Customer Ratings & Reviews

Its a 2019 model and I had it for few days. Am impressed with its features and functionality and is good value for your money. My reviews are based on my experience with 2018 and 2017 laptop/surface book that I own which are in similar price range. This can definitely compete with Microsoft and Apple laptops in terms of spec and performance but comes at a lower price tag. I consider this as a mid-range laptop and good for day to day use, play some games and watch some 4k videos. Battery Life (72Wh): Its 4 cell lithium ion built in battery pack. The spec says 20.5 hrs. But I did some tests and played some PC games, watched videos, browsed internet and the battery lasted for about 13 hrs with brightness and contrast levels set to recommended power management settings Weight: Lightweight (2.1 pounds) and you can literally hold it with two fingers. Overall dimensions 12.0 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches Screen (13.3"): Played Netflix 4K videos and it delivered life like picture quality. It has a webcam (HD) on the top bezel that I didn’t test it yet. Pretty responsive touch screen and amazing resolution (1920x1080). No complaints at all on the display for gaming or videos needs. It supports four finger multi touch gestures Memory: DDR4 dual channel memory (8GB DDR4 2400MHz - 4 GB x 1 (On Board) - 4 GB x 1). One is soldered on to the board and one is upgradable. This is descent enough RAM for day to day use (multitasking) and might fall short for extreme gaming needs. Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620 (8th generation with higher clock speeds compared to its processor with noticeable performance improvement for gamers) are usually found in i5 and i7 core processors. This is a 2017 released graphics processor and is a mid-range graphics processor that satisfies most of the day to day applications. Processor: 8th Gen Intel Core i5 processor (Intel Core i5-8265U 1.60GHz/3.90GHz). It’s a mid-range laptop processor released in Q2, 2018. It offers a higher maximal clock speed (turbo boost) frequency of 3.9 GHz and a little better compared to its predecessor (3.4 GHz). It’s a latest generation processor and amazingly fast. Played couple PC games (Apex Legend and Rainbow Six Siege) and saw a little lag but is acceptable for mid-range laptops . I overclocked the CPU and memory by multitasking (video, browsing, ports powering accessories) and didn't' see it struggle, was impressed by its performance. I could hear the fan running at its max speed to keep the PC cool. Will stress test it the next couple days to see how it performs. Body: Metal body (magnesium alloy) has a good feel to it and feels tough. Shouldn't have problems with durability and spec says military grade durability (i.e. passed military grade tests levels on shock, low pressure, temperature, dust, vibration and salt fog). I specifically like the color its sliver with grey tint on it - dark silver ? Keyboard: Its back-lit and has 3 settings - off, level 1 and level 2. Fingerprint logon: This is the best feature by far on this laptop and logging on is a breeze and password free (supports windows hello feature - biometric login)- the power bottom has a finger print reader to unlock the PC, apps and websites. Added a picture to this review Ports: 2 USB ports 3.0 ports, 1 HDMI, 1 USB C(thunderbolt 3!) and mini SD card slot Few things I still feel could be improved - The fan is a little loud (but less louder than the ones I currently own), feel the technology is out there and it can addressed in the new generation laptops but it didn’t get hot though. Overall this is a great laptop for day to day use with good multitasking capability and am impressed with its battery life. It can last for the entire day on a single charge. The sound system was amazing , great DTS (multi-channel sound) experience with Bose Headset. This laptop comes with a 256 GB SSD hard drive which is pretty much industry standard now. Super-fast boot-up and no lag in accessing files and folders on the system. Supports bluetooth 5.0 which is pretty much the latest version on bluetooth technology. It has a ultra-small (compared to the previous laptops I owned) bezel and barely noticeable. Overall 5/5 rating for the value it delivers for a lower price tag when compared to similar laptops that can easily cost another $250-$300 more.

