When I picked up the Gram 17, it felt like an empty file folder because you don’t expect a big laptop to be so graceful in the hands. I recently took the Gram for a test drive and came away impressed with both its gorgeous screen and outstanding ergonomics. But could it work as a viable replacement for my MacBook Pro?
Hardly More Than a Gram
At just under 3 pounds, the Gram 17 is built for travel and commutes. But unlike other ultraportable laptops, you aren’t giving up valuable screen real estate as a weight tradeoff. The 17-inch WQXGA (2560 x 1600) IPS display stuns when you open the lid. It’s one of the best laptop screens I’ve ever used, with a clear, sharp picture that somehow seems all the more impressive because it’s located in such a small package. The glossy finish on the screen made the videos I tried watching, pop but it does reflect some glare if you don’t have it positioned perfectly. The colors looked true to life and about as accurate as on my MacBook Pro. I still prefer the screen on my MacBook Pro 16-inch, which seems slightly crisper and brighter, but I’d be happy to use LG’s model any time. While the Gram 17 doesn’t weigh much, it’s not a tiny package. The whole thing measures 15.0 x 10.3 x 0.7 inches. It’s bigger than my MacBook Pro but easily small enough to toss in a backpack. The Gram might be light but it doesn’t feel fragile. LG claims the Gram meets MIL-STD 810G against shock, vibration, rain, dust, and temperature and humidity extremes. LG puts the size to good use in other ways than screen size. The spacious keyboard and trackpad score points for the Gram. The keys are a little flatter than I would like, but I was typing at my usual speed within seconds of powering on the laptop. On the other hand, my MacBook Pro keyboard beats out the Gram in terms of keyboard comfort. The Apple laptop has the perfect amount of spring in each key which keeps my fingers bouncing along. Another area where the Gram wins out over the MacBook Pro is in its selection of ports. There are two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, a headphone jack, and two USB-C ports that support Thunderbolt 4 speeds. It’s also got a microSD card reader and a full-size HDMI port. That compares favorably with the MacBook Pro which contains only four Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports. One handy feature on the gram is the built-in fingerprint reader on the power button, located in the upper right corner of the keyboard. The reader works with Windows Hello to log into your Windows account without having to enter a password. I’ve become addicted to using the Touch ID on my MacBook Pro, so I was happy to find that the fingerprint reader on the Gram offered the same convenience.
Fast Enough for Work
Performance-wise, the Gram 17 is pretty much what you’d expect from a mid-range Windows machine. I tested out the version with a 2.8 GHZ Intel Core i7-1065G7, 16GB RAM and a 512GB hard drive. Windows booted up speedily and applications were quick to launch. I had no problem running several programs simultaneously, including Slack and Trello, along with Chrome, while keeping a dozen tabs open. The videos I tried played fine and looked great on the huge display. However, I did run into some odd stuttering when trying to play music. The Gram 17 isn’t positioned as a gaming computer, and it shows. I was able to play Fallout 4 at a low but acceptable frame rate. Though the Gram has an integrated graphics card, it just doesn’t have the power to run many modern titles. At around $1,700, the Gram 17 might be the best laptop available for users who want both portability and a large screen. It’s overall one of the most satisfying Windows laptops I’ve ever tried, as long as you don’t want to run games.
