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00:00All right, the new LG Gram for 2021. This is a family of laptops that has evolved quite a bit over the years.
00:08Like the original LG Gram was really focused, almost laser focused on being as light as possible
00:14at the expense of performance and a whole bunch of other things.
00:16But over the years, they've had to adapt and kind of reconfigure what the LG Gram was all about.
00:21And at this point, I feel like it's gotten to the stage where it's just a really good, a really good overall product.
00:28And I feel like for a lot of people who are looking for a new device, this is going to be on that short list.
00:33So there's a whole bunch of new features and stuff we've added this year, but I want to draw your attention to a new device.
00:39So they have a new 16-inch model this year.
00:41They've had 14, 15, even 17 in the past, but the new one is the 16-inch.
00:46And of the bunch, this is probably my favorite.
00:48It's that perfect size and weight combination while still retaining really good battery life.
00:53It actually has the best battery life of the bunch.
00:55But we will talk about a few features they've added.
00:58So they now all have 16 by 10 aspect ratio screens, so there's just more vertical real estate.
01:03It's the same kind of overall screen size, but you just get more room on the top and bottom.
01:07And it's something that a lot of people appreciate.
01:09The only thing it's not great for is if you're watching shows, there's now black bars on the top and bottom.
01:14But for everything else, that extra space is nice.
01:16And they've also added, finally, USB-C charging.
01:20And I don't mean, like, optional USB-C charging or the capability of it.
01:24It's the only way to charge this device.
01:26USB-C, right into the port, comes with a 65-watt adapter.
01:30It's something I've been hoping for on the LG Grams forever.
01:33And it was strange to me, like, on a device like this, a premium device that's so focused on weight and portability,
01:39to not have USB-C was weird.
01:41But now, you don't even need to bring a regular charger.
01:43You could use, in theory, your phone charger to juice this thing up.
01:47It's probably my favorite feature on this year's Gram.
01:49Okay, they've also added new CPUs.
01:52So, all three now run Intel's latest Tiger Lake CPUs.
01:56And we'll get into performance in a little bit.
01:58But, that's the lineup.
02:00The very portable 14-inch model that's still under a kilogram.
02:03The big-screened 17-inch model that's weirdly light.
02:07Like, every time I pick this thing up, it almost doesn't make sense as to how this thing has such a low weight for such a big screen.
02:12And then, lastly, the 16-inch model.
02:14And all three of these are obviously very light.
02:16And I wouldn't be surprised if some, maybe all of them, hold records for, like, the lightest laptop in the world.
02:22Now, in terms of the aesthetics, they are slightly different than the previous years.
02:27So, they're cleaner-looking this year.
02:29The design lines have this industrial vibe to it.
02:31But there's also this feature on the hinge that, when you open the device,
02:35it kind of tucks a portion of the bezel behind the keyboard deck.
02:40Like, the bottom bezel, like the chin.
02:43When you open the device, it just kind of goes below the hinge.
02:47So, visually, it's an illusion, right?
02:49The chin is still there, but you just can't see it as readily.
02:52It's a nice little visual tweak they've made.
02:55I think it looks nice, but it keeps the thin bezel design uniform around the whole screen.
03:01The 14-inch model has a full HD screen, but the 17- and 16-inch models have quad HD panels.
03:07These are really nice-looking displays.
03:09Like, they're colorful, they're bright.
03:11They don't, however, have a matte finish.
03:13They are a glossy panel, which I personally love, but everyone's different on that.
03:18And they also don't have touchscreens, which is something you often see on glossy panels like this.
03:22But I assume, in a move to keep the weight down and the pricing reasonable, it's just a regular screen.
03:27It's just glossy.
03:28So, there's also a webcam up top.
03:30It's not amazing, but it's usable.
03:32And I think that's all that really matters in this day and age.
03:35Okay, let's talk about the keyboards.
03:38So, they all look very similar.
03:40They've changed from previous models.
03:41One thing is they've removed that orange color accent that they used to have.
03:45It's a more minimal-looking keyboard.
03:47But this is a nice keyboard.
03:48I think most people really enjoy typing on it.
03:50They do, however, type slightly different from each other.
03:55It's the strangest thing.
03:56I mean, it's hard to tell, right?
03:58When you're typing on it, if I did like a blindfold test, I think they're actually different.
04:03The 17-inch model feels slightly more clicky to me, but it's probably in my head.
04:07It wouldn't make sense for them to switch different membranes between the three different keyboards.
04:11That'd be really strange.
04:12So, I'm probably going crazy, but it does, for whatever reason, feel slightly different.