For laptops, portability and screen size often take precedent before the internal hardware is considered. The LG Gram 13 inch attempts to tackle both, offering both performance and portability in a sleek well designed package. Clocking in at roughly two pounds, and combined with a quad core i5-8265U, a 256 GB SSD and 8 GB DDR4-2400 MHz, the LG Gram presents a fabulous opportunity to get the performance you desire without sacrificing portability. In addition, the LG gram is powered by a spacious 70Wh battery that should provide ample amounts of power on a single charge! Once unboxed, the LG Gram is sure to impress. Physically, the LG Gram is quite sturdy for its size. It is extremely light; no doubt the LG Gram would be perfect for travel. In addition, the laptop has a nice brushed feel to it. It is smooth, yet somewhat rugged. I was also quite impressed with the silver color as it is darker in person as opposed to the stock photos online. As for the keyboard, everything should be quite familiar. There are various function keys at the top, such as adjusting screen brightness or disabling the touchpad. You can also access the LG control center (FN + F1) for even more settings. In addition, the LED keyboard backlight has two different modes: low and high. Between low and high, the increase in backlight is minimal but nonetheless gets the job done. On the left side of the unit, you will note the charge port, an HDMI port, 1 USB 3.1 Type-A, and one USB 3.1 Type-C port. On the right side, you will note the security lock, 1 USB 3.1 Type-A, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a micro SD card slot. Also, LG included a USB Type-C to RJ-45 adapter so you can use a wired internet connection. Despite its small size, there are plenty of port options available. In addition to the physical aspects, I was quite impressed with the 13 inch IPS display. Even at 1080p, the colors are absolutely vibrant and presents strong contrast throughout. Ironically, our other laptops look washed out in comparison. By default, the computer is set to scale the display at 150%. I did not have any trouble reading text, looking at pictures, or watching video. As for size, I felt that 13 inches is the perfect size as it is big enough for daily use, yet small and compact enough that it does not feel bulky. Furthermore, the LED backlight is extremely bright, especially in a dark room or environment. Personally, this is the brightest screen I have used. Overall, everyone will be pleased with the display quality. As for performance, the LG Gram is extremely fast out of the box. As one would expect, one of the main reasons for this speed is the included 256 GB SSD, which is listed as a Samsung MZNLN256HAJQ that is a SATA drive connected via the M.2 form factor. The drive easily saturates the SATA 3 interface. I decided to run Crystal Mark 6.0.2 and the results are quite impressive: Sequential Read: 549.459 MB/s & Sequential Write: 516.022 MB/s Random Read 4K QD=32: 249.451 MB/s & Random Write 4K QD=32: 224.102 MB/s Random Read 4K QD=1: 12.737 MB/s & Random Write 4K QD=1: 49.693 MB/s Furthermore, I also ran two manual transfers from my SanDisk Extreme 500GB external SSD over USB 3.1 Type-C. For the first test, I copied one file that was 28.3 GB. My second test was one more indicative of the drive’s 4k performance. I copied one large 27.9 GB folder that is comprised of 6,147 files scattered through an additional 1,141 subfolders. At the start of the first transfer, I was able to spike up to 480 MB/s before it held consistently at 300-310 MB/s. The 28.3 GB file finished after 1 Minute and 33 Seconds! The second test was naturally slower and not as consistent, but nonetheless still extremely fast. After starting off slowly, the transfer shot up to almost 300 MB/s and then bounced around between 170 MB/s - 210 MB/s, with occasional spikes up to 245 MB/s or higher. The transfer ended at 2 Minutes and 32 seconds. Overall, the performance of the SSD should be more than enough for most users. Additionally, I would like to mention that the LG Gram can be upgraded to a larger capacity drive, however, this is only recommended if you are comfortable with upgrading the laptop or have done it before. Naturally, this not necessary and is completely optional. In addition to the SSD, I wanted to test the i5-8265U to see how the CPU performs when stressed to its full potential. For a multithreaded test, I used Handbrake 1.2.2 to encode a 28.3GB .M2TS movie file to MP4. I ran the test using the very fast 1080p preset, but changed the frame rate to 24 fps to match the source. The audio was set to match its source. For comparison, I ran the same test on my HP X360 Envy that is powered by the Ryzen 2500U since they are fairly close in specifications. Both chips are quad cores with eight threads and have a TDP rating of 15 watts. I5-8265U – 47 Minutes 4 seconds (46.8 FPS) Ryzen 2500U – 42 Minutes 45 seconds (51.6 FPS) Both CPUs perform similarly, though the Ryzen 2500U edges out slightly for several reasons. First, the Ryzen was able to sustain a turbo frequency of 2.9 GHz, while the i5-8265U was running at 2.0 GHz. Second, the HP is a bigger laptop (15 inches) and ran cooler due to a larger fan. Since the LG is a smaller laptop with a smaller