1, Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265 (2×2), LAN (with USB > RJ45 adapter);
Battery: Li-Po 4-cell 60 Wh;
OS: Windows 10 Home Single Language 64-bit (copyright).
With this configuration, the LG Gram offers pretty good performance, of course for office users. This year’s office laptop 3.1 GHz Turbo Boost speed, through the tests, the CPU can reach a maximum of 3.092 GHz and this clock can be maintained at a stable 3.06 to 3.09 GHz.
Tested with PCMark, LG Gram scored very high compared to many models using Core i5-7200U. The advantage of LG Gram is 8 GB of DDR4-2133 MHz RAM, but the machine only has 1 SO-DIMM slot, so you cannot add more RAM to run dual channels. However, the weak point of the LG Gram is the SATA AHCI SSD instead of the PCIe NVMe.
Hard drive speed is 537 MB/s read and 350 MB/s write Q32T1 sequentially, 4 Kb random access speed is 151 MB/s read and 233 MB/s write Q32T1. If LG equips the machine with a PCIe NVMe interface, the performance of LG Gram will be even higher. Is it possible to upgrade the M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe drive? I have checked and LG Gram does not support this drive standard.
In terms of graphics processing capabilities, LG Gram uses Intel HD Graphics 620 integrated GPU under Core i5-7200U CPU. The graphics performance of this GPU is of course just enough to meet basic entertainment needs, playing online games with low graphics settings. Try benchmarking with 3DMark, LG Gram shows performance equal to half of the models in the comparison table above. However, for some content, the LG Gram gave a slightly lower score due to the RAM setup running on a single channel.
My experience with LG Gram is similar to other Core i5-7200U-powered Ultrabooks. The processing speed is the same but multitasking is better thanks to a large amount of RAM, I have tried playing games like LoL, and Paladins on this machine and it responds with low configuration settings to achieve high frames.
Temperature and battery:
LG Gram when using the office normally is very cool with the surface temperature as in the palm rest area only 31 degrees, the middle key area is the hottest at 37 degrees and the surrounding areas move from 33 to 35 degrees Celsius. The bottom of the device is also quite ideal with about 35 – 36 degrees Celsius, you can put the device on your lap to use it without discomfort.
However, LG Gram’s cooling system with 1 small fan and 1 copper pipe are also very small and short, causing the CPU to quickly overheat. Just open a web browser like Chrome and browse a few tabs, and the CPU temperature will go from resting 45 degrees Celsius to over 50 degrees Celsius when opening YouTube to watch videos, the CPU temperature will reach 60 degrees Celsius is the temperature fluctuates continuously, I monitor when browsing the web, the maximum temperature of the CPU is 67 degrees Celsius, then drops to 63 degrees Celsius but then increases.
I tried to check with AIDA64 and found that the cooling system is acting quite strange, that is when the CPU is detected above the 85 degrees Celsius threshold, the fan seems to run faster when I hear the fan sound and the CPU temperature drops to a low level 75 degrees C. But then the fan slowed down, and the CPU temperature increased back to 87 – 88 degrees C, again throttled and this time throttled longer. The fan was turned on again and it took almost a minute for the temperature to drop to 73 degrees Celsius. CPU at the throttle stage drops the clock to 2.6 GHz. So we should use LG Gram with light office tasks as the main, playing games CPU temperature can be up to 90 degrees Celsius (Tj 105 degrees Celsius) unsafe. Of course, LG Gram is not a machine for gaming, so I only recommend it if you buy it.
LG Gram 14 ” is equipped with a battery capacity of up to 60 Wh – very large for a thin and light machine. Battery life is among the longest among Ultrabooks I have ever used. For the normal battery life of Windows 10, LG has a separate battery profile called LG All-Day Mode. I tested with the following settings:
PCMark 8 Home runs in Battery Balanced Mode, simulating common working conditions such as web surfing, text editing, image editing, video calling, and light gaming with 75% screen brightness > 6 hours 23 minutes.
Watch movies online with Chrome with 1 tab, FHD resolution, LG All-Day Mode battery mode 100% volume, 75% brightness > fatigue in 8 hours 20 minutes.
Watch movies online with Chrome with 1 tab, FHD resolution, Power Saver battery mode, 100% volume, 40% brightness > 12 hours 15 minutes.
I am impressed with the battery life of LG Gram and this machine can meet your working needs for more than half a day. If used with fewer tasks and also depending on the battery mode, you can leave the charger at home.
Speaking of charging, although LG Gram equips the device with a pin charger, the USB-C port on the device also supports charging. This is a great feature because you can take advantage of the chargers of other devices that use USB-C ports. For example, I use Innergie 45 W charger and it charges well for this LG Gram.
Conclusion:
In the process of using it, I have many impressions of LG Gram. The first is its irresistible weight, less than 1 kg, very portable but no less sturdy with a Magnesium alloy shell. Next is a good screen with wide color coverage and quite high contrast for entertainment. Although it has a strong reflector layer, this mirror layer also makes the image clearer and more eye-catching, very suitable for movie entertainment. The slim bezel design is also a plus. The typing experience and trackpad are very pleasing to the hand, and the connection ports are quite complete, especially the versatile USB-C port. I think with the office configuration and very long battery life, the LG Gram is very suitable for those who need high mobility, and normal office work needs.
However, LG Gram still has a few points that I do not like. In terms of design and finish, the LG Gram does not give you a premium feel or look like many models in the same segment can. The problem lies in the Magnesium material, with this gray color, the device does not stand out, it just feels sturdy and durable but lacks luxury.
Through experience, LG Gram still operates smoothly and coolly, but it is recommended that you do not force the machine to run heavy tasks for too long because the cooling system is not enough to cool the CPU for a long time. With office tasks, I don’t think it’s a problem. Another point is that at this price range, the LG Gram is not equipped with features such as fingerprint security, something that has now begun to appear more commonly on laptops from the mid-range segment. In addition, I hate the position of the webcam because just opening the narrow-angle is partially obscured the camera body. The upper screen border is still thick, but LG does not put a webcam.