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.
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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. It's also stunning with an iridescent
00:10 finish that shifts colors in the light, and a seamless 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.
00:20 We need to talk about the LG Gram's obscenely light weight. At 2.76 pounds,
00:28 the LG Gram Style is by far the lightest 16-inch laptop we've tested. By comparison,
00:33 the 13-inch MacBook Air is a wee bit lighter at 2.7 pounds, but who doesn't want an extra 3 inches?
00:38 Carrying the Gram Style in my backpack for a week was barely noticeable. However,
00:43 that weightlessness may come at a cost, and it's just not that sturdy. Placing the Gram Style down
00:49 on a desk, the display wobbles back and forth, and there's 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. It's an eye-catching
01:08 look that I love. The touchpad, on the other hand, is the opposite of eye-catching. Illuminated by
01:14 LEDs on the left and right, which disappear from view when you're not using it, the pad is
01:19 spacious enough that I never worry I'm off target. The palm rejection, however, could be better.
01:25 The typing experience itself is just okay. The keys offer a good amount of travel,
01:30 but it feels somewhat hollow and trampoline-like compared to my MacBook Pro 14-inch. This might
01:35 have to do with the overall super-lightweight of the system. The Gram Style's port selection
01:40 isn't skimpy, but it could be better. The USB-A port has a flip-down door that I suppose helps
01:45 save a bit of thickness in the design but just gets in the way. I think I'd prefer an extra
01:50 millimeter in exchange for a fully-exposed port. As you can see, the Gram Style has an
01:55 underwhelming webcam. Yes, it's 1080p, but it's a little bit darker than we'd like, and there's
01:59 this weird purple cast over Google Meet, which we don't see on other laptops that we've tested.
02:04 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,
02:13 look elsewhere, as the sound gets a little muffled with the speakers on the bottom of the chassis.
02:17 The LG Gram Style has impressive staying power, lasting 10 hours and 54 minutes in our testing,
02:23 with its display set to 60Hz mode. That is way better than the 13-inch Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro
02:29 and Lenovo Yoga 9i. Among 16-inch laptops, it also beats the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra,
02:35 but of course loses to the king of laptop battery life, the MacBook Pro 16-inch.
02:39 But if Apple can claim to be the king of battery life, then LG can claim the crown
02:44 when it comes to displays. Their OLED TVDs are consistently the best, and so it's no surprise
02:50 that the 3K 16-inch OLED display on the Gram Style is one of the most stunning panels I've
02:54 seen on a laptop. For starters, I love that this screen is bright enough that I can use it outside
02:59 in direct sunlight. However, while enjoying that healthy dose of sun, the shiny iridescent body
03:05 could get distracting. Another plus is the 120Hz refresh rate, which makes for swift scrolling
03:12 when surfing the web and overall smooth motion. In our lab tests, the Gram Style's panel nearly
03:17 doubled the Galaxy Book Ultra and the MacBook Pro, reaching 156% on the DCI-P3 test. When playing
03:24 HDR content, the LG Gram Style reached 477 nits of brightness, which is good but is less than half
03:31 the MacBook Pro 16-inch. And that brings us to performance. I do find the Gram Style capable
03:37 of juggling my everyday workload. A few Chrome browser windows, Slack running, and Spotify
03:42 playing in the background only causes a minor stutter now and then when switching between,
03:46 let's say, Chrome and Slack. On paper, the LG Gram Style should have plenty of muscle for nearly any
03:52 task. You get a 13th-gen Intel Core i7 P-Series processor, a 1TB SSD, and you can upgrade to a
03:58 hefty 32GB of RAM, 16GB as standard. However, the performance in some of our tests falls short of
04:05 other Windows laptops with similar specs. The Gram Style held up well in Geekbench,
04:09 beating the Galaxy Book 3 Pro but falling a bit behind the Lenovo Yoga 9i on multicore. The
04:15 Style's SSD also proved fairly speedy, surpassing the Samsung and finishing just behind the Yoga.
04:21 The Gram Style fell behind the pack in graphics and gaming tests. Its 3DMark Time Spy result
04:27 trailed both the Samsung and Lenovo by a wide margin, and it couldn't crack 30fps on our not
04:33 very demanding Civ 6 gaming test. On our handbrake test, the Gram Style took a leisurely 11 minutes
04:39 and 41 seconds transcoding video. The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 took just 7.59 with the same
04:47 CPU. As you'd expect, the MacBook Pro 14" is in another league with its M.2 Pro chip, taking only
04:53 402. So don't expect the Gram Style to be a great partner if you're a creative pro. And that's a
04:59 problem when you're paying nearly $2,000 for a laptop. The LG Gram Style is out now and starts
05:05 at $1799 for the 13th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD with the 16" OLED display.
05:13 The model we tested bumps that up to 32GB of RAM for $1999. The 14" version costs $1499 and features
05:21 a 13th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512 SSD, but it does weigh less than a kilogram.
05:28 The LG Gram Style is the kind of laptop that makes you go "wow" when you pick it up. No 16"
05:36 laptop should be this light or eye-catching, and yet it is. But this is also the kind of system
05:41 that makes you say "hmm" when you see the price. For $2,000, you're getting a laptop that isn't
05:46 particularly great at anything. If you're a gamer, you're better off with the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra.
05:51 If you're looking for longer battery life and more creative pro performance, get a MacBook Pro. But
05:56 if you like the idea of owning the lightest possible big-screen laptop, the LG Gram Style
06:02 is definitely worth a look. Make sure to check out our full review at tomsguide.com, and if you want
06:09 to see who 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. I'm Mark Spoonhour, and I'll see you in the next video.