LG Gram Thin and Light Laptop - 17" (2560 x 1600) IPS Display, Intel 8th Gen Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, up to 19.5 Hour Battery, Thunderbolt 3 - 17Z990-R.AAS8U1 (2019)

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Heres what you came for: THIS LAPTOP IS SO THIN AND LIGHT THAT I WAS ABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY PRANK A COWORKER THAT AMAZON HAD ACCIDENTALLY SENT ME A LAPTOP WITH NO PARTS INSIDE. Its so light that its arguably more portable than a 13" MacBook Pro. The featherlikeness combined with its unheard of battery life makes it DEFINITIVELY more portable than any current or previous 15" MacBook Pro if you need a full days work, because you can easily get a full 10 hourson this skinny beast and leave the adapter at home. Also props to LG for making the smallest laptop power adapter Ive ever seen, it somehow fits in my pocket comfortably. Now lets talk about this I N C R E D I B L E screen + touchpad combination. When I say INCREDIBLE I mean that they didnt overshoot the performance of Intels integrated graphics and try to arbitrarily drive a 4k panel on it. They chose an unorthodox but genius resolution of 2560x1600 ( used to be whatd come on those big Dell 30" super expensive monitors which was the highest resolution you could get on a PC monitor for many years ). Its a 16:10 aspect ratio, which you never knew you needed, but once you try it and can see so much more content without scrolling itll be hard to ever love a 16:9 laptop again. Move your taskbar to the left side of the screen and voila, you have a semi-desktop-like web browsing experience... on a macbook-air-level-thin-and-light laptop

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Pros Typing feels nice Trackpad is top notch Screen is beautiful, text is super crisp Battery life is fantastic Lightest 17" laptop in the world, enough said Fan is silent Case is relatively easy to open Thin bezels make this machine feel very modern Cons Included SATA SSD is relatively slow for an SSD Speakers are just ok Other notes I ran into an issue which necessitated an exchange. LG support was relatively competent in determining the defect, and Amazon was great in the exchange. New one has no problems. Ended up upgrading the SSD to a Samsung 970 EVO since the slot the original SSD is in supports 4 channel NVME. Swapped it over, reinstalled windows. Windows apparently managed to pull the digital license from the original install somehow since it already said activated when I loaded it up, so that was nice. Now it runs even faster than right out of the box :) I am not a fan of the fingerprint reader that forces you to have your fingerprint read anytime you hit power, but the reader software can be disabled and a standard circular blackout sticker fits perfectly over top of the reader itself. Conclusion Would I recommend this laptop? Well it is on the expensive side, but is such a joy to actually use. The couple downsides can be worked around (upgrading SSD, bluetooth speakers), and there is nothing else like it on the market. There are other laptops a bit more powerful, but it feels very snappy and anything faster has downsides (lower battery life, louder fans). This laptop feels like it strikes a happy medium between performance and portability that is rare for something so light, and impossible to find on any other 17". If you can afford it I would absolutely recommend this machine.