fan, the i5 had to throttle more aggressively. However, keep in mind that encoding video is well beyond what this laptop is designed for. Overall, the CPU performs exceptionally well. In addition to the multithreaded test, I ran a single thread test by converting a 24 minute WAV file to MP3 using MusicBee 2.4. The LAME encoder was set to a constant bit rate of 320 Kbps. The quality algorithm was set to 0 for the highest quality setting by using the –q switch. I also set MusicBee to run the encode on one thread. I5-8265U – 1 Minute and 44 Seconds Ryzen 2500U- 2 Minutes and 6 Seconds Unlike the multithreaded test, the i5-8265U was able to stretch its legs a bit and hold a turbo frequency of 3.8 GHz since the temperature and load was low. Using HW Monitor, I noted the temperature around 50-55 degrees Celsius which is well within a respectable range. Overall, I believe the i5-8565U is more than enough to handle everything you throw at it. In addition to performance, the battery is another area of importance. For my test, I left the power options alone and disabled all of the unnecessary startup items as well as all of the non-Microsoft services. With a fully charged battery, I ran a 28.3 GB .M2TS movie using VLC player. For the whole 90 minutes, I ran the screen at full brightness as well as the keyboard’s LED on its highest setting. After the movie, there was 83% battery left. I then proceeded to browse a couple of websites for about an hour and noticed that the battery had dropped to roughly 77%. I also want to mention that by default Windows 10 has the fast startup enabled in the power options. This setting also affects shutdown, as it does not shut the computer completely down but rather forces it to an extremely low power state that appears to be off (you will notice that your uptime counter in task manager does not reset after you turn it back on). However, I was able to note that after not using the laptop for 9 days while in this low power state, the battery still had 34% left of its charge remaining when I did turn it back on. I must absolutely stress that your battery results will differ than what I have observed here, though hopefully this can give you an idea of what to expect. Depending on your usage, you may even exceed these results. Also, I want to stress that you should watch your CPU/RAM usage as some services and background processes sometimes hog resources, which will have a detrimental effect on battery life. While LG claims that the battery can last 20.5 hours, I can't fully say that this is true for every charge, but it does seem that as long as your usage is within reason, it is possible you could see a single charge last that long. Overall, the battery performs exceptionally and it is definitely the longest lasting battery I have personally used. In conclusion, the LG Gram is the perfect laptop for those who want strong performance without sacrificing portability. At two pounds, it is extremely lightweight and portable. In addition, the 13 inch IPS display is one of the brightest screens that I have used. The color was incredibly vibrant and text was sharp and easy to read. Internally, the i5-8265U, 8 GB DDR4, and the 256 GB Samsung SSD performs with blazing speed. As for drawbacks, some might be disappointed with the initial size of the SSD or that half of its RAM is soldered down to the motherboard. However, these issues are minor enough that should not bother most users. As for affordability, the LG Gram sits at an upper price point. While there might be cheaper options, the LG Gram easily provides what it was designed to do. With exceptional battery life and an attractive design, the LG Gram comes highly recommended provided that it is well within your budget.

LG - gram 13.3" Touch-Screen Laptop - Intel Core i5 - 8GB Memory - 256GB Solid State Drive - Dark Silver Summary: Great laptop to have to do work on-the-go. Pros: - Light for its form factor. - Nice and bright screen with a perfect resolution for its size. - Touch screen is convenient. - The Finger print reader is fast and accurate (enables Windows Hello!) - Unit charges via USB-C port, as well; one less charger to worry about! Cons: - Proprietary charger provided. Why not USB-C? - The build quality is solid, but the feel can seem cheap compared to similarly equipped competing products. - Why isn't there an LG logo on the device (externally)? Use: I use this unit for work when I'm on-the-go, but don't expect to have to work. That means I leave my main workhorses (a desktop and a larger laptop) at home and I bring this guy around. I use it to VPN and remote desktop and get stuff done. I work as a database administrator so the size is just about right for my use. The finger print reader works quite well, surprisingly, and is similar to those used on mobile phones. I have not had a chance to put the device through other potential uses I might have for it (like quick gaming at low/mid/high settings - while traveling), but expect it to function at some level given how snappy it is. The LG Gram has replaced my aging and more expensive to replace (and heavier?) Surface Pro 3. It is a good buy. But for its price point I think some might look towards other options such as the competing similarly equipped Surface Laptop.

