This Gram has a lot of power – Technology News, Firstpost

Ameya Dalvi30 Sep 2022 17:31:53 IST

All professionals on the move who need to carry a laptop with them pray for one thing – that the laptop is lighter, much lighter. And at the same time, wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to sacrifice durability, processing power or even battery? Now do I click on it or not? LG seems to have created its Gram series of notebooks precisely to fulfill these wishes. We got our hands on the latest 14-inch model in this series and want to share our experience with you.

Design and connectivity
The LG Gram 14 weighs only 999 grams. Yes, you read that right – 1 gram is just shy of a kilogram. Maybe that’s why it’s called Gram. Jokes aside, it has a simple yet elegant design and is a pleasure to hold. At the same time, it does not look fragile, despite the fact that it is quite thin – 16.8 mm in thickness. To my surprise, it’s also certified to the US military standard MIL-STD 810H, having passed seven durability tests. Did you want durability? You have strength and more.

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The keyboard layout is standard for a 14-inch laptop, and there’s also a substantial touchpad. Backlit keys have the right click; there are no complaints. In terms of connectivity, you have most of the bases covered. You get a 3.5mm jack for connecting wired headphones or a headset, as well as an HDMI port and a card reader.

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There are two USB 3.2 Type-A ports on one side and two Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports on the other side with support for multiple interfaces including charging and display. Wireless connectivity options include dual-band Wi-Fi with up to 6E support and Bluetooth 5.1. It should satisfy your classic and modern connectivity needs.

Display
As the model number indicates, the LG Gram 14 has a 14-inch IPS panel with a WUXGA resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels (16:10 aspect ratio). It supports a peak brightness of 350 nits, a contrast ratio of 1200:1 and 99% DCI-P3 coverage. Color reproduction is impressive, as is contrast. The anti-reflective coating really helps keep reflections and glare at bay. However, viewing angles aren’t the best I’ve seen on IPS screens. Having said that, it shouldn’t matter much for a laptop.

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Incidentally, it has some very interesting screen-related privacy features. It can be set to automatically lock or turn off the screen when you walk away from the laptop, or simply blur the screen when you look away. But the best part is that it shows a warning or blurs the screen when someone is looking over your shoulder. Don’t you hate it when people do this without your consent?

Hardware, storage and performance
The LG Gram 14 is powered by a 12th generation Intel Evo Core i7-1260P processor and has 16GB of dual-channel LPDDR5 RAM clocked at 5200MHz. Storage is provided by a 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD, which is reasonably fast. The whole setup is pretty powerful for most tasks you’d want to use this laptop for, with the exception of gaming.

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The Intel Iris Xe graphics chip is simply not powerful enough for any meaningful gaming. Yes, it might work with some casual games or some decade old games, but not the newer ones. When it comes to productivity programs or multimedia usage, it runs smoothly. Whether it’s opening 50 browser tabs, editing images or streaming content, the LG Gram 14 can handle it all with ease.

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It’s also very convenient for entertainment with a pair of 1.5W speakers located underneath that deliver clear stereo sound, while DTS:X Ultra compatibility adds more depth to the sound. Oddly enough, they sound better when you put this laptop on a table instead of your lap. The Full HD video camera is quite good and offers some interesting tricks.

Software and battery backup
This laptop runs Microsoft Windows 11 Home, and you get a 30-day trial of Office 365. LG also includes a few of its own tools for various tasks. The LG Gram 14 is equipped with a 72Wh Li-Ion battery and a 65W USB-C PD power adapter, which by the way seems heavier. But if your workload isn’t too heavy, you might not even need to carry it around.

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LG claims a very ambitious battery life of 23.5 hours on a full charge. Of course, this is under “test conditions” which include less than half brightness, no wireless connection, and when not using the laptop’s speakers for audio. In fact, with a normal load and no games, the battery of the laptop really lasts for a full day (8 to 10 hours), which is very impressive. But your mileage may vary depending on what you use this laptop for. Standby time is pretty good too, the battery didn’t drain too much after I left it in sleep mode for a whole day.

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Price and final thoughts
The LG Gram 14 (14Z90Q-G.AH75A2) is priced at Rs 1,05,999 with a 3-year on-site warranty and can often be found for Rs 6,000 less. Weighing a gram less than a kilogram and selling for a rupee less than a lakh – there’s something poetic about that, isn’t it? Yes, it’s expensive, but it offers a bunch of unique elements, and it’s hard to find something like it for much less. This laptop is the perfect combination of portability, durability, power and battery backup if you’re looking for it all in one device. But if gaming is at the top of your wish list, look elsewhere.