Selecting a laptop computer inevitably entails a matter of compromise. A light-weight, extra transportable machine means a small display screen and a cramped keyboard. A bigger laptop computer offers room to stretch out and normally extra energy—on the expense of portability. What’s an on-the-go inventive to do? Is there a better of each worlds on the market someplace?
Enter LG with its Gram Pro 17, and I wouldn’t dream of burying the lede on this one: At 18 millimeters thick and weighing simply 2.8 kilos, it’s the thinnest and lightest 17-inch laptop computer I’ve ever seen, and it’s not even shut.
Some factors of comparability to begin, in case you assume I’m being dramatic. The 17.3-inch Acer Nitro 17 I reviewed just lately weighs a hefty 6.3 kilos and is 34 mm thick. Again in 2018, HP’s Omen X 17 tipped the scales at 9.9 kilos and a beastly 41 mm of girth—and it didn’t even have the courtesy to incorporate an optical drive with it. The one machine that’s even within the ballpark is the oddball HP Spectre Foldable. With its detachable keyboard, it weighs 3.5 kilos and is 23 mm thick—although that’s hardly an apples-to-apples comparability.
That’s form of the purpose. There isn’t a comparability for this laptop computer and no significant level of reference. Unboxing it felt like somebody was pulling a prank on me. Did a toddler’s plastic toy one way or the other get shipped to me as an alternative of a Windows laptop? The place’s the standard 1-pound energy brick? LG has been making iterative variations of this laptop since 2019, however even the older fashions don’t attain the featherweight standing of this 2024 mannequin.
{Photograph}: LG
Except for being impossibly mild and skinny, what do you get with the brand new Gram Professional 17? An Intel Core Extremely 7 155H CPU is backed by 32 GB of RAM, a 2-terabyte solid-state drive (curiously configured as two logical disks), and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card. That’s a reasonably dated, lower-end graphics processor, which I’ll delve into in additional element quickly. The intense IPS display screen provides 2,460 X 1,600 pixels of decision, however it is not a touchscreen (to maintain issues skinny).
The port choice, organized on either side of the machine with none on the again, is sweet however not fairly nice. You get two USB-A ports, two USB-C 4.0 ports, and a full-size HDMI. You’ll want one of many USB-C ports for charging with the included A/C adapter.
LG’s design right here is discreet, all matte-black, powder-coated with mild curves on the corners and nothing in the best way of prospers exterior of the “Gram” brand on high. There’s room for a (fairly slim) numeric keypad to the best of the spacious keyboard, although key journey is essentially restricted as a result of excessive thinness of the machine.
