LG Gram Style 16 Review - Super Light OLED Laptop

Tom's Guide
Tom's Guide
  • last year
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.

In our review we go through all of the pros and cons of the super lightweight 2023 LG Gram Style.

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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. 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.