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I had a fantastic time with the LG Gram 17--its light, display is great, and the 16:10 ratio is awesome for productivity. That is while it lasted and I struggled with Amazon (keep in mind that I am an international shopper and not domestic US). Some notable features of LG Gram 17: 1. 16:10 aspect ratio of the screen - Do you work with a lot of text? This is great for it. Having two windows side by side is amazing with 100% viewing scale for Word docs. 2. Great display - Watching movies and films on the LG Gram 17 is excellent. The colors are vibrant and the brightness is good. I had to turn the brightness all the way down at night to preserve my eyes. 3. Great typing experience - Besides the keyboard being a bit cramped, the typing experience was great. The key strokes are good and pressure point is excellent. Its nothing like Lenovo Thinkpads, but the typing experience was REALLY good. Great productivity machine. Oh and the numpad is pretty good too. I used it a lot when filing taxes. 4. Great portability - Its light. Its lighter than most 13". Its really uncanny. I can see why some reviewers were bummed out to find that the LG Gram 17 doesnt have extra bells and whistles (i.e. larger battery, more speakers, dedicated graphics), but its simply not meant for that. Its supposed to provide a large display and portability. Besides, whats the 4 lane TB3 meant for if not for external GPU? You can pretty much achieve whatever LG Gram 17 lacks with accessories like bluetooth speakers. 5. Build quality - Yes, in some areas it will flex. I havent had any issue with durability, but I only had it for like a month. I honestly think that the magnesium-nano carbon alloy is better than aluminum CNC machined material in other computers. Why would you want to carry blocks of metal when the laptop is supposed to be portable? In the same line, the heat and noise were really well controlled. The laptop stayed quiet during most uses. Exceptions were extensive video streaming like YT, Netflix, and Prime Videos--Yes, I use Prime Videos. 6. LG Software - I usually detest proprietary software. LG is different. I loved the easy update and maintenance the software provided. I especially loved the battery-life-preserving software. The computer will only charge the battery up to 80% to extend the life of the battery. In the same line, I LOVED the Reader Mode. It dims the screen enough to make reading documents super easy on the eyes. Some cons you should definitely consider: 1. If your backpack isnt large enough to fit the dimensions of LG Gram 17, youre probably going to have to buy a new bag. Check the dimensions on the specs. It has the dimensions of the traditional 15" laptops, but dont forget that 15" laptops these days are what traditional 13/14" laptops used to be in terms of size and dimensions. 2. The keyboard, while enjoyable to type on, are pretty far from the palm rest. I found myself hunching quite a bit. It takes some time to get used to. Im 59" male with slightly long reach. 3. SATA Drive sucks. Theres not a way of getting around it. Id recommend swapping it out for an NVME if your budget allows. Dont get me wrong--the start up is fine and its much better than a traditional HDD, but I definitely missed my older laptop that had a Samsung NVME in it. Having said that, the start up only took approximately 30-40 seconds at most, so if you are not a millennial with the patience of a squirrel, you should be fine. 4. I noticed that my machine had a dead pixel. The pixels are quite dense and the dead pixel was difficult to notice, but I told Amazon about the issue and they told me to return the computer. NOTICE FOR INTERNATIONAL SHOPPERS: When I returned the computer, the question before me and Amazon was whether the insurance on the shipment was necessary. I was recommended by an Amazon representative to get insurance on the product--considering the expensive price tag, it makes sense right? The insurance on the shipments value cost MORE than the actual shipment itself (UPS delivery). However, Amazon doesnt cover the insurance on the return shipping for international shoppers--so what happens when a package gets lost or damaged? Who knows, Amazons return policy doesnt specify.

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I essentially wanted a Mac Book that wasnt made by apple. Great design, excellent display, & long battery life. That is exactly what this product is. The only major con Id say is the SSD isnt NVMe, which at $1700, thats kinda bs.

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2019 Feb 8 Update: while its great for what it is - a super light 17 inch, its too big and heavy to use on the move, especially without a touchscreen (for example in a train on your lap, on small table in an airline - you need a touchscreen since its hard to properly use the trackpad in crowded situations) its meant to be used on a desk. For that reason, Im likely to return this and continue using the 15 inch gram. 2019 Feb 6: Upgraded from 15 inch gram. Initially thought lack of touchscreen would be inconvenience, but bigger trackpad makes it manageable. With respect to differences between the 15 inch gram, the screen seems sturdier and laptop is noticeably heavier and bigger footprint. Keyboard is exactly the same, used same keyboard protector cover. Wishlist: touchscreen, more spacious keyboard, bigger touchpad.