To quote a John Mellencamp song lyric...”Don’t go making hasty judgments, because sometimes they could be wrong”...was me when I unboxed the LG gram 13Z990 laptop. I thought to myself, good lord, this thing is flimsy and unsubstantial. Off to LG’s web site to educate myself a little bit about what I just opened. The gram (yes, not capitalized) 13Z990 is billed as an ultra lightweight laptop that passes seven different durability tests and is military-spec rated. Is this a valid claim or advertising hype? I’m not sure as I am unfamiliar with these tests and their standards, but I was impressed after reading about the “carbon nanotube-reinforced magnesium alloy” full metal body which I thought was inexpensive plastic the first time I felt it. The finish of the body is a matte-textured, dark gray color which I assume is bare magnesium alloy. This laptop weighs 2 pounds 2 ounces and is 12 ounces less than the other slim, 13 inch Windows laptop kicking around our house, which I thought was lightweight when compared to the older MacBook Pro we have. This thing is a featherweight! Wow! If I was a student lugging around a backpack with a laptop in it on campus all day, the weight of said laptop would be a prime consideration to me when choosing a machine. Even the power block went on a diet and is light enough to tote around – it has to be a third of the weight of ones we have had in the past. So far the battery life of this thing is awesome as I have used it for a few hours a day for 4 or 5 days now and just had to recharge it. For those times you need to use the laptop while it recharges, the power block has a very generous cord length of 10 feet (the block being at the mid-point). This should come in handy in public spaces where you can’t always get a seat right next to an AC outlet. The keyboard is backlit with two selectable illumination settings (besides “off”). I am a little puzzled as to why there isn’t a sensor that can turn the back lighting on and off based on ambient light levels so that battery power can be conserved. The feel of the keys and their spacing is first rate...as good as any laptop keyboard I have ever felt and easily on par with our 2014 MacBook which is before the keyboard fiasco Apple has been dealing with the past few years. The responsiveness of the track pad is equally impressive with no missed inputs unlike some others I have experienced, and multi-finger gestures are supported. The screen does not have a 360 degree hinge where it will fold all the way back over onto the main body for use as a tablet which might be an issue for some users. The high-gloss touchscreen works flawlessly and I experienced no issues whatsoever with it. The included ports should be enough to satisfy most users as LG includes two USB 3.1, one USB 3.1 Type-C, one HDMI, a Micro-SD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a DC power jack. A Kensington lock slot is also provided – it appears to accept the T-bar style lock, as I could not find find any documentation regarding this in the LG Easy Guide. And speaking of the Easy Guide, it is the electronic documentation for the computer and is well written, easy to understand and covers all of the pertinent subjects when you have questions regarding the minor nuances of new hardware and manufacturer-specific software (as the Windows 10 experience should be the same everywhere). The built-in speakers are down-firing and do an adequate job for what is required of them. The gram has a piece of software called DTS Audio that allows you to make a variety of adjustments to the sound, more so with the built-in speakers than with ear buds, headphones or external speakers. It can automatically sense when you connect a device to the audio jack and offers some minor settings for these devices. However when using my planar magnetic headphones to listen to music I found the sound quality to be about the same as with other computers. I found my Bluetooth AirPods easy to connect and the sound quality was excellent when listening to music. Solid state hard drives are now pretty common in laptops and if you have never had one before you are in for a treat. With the gram “off”, I pressed the power button and when the lock screen appeared I placed my finger on the power button again (the fingerprint reader is integrated with the power button) to log in and was at my desktop in about 9 seconds. At first I was disappointed that this computer didn’t use the built-in camera for facial recognition, but once you get your fingerprint(s) entered, this log-in device works flawlessly. Initial set-up with Cortana walking you through the procedure is quick and easy. For anyone in search of a very lightweight, easy to carry laptop with more than enough computing power for the average user, and with a build quality to survive the use and abuse that an on-the-go piece of hardware will experience, this LG gram deserves to be on everyone’s short list when they go shopping.

I had first purchased the HP Envy 13" but it had trackpad configuration issues I could not resolve (even with hacking the registry). When using HP's website, it couldn't even tell what version of Windows it was running (Win10Home). Well, I returned that unit and actually spent more to get the LG gram. (The HP was on sale). I prefer the screen of the LG; even though they are both touchscreens (and, therefore, glossy), the gram appears sharper. BTW, I prefer glossy screens as I come from the Mac world. The gram uses an 8th gen Intel Core i5 while the HP Envy had the latest 4700U AMD CPU which, allegedly, runs rings around the older Core i5. Doesn't seem that way to me; I am not waiting for things to happen. I prefer the keyboard of the gram; the HP's seems huge but that might just be the size of the keycap labels. The gram's key travel is fine although I do prefer a longer travel (like old Mac laptops from 2012 and older; the newer ones are awful). The trackpad software is Microsoft's "precision" driver which is anything but. Adjusting the "friction" and "momentum" (inertia?) settings in the registry set things right; it works like a Mac now. Battery life is tremendous. I can go for a number of days without charging. Buy this. It works great.

