Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00Hey guys, I'm someone tech chap and one of us is an official Guinness World Record holder
00:05It's not me sadly, although if you did think that then I appreciate it
00:09But it's actually this guy the LG gram 16, which is officially the world's lightest
00:1516 inch laptop
00:17Which is impressive
00:18Although there aren't that many 16 inch laptops on the market
00:21The only other one I can think of really is the MacBook Pro 16, which weighs 2 kilograms
00:27This weighs about the same as a Dell XPS 13 at just 1.19 kilograms
00:33So as the name suggests these are incredibly light
00:36And to be honest, it feels a little bit weird to have something with such a big screen way
00:41So little it almost feels like we're missing something on the inside and actually it's not just the way that's impressive
00:47This lasted me 14 and a half hours in my YouTube battery test
00:51Which is almost twice what I've seen in other machines and I think combined with this
00:55Incredible portability. This is one of the most interesting laptops of the year so far
01:00But there is a small catch and that's the price. These are not cheap at
01:061,500 pounds or
01:07$1,700 depending on the spec it's expensive and it's got a lot of very good competition
01:12Not least its own bigger brother the gram 17 and actually they share the identical specs exactly the same
01:19The only difference is this screen size 17 versus 16. They're both 16 by 10
01:24Of course, so you can't really go wrong with either. They're both bloody huge
01:28Although this is just a little bit bigger a little bit heavier as a result and also a touch more expensive
01:33So I think the 16 will be the one to go for
01:36There is also an updated gram 14, which LG didn't want to send to me for some reason bit rude
01:41But yeah, if you want a smaller lightweight laptop, then that would be worth considering
01:46So these ultra portables are mostly designed for productivity photo and video editing working
01:52They're actually ideal for students as well, although you'll need fairly rich parents
01:55But I would say the gram 17 may be stretching the definition of ultra portable just a little bit
02:01It's huge. The specs are pretty much what you'd expect on both of these
02:05We start off with 11th gen i5s with 8 gigs of RAM 512 gig storage, which is nice
02:10But they go up to 11th gen i7s 16 gigs of RAM and up to a terabyte of storage
02:16There is a catch though other than the price
02:18But that's because unlike these I've got the Dell XPS 15 and the MacBook Pro 16 here with me
02:24These are using low power
02:26What were you series of processors and also we don't get any discrete graphics
02:31You are of course going to get much better performance from something like this
02:34Although of course you are compromising on it being thicker and heavier
02:38But really unless you're regularly using demanding apps the power on offer here with
02:43Intel's 11th gen chips will be more than enough for editing in Lightroom
02:47Watching Netflix while you're procrastinating on my essay or even putting together a friend's lockdown birthday video montage in Premiere Pro
02:55But for serious gaming or heavy 4k editing then while the lack of GPU and the lower power chips will hold it back
03:02It's funny. I've been reviewing these gram laptops for three or four years now every time there's incremental upgrades
03:07I'm gonna just bash that with my elbow there
03:09Although as I say, I think this is one of the biggest refreshes we've seen in years
03:12but every time when I first pick it up I get taken aback a little bit just by how
03:18Incredibly lightweight it is given the size of it particularly that screen size as well
03:22And there's no one else really out there doing it like LG. Of course, you have other thin and light laptops
03:28You've got the Acer Swift 5 and 7 for example, which are super lightweight, but they're 13 or 14 inches
03:34There's nothing else really out there with these cash screen sizes and these decent ultra portable specs the way this little it's insane
03:42So the weight of this is mostly thanks to the magnesium alloy body build quality is robust
03:47And it's apparently built to a military-grade durability standard according to LG
03:51But a side effect of this material on this build is that we get a lot of flex and also screen wobble
03:58these don't feel as
04:00Premium as you might expect it's a little bit flimsy
04:03Although LG do say that because of the larger sizes actually this flexibility helps protect it
04:09So if it's pressed against something in your backpack
04:11It's less likely to crack or break and we'll just flex in like I don't know a building, you know earthquake
04:16And while it definitely isn't plastic
04:19It does feel a little bit like it
04:21All the new LG grams also get Intel's Evo certification
04:25You can see from this little sticker down here, which means they meet a certain
04:29Specification criteria for all aspects of the machine
04:31So I should guarantee a quality experience overall and also we now get
04:36support on these
04:46There you go, but forget all that for me
04:48It's the sheer amount of screen space that you get on the 16 and especially the 17 inch IPS screen
04:55That impresses me the most they're big
04:57They get pretty bright and the narrow edge bezels make it feel like the lid is pretty much all screen
05:02The resolution is near enough quad HD plus a few extra vertical pixels
05:06Thanks to the taller screen and I think it's a good trade-off because while a 4k panel would be nice
05:11Particularly at this size it would put a big dent in the battery life
05:15So I think this is a good balance as for color accuracy the 99% DCI p3 coverage for the gram 16 and full
05:23100% coverage on the 17 is great. But I think for most people they're absolutely fine
05:27Although I do kind of wish it was a touchscreen as for processors. Well, these are fully team Intel
05:33There are no AMD options here and we're getting Intel's 11th gen Tiger Lake series of processors which come with a few advantages
