HISTORICALLY, 17-inch notebooks are deployed nowhere nearly as often as comparable models in the 14- to 15-inch range, outside of high-power workstations. They’re often just too big, heavy, and bulky for the average employee to tote around. Times and technologies change, however; today’s 17-inch notebook can be roughly the same size as yesterday’s 15.6-inch models. That’s a game changer for the market, and when combined with an increasing number of employees working from home, the 17-inch LG gram for business notebook is well worth a look.
Did I also mention it weighs less than 3 pounds? Seriously.
Speeds and Feeds
On the inside, you’ll find one of Intel’s 10th Generation mobile chips, the Core i7-1065G7, combined with 16GB DDR4-3200 RAM, 1TB (2 x 512GB) NVMe M.2 2280 SSDs, Intel Iris Plus Graphics, Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201, Bluetooth 5.0, and a 720p webcam.
Kudos to LG for more robust port assortment than what most notebooks sport these days. On the left, you’ll find a power jack, USB 3.1, HDMI, and USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3. On the right, there are two additional USB 3.1 ports, 3.5 mm headphone/mic, UFS/Micro-SD, and a K-Slot.
Aside from the computer and AC power adapter, it also shipped with a USB-C wired Ethernet adapter, which is perhaps their way of saying, “See! This is for business!” Sadly, it’s limited to 10/100 Ethernet support.
Display
LG is known for displays, so it’s not surprising that the massive, 2560×1600 17-inch WQXGA (Wide Quad Extended Graphics Array) screen is the real selling point here. Its large IPS-LCD panel, 16:10 ratio, and high resolution are well suited to productivity tasks. Everything feels roomy with numerous applications and windows up simultaneously, all without having to play with zoom levels or overlay windows in “just the right way” to make it all fit.
Image quality is all-around excellent, though not without a few flaws. I found the color fidelity superb and the image viewable at nearly any angle. While brighter displays exist, this screen is perfectly eyeball-searing in normal lighting conditions. There is significant glare in bright conditions; however, throughout testing I found the max brightness setting sufficient to overcome it when working outdoors in all but direct sunlight.
While preferred for productivity, the 16:10 ratio will give you extra black space when watching movies or videos. Testing showed that this display exhibits some minor trailing or ghosting. It won’t be visible in real-world use with the type of content this notebook is built for, other than the occasional fast-paced action scene in a movie.
Big on Size, Light on Weight
I always prepare the forearms for some heavy lifting with 17-inch notebooks, which usually fall in the 5- to 7-pound range. At 2.98 pounds, the LG gram 17 is shockingly light for a notebook its size. In fact, it’s lighter than many 15.6-inch laptops sold today.
The weight reduction is largely thanks to its dark-silver magnesium alloy chassis, which looks fine but certainly won’t be turning heads at the coffee shop. The feel and finish could probably be a bit more “premium” for a notebook in this price class. After a month of use it still looks new, so while brushed aluminum may look fancier at first, this material will probably look better over time.
Durability is key for business-class laptops, and thankfully LG’s efforts to reduce weight didn’t go far enough to affect the rigors of employee use. It meets the MIL-STD-810G military standard for durability and reliability across seven factors, from shock and dust to extreme temperatures. The base feels strong and doesn’t flex much when pressure is applied. The screen side is more flexible and will twist a little when opening or closing the lid from the corners.
Performance and Battery Life
LG clearly rounded out the specs nicely for a business-class notebook focused around powerful multitasking and productivity with as much battery life as possible. The 10th Gen Core i7-1065G7 packs 4 CPU cores with max single-core speed of 3.9 GHZ or all cores at 3.5 GHz. It doesn’t set the benchmarks on fire, but it could effortlessly handle multiple Office applications, lots of browser tabs, and media playback without skipping a beat.
The G7 Iris Plus Graphics make a world of difference in productivity applications that tax the GPU, such as Adobe Premiere Pro and Photoshop. Typically, things like video encoding and 3D rendering are painfully slow with Intel integrated graphics, but the gram was able to apply complex filters and encode content much faster than models sporting older-generation chips.
Don’t mistake improved GPU performance for meaning this is a gaming notebook, because it isn’t. Casual games are fine and more intensive games may run OK on low-quality settings (and not at the panel’s native resolution), but keep your expectations in check.
I expected battery life to suffer due to the larger, high-resolution display, but the runtime far exceeded my predictions. Thanks to the integrated 80Wh Lithium Polymer battery, I averaged 11 hours doing a heavier-than-normal mix of productivity work, 22 hours idle at medium brightness, and about 13 hours playing back video nonstop. It takes a little more than four hours to charge from zero using the included AC power adapter’s barrel connector (unusual to see these days), longer than most but expected given how much battery there is to juice up. It can also charge via USB-C with the Thunderbolt port.
Trackpad and Keyboard
The trackpad is smooth, responsive, and worked great with multifinger gestures, and I also liked the slightly deeper throw on the left/right corners when clicking. Your right palm rests on the touchpad when typing, however. Maybe shifting the touchpad a little more to the left would help.
The chiclet keyboard (admittedly a matter of personal taste) seems par for the course for most notebooks these days in terms of key feel and responsiveness. LG made it a point to note that certain keys have been elongated since last year’s model and a few keys have been added to the right of the number pad. The keyboard backlighting is excellent and offers two brightness settings. There is also a biometric fingerprint reader built into the power key that works great and is very convenient.
Software
The LG gram ships with Windows 10 Pro and an assortment of bundled applications more useful than not. Yes, there’s the typical crap that Microsoft preinstalls like Candy Crush Friends and Farm Hero Saga that should never appear by default on a version of the OS intended for professional use, but that’s not LG’s fault.
LG’s own inclusions all serve a specific and useful purpose, like a control panel, power manager, update center, and reading mode app for reducing eyestrain. There are also some limited, though occasionally useful, versions of CyberLink programs and the core Office suite (that requires activation after a short trial).
Summary
Vendors like Dell, HP, and Lenovo often dominate mindshare in the SMB notebook market, leaving other PC makers fighting to get solid offerings noticed. LG Electronics is a veritable giant in markets like televisions and appliances, but a relatively small player in laptop computers. Currently, the LG gram for business 17 offers something unique—a versatile, powerful, yet truly ultraportable 17-inch business notebook.
Specifications and Pricing (courtesy of LG)
- Price: Get the latest pricing here >>
- Display: 17″ WQXGA (2560 x 1600) IPS
- Dimensions (wxhxd): 15.0″ x 10.3″ x 0.7″
- Weight: 2.98 lbs. (1,350 g)
- Operating system: Windows 10 Pro
- Processor: 10th Gen. Intel Core i7
- Memory: 16GB
- Storage: 1TB, 512MB
- Graphics: Intel Iris Plus (i7)
- Battery life: Up to 17 hours
- Features: HD webcam, fingerprint ID, MIL-STD 810G, Bluetooth 5.0
Images: Courtesy of LG