The first thing that stood out to me on this computer is the screen, I fell in love with it pretty much right away. The colors were so bright and vibrant, almost surreal. Setup was quick and I like that there wasn’t much pre-installed software other than a few sensible LG utilities. The “skinny” review is that if you’re looking for a non-budget everyday laptop that’s light and speedy and looks great, this is a solid option. The only knocks against it are that it seems pricey for what it is and I was surprised at how weak the sound was, even through headphones. (more on that below) Things I like are: The display, gorgeous as long as you don’t use the “LG Reader mode” it kept overzealously suggesting. The backlit keyboard, this has become a must for me now that I’m used to them. And its general performance throughout my normal routine of browsing, movies, and “getting work done” while travelling was excellent, no complaints at all, it is quite simply a joy to use. As mentioned, after every boot I’d soon get a pop-up telling me to “Please use Reader Mode”. So I tried it. It truly looked awful. I understand that Reader Mode is intended to help with battery life etc but it reduces a gorgeous display to something far less flattering. Further, Reader Mode seems redundant with Windows 10s native Night Light mode. There were some differences between the two, but not enough to justify LG having its own separate utility for it. I don’t fault LG for offering Reader Mode as an option, I just have no idea why my Gram was so insistent that I use it, every boot, even when I was plugged in. One thing that really surprised me though is how bad the built-in sound is. I’m not talking about the built-in speakers, they’re actually OK and on par with what I expect from typical laptop speakers. No, what surprised me is when I plugged in my headphones to listen to music and watch movies -- it was surprisingly thin sounding. I’m an audiophile, I don’t use cheap headphones -- these were Master and Dynamic MW60s wired directly to the 3.5mm port. I use these headphones a lot and they have never sounded as bad as when I used them into the LG Gram. I plugged my MW60s into an old cheap phone, sounded great. Plugged them into a cheap Chromebook, sounded great, plugged them into several other laptops and tablets, rich and full on all of them. Plugged them into the LG Gram, the only device on which they sound wispy and thin, and what few audio adjustments were available through the native driver didn’t help no matter what I tried. I then did a little searching online and found that others have reported this particular audio chipset having an under-whelming internal amplifier, and that corresponds to my experience. So as long as I”m just doing “work” on this laptop or somewhere I can use the speakers it’s fine and I truly do enjoy it, but when I’m in entertainment mode and just want to enjoy some audio to myself (on a plane, in a coffee shop, etc.) I have resorted to bringing a separate USB audio dongle that I use instead of the built-in headphone jack. This makes all the difference and sounds really good, it’s just really unfortunate and surprising in a laptop at this price point that something as simple as even decent basic audio was overlooked. I”m not asking for Dolby THX here, I’d just expect the Gram to sound at least as good as a budget old phone and Chromebook. As much as I listen to music and streaming radio this is a huge shortcoming on an otherwise excellent laptop. It can be overcome with a small USB audio dongle, it’s just a shame a workaround for something so basic is even needed in this case. In the end I do like this laptop, but for me the audio issues are enough that I’d not personally “recommend” it.

First off, when taking it out of the box I couldn't believe how light it was. I thought that the battery wasn't installed. It's really amazing what LG has done here. Setup was easy with the usual Windows 10 setup and uninstalling some bloatware. Ran the Check for Updates and let it download and install all the updates needed. Once it was done doing all the updates I was able to mess around with it and it is fast. Boot up and shut down only takes a few seconds each and any task I tried was quick. Granted, I haven't thrown anything heavy duty at it, so I can't comment on whether this is a good gaming laptop, but I don't believe it's designed for that. As an everyday laptop, or something to supplement another home computer as the "on the go" machine, this is amazing. Videos are crisp, sound is average for a laptop, and everyday normal tasks run smoothly and quickly. The backlit keyboard is always welcome and I recommend making a quick tweak in the LG settings panel to lock the Fn button for the Fn keys at the top of the keyboard. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a light and portable laptop.

This laptop is amazing! It's fast, it's efficient, the touchscreen is responsive, and even the touchpad isn't overdone. For a few years I've been lugging around a hefty gaming laptop (which I still love) to and from work and places where I wouldn't be using it's extra power. This one is extremely light and compact. Much better for carrying around on a daily basis! You don't sacrifice too much in the way of computing power either. While you're not going to run the latest and greatest video games in full resolution or process some intense graphical video work or anything, it's got ample power for streaming and productivity. The screen quality is very high and the touch screen very responsive as well. Features a few nice quality of life touches like a fingerprint sensor built into the power button to identify you as you bring the laptop out of sleep mode. If anyone needs a laptop with high portability and minimal sacrifice of power this is an excellent choice.