LG’s Lightweight Gram 17-Inch Laptop Gets Intel’s Ice Lake CPU
by Anton Shilov on December 12, 2019 8:00 AM EST
Thin-and-light notebooks with a 17-inch display are rather rare, as most 17-inch laptops are intended to be high performance desktop replacement-class machines. LG’s gram 17 has been a stand-out in that respect, targeting users seeking primarily for a sleek and lightweight PC. This week LG has introduced an updated gram 17 that retains its thin-and-light form-factor, but improves on its predecessor in almost every way possible when it comes to performance.
The new LG gram 17 comes in the company’s signature white or grey chassis made of carbon magnesium alloy that is only 17.4 mm thick. The laptop weighs 1.35 kilograms (2.98 pounds), which is in-line with the weight of a typical 13-incher, yet packs a 17.3-inch IPS display with a 2560×1600 resolution.
Inside the updated LG gram 17 notebook is Intel’s 10th Generation Core processor (Ice Lake) with up to Iris Plus Graphics. This is paired with up to 24 GB of DDR4-3200 memory as well as up to two M.2 NVMe SSDs. To cool down the high-end CPU, the manufacturer equipped its system with its Mega Cooling System, though we do not know peculiarities. By using a processor with a beefy integrated GPU and installing up to 24 GB of memory along with up to two PCIe SSDs, LG clearly makes its 2020 gram 17 a lot more powerful than its Core i7-8565U based predecessor.
As far as connectivity is concerned, the 2020 LG gram 17 is equipped with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5 for wireless comms. In addition, it has a Thunderbolt 3 port, three USB 3.1 ports, an HDMI output, a microSD/UFS slot, and a 3.5-mm audio jack for headsets. When it comes to multimedia features, the notebook has a webcam, DTX X Ultra-badged speakers, and a microphone array. Last but not least, the laptop has a fingerprint reader.
LG’s new gram 17 laptop comes with a rather massive 80-Wh battery and while the manufacturer does not publish specific battery life figures, paired with an Ice Lake-U chip it should be enough for at least a day.
| Specifications of the 2020 LG gram 17 | ||
| 17Z90N different products will offer different configs |
||
| LCD | Diagonal | 17.3" |
| Resolution | Brightness | Features | 2560×1600, IPS Wide viewing angles |
|
| Color Gamut | 96% sRGB | |
| Touch Support | ? | |
| Protective Glass | ? | |
| CPU | 10th Generation Intel Core | |
| Graphics | UHD Graphics or Iris Plus Graphics | |
| RAM | up to 24 GB DDR4-3200 (onboard + SO-DIMM) | |
| Storage | two M.2 NVMe SSDs | |
| Wireless: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LTE, NFC, and GPS options | Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth | |
| USB | Type-A | 3 × USB 3.1 |
| Type-C | 1 × USB 3.1 Gen 1 (via TB3) | |
| Thunderbolt | 1 × Thunderbolt | |
| Card Reader | microSD/UFS | |
| Camera | Front | Webcam |
| Fingerprint Sensor | Yes | |
| Other I/O | Microphone, stereo speakers, TRRS audio jack | |
| Other Sensors | ? | |
| Battery | 80 Wh | |
| Dimensions | Width | 380.6 mm | 14.98 inches |
| Depth | 262.6 mm | 10.34 inches | |
| Thickness | 17.4 mm | 0.69 inches | |
| Weight | 1.35 kilograms | 2.98 pounds | |
| Launch Price | ? | |
LG will start sales of its next-generation gram 17 notebook sometimes in early 2020. Expect to see the company reveal more about the laptop at CES.
Related Reading:
- Best Gaming Laptops: Holiday 2019
- LG Releases Gram 17 Laptop: An Ultra-Thin Notebook with a 17.3-Inch Display
- LG Gram 2018 Laptops Unveiled: Quad-Core i5/i7, TB3, ~2.2 Lbs, 22 Hrs
- Razer Unveils New Blade Stealth 13: Quad-Core Whiskey Lake, dGPU, 4K UHD
- ASUS Unveils Ultra-Thin ZenBook Pro 15 with Six-Core Core i9, GTX 1050, Calibrated 4K LCD
Source: LG
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WPX00 - Thursday, December 12, 2019 - link
At least there is a TB.yetanotherhuman - Friday, December 13, 2019 - link
Nah, 4K is a bunch of old crap for laptops, you'll barely be able to visually distinguish it, but price rises and battery life falls, a shit-awful tradeoffslocko - Saturday, December 14, 2019 - link
Just get an external usb c charger with extra usb-c ports. They now sell them up to 100 Watts and they aren't that big. I use one and power the laptop and a small fast usb-c charging wireless disk for my phone.Beware, if the laptop loses charge completely, the onboard thunderbolt port while bi-directional will not charge your laptop. Due to an oversight or a bug, it's auto-detect setting is only active while Windows is running. If Windows isn't running it reverts back to output only. If you restart Windows, it reverts back to auto-detect which doesn't help you if the laptop loses power completely.
Seems that setting is not available to be set in the Bios, only at the OS level through the driver.
I learned the hard way and had to go to the only store that had this laptop on display and get enough charge to boot up windows while I was travelling. Ordered a compatible charger through amazon that same day. So now I have one at home and one as a backup for when I travel.
nicolaim - Thursday, December 12, 2019 - link
What happens when resting one's palm on the trackpad when typing on laptops like this?rrinker - Thursday, December 12, 2019 - link
On my HP, I can double tap the corner of the trackpad to disable or enable it. Since I always use an external mouse (I HATE trackpads, no matter who makes them - there is no good one), I usually just keep it disabled so there is never any accidentally click or drag. On the rare occasion I need to just quickly get some info and it's not worth it to dig out the mouse, or there's no room to sue the mouse such as on an airplane, I'll use the trackpad, just a quick tap and it's back on and working. I would expect this is pretty much the same across most laptops these days - if not, I'm glad it's a feature on the one I have.p1esk - Thursday, December 12, 2019 - link
I have fairly large hands and it's not a problem when typing on my Gram 17 (2019).poohbear - Thursday, December 12, 2019 - link
Waiting for that 14" Asus Pro B9, the 880gram laptop coming out 1st quarter 2020! Now THAT'S a laptop I'd wanna upgrade to!(for us road warriors)sharath.naik - Thursday, December 12, 2019 - link
Are they saying it cannot handle the 32GB ram sticks?p1esk - Thursday, December 12, 2019 - link
2019 model can, and I currently have 40GB of RAM in mine (8 + 32).Bulat Ziganshin - Thursday, December 12, 2019 - link
Ice Lake can't