ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The LG Gram 17 (2025) is on sale now for $1,199.
- You will not discover a thinner, lighter 17-inch laptop computer on the market, and Intel’s Lunar Lake CPU is a giant improve from final 12 months’s.
- The touchscreen is wobbly, the black matte end attracts fingerprints, and I want it had a haptic trackpad.
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So that you like a giant display, 17-inch laptop computer, however you need to carry it round with out breaking your again? I obtained you. LG’s Gram 17 lives as much as its title because the lightest, thinnest 17-inch laptop computer you have doubtless laid your eyes on.
We have gone hands-on with a number of fashions from LG’s Gram collection over the previous few years, equivalent to 2024’s Gram Pro 17 and the Gram Pro 16 2-in-1. Fortunately, the brand new Gram 17 has some enhancements over final 12 months’s mannequin, and truthfully, the variations between the bottom mannequin and the Professional aren’t as distinguished as you may anticipate.
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The Gram 17 is an exceedingly gentle laptop computer for its dimension, measuring simply 0.74 inches skinny and weighing 3.2 kilos. For reference, that is lighter than many 16, 14, and even some 13-inch laptops, and it does not sacrifice {hardware} to get there.
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The Gram 17 is supplied with an Intel Core Extremely 7 “Lunar Lake” processor, 32GB of RAM, and a terabyte of storage, placing it in keeping with different aggressive mid-to-upper-tier laptops in the identical worth vary.
The place it stands out from the group, nonetheless, is its type. The record-holding lightness leads to a laptop computer that is straightforward to hold round, particularly if you’re a hybrid employee who commutes to the workplace. I took this laptop computer with me in every single place for over every week and barely seen it in my bag.
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Additional, the 17-inch touchscreen show is all the pieces you’d anticipate from a WQXGA (2560×1600) IPS: it is brilliant, crisp, and mitigates glare very nicely. I am not an enormous touchscreen particular person (I nearly all the time want a mouse), however the sheer dimension of the display on this laptop computer invitations the person to work together with it in a manner that is barely completely different than different laptops, and I discovered myself utilizing it extra usually than anticipated.
That mentioned, the very skinny display is moderately wobbly and flexes backwards and forwards with every press, which is able to peeve some customers.
The opposite bodily parts of the laptop computer are modern and well-designed. The complete-size keyboard is moderately normal, with comparatively flat keys that are not fairly as premium as a few of the different laptops I’ve examined just lately, like HP’s Elitebook X G1a, but it surely’s practical.
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Equally, the touchpad is giant and responsive, though I’ve to say that I want there have been a haptic choice. Additionally, the laptop computer’s total dimension leads to a wrist relaxation space that’s fairly expansive. Typing on the Gram 17 means your whole hand, and — relying on the scale of your arms — mid forearms will probably be resting on the laptop computer. Additionally, you will want correct desk area, with the underside half of the clamshell measuring 15 inches in size and 10 inches deep.
LG continues to supply its Gram collection with a black matte end that’s, sadly, a little bit of a fingerprint magnet. Relying on what sort of lighting you are in, the laptop computer’s floor can present smudges and prints, and if you happen to care about that form of factor, it could be a bit distracting.
So far as different {hardware} on board goes, I/O is strong, with an HDMI port, two USB-Cs (each with energy supply and assist for Thunderbolt 4 and DisplayPort), two USB-As, a headphone jack, and a Kensington lock slot. The audio system aren’t significantly good, sounding on the shallow aspect (influenced by the system’s ultrathin type, little question) however about what you’d anticipate from a mid-tier laptop computer.
The actual energy behind this laptop computer is inner, nonetheless. The addition of the Intel Core Extremely 7 (Sequence 2) “Lunar Lake” processor upgrades it to a very aggressive system moderately than simply an engineering showboat.
As with different laptops with Intel’s “Lunar Lake” collection of processors, such because the Asus Zenbook S14, battery drain slows to a trickle when it is idle, permitting for multi-day use with out worrying in regards to the charger.
Targeted, sustained use, nonetheless, leads to the form of battery drain you’d anticipate, with a couple of full eight-hour day’s value of labor on one cost, skewing on the longer finish — as much as 10 hours, relying on how exhausting you push it. That is to say, the battery life on this is superb, particularly contemplating it is powering a 17-inch show.
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So, how does the Gram 17 differ from the Professional? First, the Professional has extra horsepower, with a 16-core Intel Core Extremely 7, versus the identical chip however with eight cores on the bottom mannequin. The Professional additionally has an even bigger 90Wh battery in comparison with the bottom mannequin’s 77Wh, which means it may keep unplugged longer.
Regardless of the ability, the Gram Professional 17 can also be barely thinner and lighter, as you are paying for a extra premium design. However aspect by aspect, the 2 laptops look almost an identical.
Neither 17-inch model comes with an OLED show (you will must go right down to the Gram Professional 16 for that), however the Professional does have a 144Hz refresh fee, in contrast to the bottom mannequin, which caps out at 60Hz.
Apart from that, with the identical I/O choice, shade, and design scheme, the distinction right here is comparatively delicate, regardless of a $380 worth bounce to the Professional model with 16GB of RAM. Conversely, the Gram 17 base mannequin with 32GB of RAM is cheaper, beginning at $1,699.
For that cause, I like to recommend the LG Gram 17 over the Professional model until you are completely intent on pushing the shape issue so far as it may go when it comes to battery life and energy.
Talking of battery life, I did a little bit of gaming on this laptop computer, and after a handful of updates, it carried out nicely, however the battery life does take a success. I additionally obtained a number of graphical glitches (tearing, polygons) over the course of testing it, however the Intel Arc GPU holds its personal, particularly for titles that are not significantly demanding.
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The “Lunar Lake” Intel chip leads to a cool-running laptop computer. Even with the followers cranking, it by no means actually heats as much as uncomfortable temperatures, particularly contemplating how scorching I bear in mind last year’s Gram Pro 16 getting.
Lastly, I will point out the Gram’s on-device AI, “Gram Chat”, which is LG’s proprietary AI-driven assistant that’s supposed to assist the person discover options to widespread points like finding recordsdata or troubleshooting. I’ll say that for very primary requests, it really works, but it surely does not perceive conversational prompts, a lot much less extra imprecise ones.
On-device AI is one thing that completely different producers are attempting, however as most customers will admit, outcomes are blended, not less than for now. LG’s Gram Chat could also be helpful for some, however I did not discover myself going again after my first few makes an attempt yielded uninspiring outcomes.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
LG’s Gram 17 is an extremely skinny and light-weight laptop computer, and the addition of the Intel Core Extremely 7 “Lunar Lake” processor completes the image with a direct enchancment in methods customers will care about.
The common worth of $1,700 is on the excessive finish, however proper now it is on sale for $1,199 — a complete $500. Not dangerous for what is actually an announcement of engineering.