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Love the Large screen Love the Light weight design Love the Track Pad Love the Long Battery Life Love the Number of ports Slightly smaller than my old 15.6 inch laptop. So cool. Upgraded the hard drive to an NVMe drive, so with that additional upgrade I also love how responsive and fast it is. Especially on startup. I open up the computer from a cold shutdown and its ready to accept my fingerprint right away. Pretty great. I travel a lot (and work on the go) so all of the up sides of the computer are what I actually care about. Heavy graphics processing can wait until I get home to a dock or something. One of the durability specs really stood out was resistance to "Salt fog" and humidity. Thats actually important to me since I spend most of my time in Hawaii and have seen many computers die of salt fog and humidity. Its a real problem. Hopefully this computer stands up to the salty fog and it doesnt end up being just a marketing gimmick. Cons? I like all the strengths of this design, so I dont have any. If I want extra graphics processing, I would just buy an external that plugs in to the thunderbolt 3 for my desk setup. Im pretty sure this computer can cool properly with that extra processing since there is so much extra space for it to dissipate heat even though there is only one fan. Not an expert on that, but I look forward to it being tested. People can stop complaining they didnt include a dedicated graphics card in the computer. Its made to have that extra 5+ hours of battery life instead of giving you an overpowered laptop that most people dont need while traveling and on the go. *Update after a couple weeks of using this* I found out that the usb 3.1 ports don’t output more power than it consumes while using my iPhone XS while using hotspot (with WiFi and Bluetooth turned off). That was annoying to have my phone die while plugged in and tethered using the apple lightning to usb. The lg gram 17 was plugged in to power too. Strange since my wife’s Microsoft surface pro 5 didn’t have a problem outputting more power than my iPhone XS could consume while using my hotspot. Pretty sure it’s not my usb apple cable problem. More likely it’s a power output problem for the lg gram 17 USB ports. Don’t have any evidence other than my experience, but I’ll look into it. The solution I found was to get an apple lighting to usb C cable. It works great to tether the laptop to my hotspot and keep my phone charged. It’s also been really nice to travel around with and compute on the go. I might update this again after I have used it and traveled more.

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Even though I give this Laptop a 5 star review, there are a few things im not very fond of. The first, is the poor quality of the power connector. The brick is very small, but it generates a lot of heat when charging. But, the real problem is the very tiny, flimsy connector that feels like it can snap off if you apply any pressure to it. This is, by far the worst thing and while its a concern, its not that big of one. Second, the screen is very glossy, which some people love. I work in a very bright environment, so this creates some glare. Its annoying, but I can live with it. Its not a "quality" issue, its more of a personal preference that this doesnt fit. The screen is very thin, and the bezel is quite slim as well. Overall, this is a very good machine, with an amazing battery life. The specs claim 19.5 Hours, and I may well get almost that from regular use. Heavy use would probably halve that, but even so.. thats still an amazing battery life for this extremely light weight (under 3 pounds) dynamo. The pixel density is great, higher than FHD, but not so high as to make it unusable for apps that arent DPI aware. This is the perfect middle ground. It does not come with much bloatware. Just a few support apps from LG. This was a nice change of pace. The keyboard is soft, and spongy, but then so are most laptops. Its not a mechanical keyboard, but oh well. It has a number pad, which is nice and it doesnt take up too much space (very slim layout). Its not a gaming monster. it only comes with an Intel GPU, but its ok for the casual gamer, and you can always hook it up to an external GPU if thats really important. I figured that 90% of the time id prefer the light weight nature. At less than 3 pounds, this is so lightweight.

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What a great laptop! I put 32GB RAM (total 40GB RAM), 1TB + 2TB SSD disk space in and now have perfect machine for my coding on the go. Hackers dream. Highly recommended!

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I think the most appealing part to me is the 17 inch 16:10 screen. But the chassis is not as rigid as expected. I understand it is to reduce the weight, but I would prefer it to be stronger.

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The "manual" is equivalent to a couple of typed pages, and there was precious little additional data available on the LG web site. In fact, our unit hung-up once or twice simply running nothing but initial operating system updates. We had to turn off and reboot - never something you want to do in the middle of updates. I also beleive these were the LG driver updates that caused the freeze-ups. Almost zero hardware data included if you want to add memory or another SSD. It seems you are "on your own" for these type efforts. Otherwise, no complaints about how it looks, runs programs, etc.

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