05:40But the big one really is the upgrade in the integrated graphics
05:44We're getting Iris Xe graphics in both of these and it's a massive step off from last year
05:49although, of course, it still won't quite compete with a dedicated graphics card or say an NVIDIA MX 450 or even a
05:56Xe max Iris chip that you get in something like the Acer Swift 3x
06:00But in general use these are snappy and responsive and even photo editing in Lightroom, which can be demanding was smooth
06:07however video editing in Premiere Pro felt a lot more choppy and the
06:1223 minute export time of a 10 minute 1080p video is pretty slow
06:16I mean something like the Dell XPS 15 with its more powerful specs would do it in half the time
06:21But I would still say it's good enough for the occasional lightweight 1080p edit
06:26Also gaming in less demanding titles is great in Rainbow Six Siege
06:30I averaged 55 FPS with low settings at 1080p and also in performance fan mode and I still playable
06:3745 FPS with high settings that's pretty impressive
06:41Fortnite was playable as well, but only at 720p with medium settings
06:46So if you're happy to dial back the graphics a bit a bit of gaming is a definite possibility
06:51But one of the absolute standouts of these laptops aside from well
06:55The lightweightness and also the screen size is the battery life as I say the beginning in my YouTube battery test
07:01So just playing YouTube at 50% brightness
07:03This lasted 14 and a half hours and 17 wasn't too bad either 12 and a half hours
07:09Which is significantly longer than most laptops, which I test in this sort of category
07:14Which would be 8 to 10 hours. The port selection is really good as well
07:17We're getting two USB for Thunderbolt 4 type C's along with a headphone jack and HDMI on that side
07:23And on the other we get two USB 3.2 type A's as well as a micro SD
07:29That's pretty much everything you could ask for except maybe a full-size SD card reader
07:34What's not so good though is the sound quality, which is pretty average
07:38It's nothing like as rich or full as you'd get on say the MacBook Pro or even a Dell XPS
07:42Speech and effects are clear enough and it gets reasonably loud
07:48But there's just not much bass to round things out
07:54The grams are actually pretty quiet under load as well even in performance mode which does up the fan noise a little bit
08:00It never got particularly loud or uncomfortably hot
08:03Although you can control the fan speed if you want through LG's control panel
08:07One of the biggest upgrades for me though is with the touchpad
08:10These big precision touchpads are much bigger than they were on previous models and are just so much nicer to use
08:16Although I still think there's maybe a little bit of extra room for maybe a slightly more spaced out keyboard or a bigger touchpad
08:22But it's a big step up from last year
08:24The keyboard is backlit and we get this chiclet style plus a numpad on both the 16 and the 17
08:30There is a little bit more resistance to the keys than I'm used to so they need a bit of a firm press
08:35But they have good travel, good feedback
08:37And I also do appreciate we get a fingerprint sensor in the power button
08:41Between the two the keyboard on the 17 is about two centimeters wider
08:45Though it felt pretty much the same to type on except for one thing
08:49On the gram 16 and pretty much any other laptop your wrists rest on or around the front edge
08:54But the keyboard on the 17 is just so far away from the front of the laptop
08:59I found the edge dug into the softer part of my arm a little bit below the wrist
09:03And so it actually wasn't as comfortable to use as the 16
09:07So overall if you want a laptop with great portability
09:10Fantastic battery life really nice screen good range of connections and decent performance
09:15Then yeah, these are absolutely fantastic and I highly recommend them. Although for me, I do think the 16 is the sweet spot
09:22It's just a little bit more compact
09:23The keyboard was a little bit uncomfortable in 17 and also you are saving just a little bit of money
09:28So for me, I would go with a 16
09:29But if you just want the biggest screen you can possibly cram into a pretty lightweight laptop then yeah
09:35The 17 is gonna be the one for you. However, I do still think these feel a little bit flimsy with that screen wobble
09:41You can press in everywhere
09:42Although I do appreciate that's maybe just a compromise that you have to accept with this lightweight material
09:48What I would have liked to have seen is maybe an option for Intel's more powerful XE max integrated graphics
09:54Especially on these 16 and 17 inch models, which well you guys are probably gonna use for slightly more demanding tasks
10:01so that extra bit of
10:02Graphical horsepower would have been useful or maybe even a Nvidia MX 450 option to make them a bit more of a gaming machine
10:09Although of course that would compromise battery life and maybe maybe a more aggressive price
10:14These are very expensive as I say at about 1,500 pounds or $1,700
10:19So you are definitely paying a premium for this ultra lightweight design that said
10:24I have seen the 16 listed for as low as
10:261,250 pounds already with a lower spec and this actually looks like even better value as you're still getting all the main gram benefits
10:34But what do you reckon? Would you go for the 14?
10:37Which I don't have the 16 or the 17 or none of the above
10:42Let me know in the comments below and I'll see if you've got any questions about these at all. That's insane
10:46I've got two laptops the 16 and 17. I can just comfortably hold it one-handed
10:51But yeah, if you've got any other questions at all
10:52Let me know in the comments below if you did enjoy the video which fingers crossed you did and you want to see more from
10:57Me hit that subscribe button. Give me a thumbs up and I'll see you guys next time right here on the tech chat
11:07I didn't get that. Sorry. She's mad at me now