04:17The touchpads are bigger this year.
04:19One of the issues that people have had with the Grams in the past is having smaller trackpads.
04:23But this year, it's noticeably bigger, as well as still having that nice smooth glass surface and a nice click mechanic.
04:29This is a good trackpad.
04:30I think most people will like it.
04:32And you can see the chin thing I was talking about, right?
04:35That whole reduced bezel on the bottom.
04:38It's a bit of an illusion, but it's pretty cool.
04:40Okay, let's talk about performance.
04:43So, all three of these are running Tiger Lake chips.
04:46And in terms of the overall performance, I'm...
04:51I guess the word I want to use is content.
04:53I was going to use the word happy with it.
04:55I'm content.
04:56So, if you compare it to last year's model, it's an improvement.
04:58But these use chips that have incredible potential.
05:03Like if you put the same chip in a laptop that's cooled more aggressively, you can get some really good performance, particularly graphics performance.
05:10But because these are 15W variants, they're not as powerful as they could be.
05:14And they can't sustain a high clock speed for extended periods of time.
05:18The way that I look at it is this.
05:20On the 14-inch model, I feel like it gets a pass.
05:22When you pop this thing open, there's no more room in there for anything, really, right?
05:25It's a pretty packed device.
05:27But on the 16 and particularly the 17-inch model, there's room.
05:32You could totally have revamped it or redesigned the fans so that you could cool this thing better.
05:38And if they did, if they had cooled this thing really aggressively, I think that you could have gotten a good gaming performance out of this chip.
05:45Like if you look at the motherboards, clearly they're sharing the exact same main motherboard and thermal system across all three devices.
05:52I'm sure it helps to keep the cost down.
05:54And on a 14 and 16-inch model, maybe it gets a pass.
05:58But on the 17-inch model, because there's so much room in there, I can't help but wish that they had put something to accommodate for the potential of this chip.
06:07But I get it. It's the LG Gram and they're focused on weight.
06:11So, you know, adding another fan would have bumped it up by, who knows, 150 grams, 100 grams.
06:16And that would have been unacceptable to the Gram family.
06:20Okay, the ports.
06:22So these have a pretty good selection of ports.
06:25There's the two USB-C on one side with the display out, the HDMI.
06:29And then there's two USB-A, which on a device like this, like ultra-thin, 2021, to have four USB ports, two of them being USB-A, it's not common.
06:38I like seeing that.
06:40There's also a microSD, if that's your jam.
06:43All right, battery life.
06:45The 17 and 16-inch models share the same battery size.
06:48They're both 80-watt hours.
06:49I got nine and a half hours on the 17, a little bit more than nine and a half.
06:53So I compared it to last year's data.
06:55It was slightly longer than last year's, also around nine and a half on the 17-inch model, but a little bit better.
07:00And I think I was running the test identically.
07:03So my guess is that the chip is slightly more efficient this year.
07:06And on the 16-inch, it's actually the longest running, it's just under 10 hours.
07:10This is on my test.
07:11They make claims of like 10 hours or like 5,000 hours.
07:15It doesn't matter.
07:16Those are unrealistic to me.
07:17But nine and a half on the 17, slightly under 10 on the 16.
07:22The 14-inch is the lowest of the bunch.
07:24It has a 72-watt hour barrier, so it's slightly smaller.
07:27But I was consistently getting nine hours on this thing.
07:30But that's just my testing.
07:32Okay, so the rest of the stuff inside.
07:34You got two NVMe slots on all three of these.
07:37So you can have some really fast drives in there.
07:39The RAM is soldered on.
07:40There's 16 gigs and you can see it up top.
07:42And the Wi-Fi card is also baked on.
07:44So you want to replace those or swap them, you cannot.
07:47The speakers down here sound okay.
07:49They're slightly different looking than the previous year's model,
07:51but they sound very similar.
07:53I feel like with the amount of space that's available in that area,
07:56you could put a ton of speakers.
07:58So LG, if you ever watch this, you should probably do something
08:02by putting just better or bigger or more speakers in there
08:05to make it like a really good sound system.
08:07You have the space.
08:08You clearly have the space.
08:09So it would be cool if you did that
08:11instead of having these predictably mediocre sound systems.
08:15Okay.
08:16I cannot understate...
08:18That's the wrong word.
08:19Overstate.
08:20I cannot overstate the lightness of these things.
08:23It's just like...
08:24They're so weirdly light.
08:26It's awesome.
08:27If you want portability, you want that ultralight experience,
08:30these are a really good choice this year.
08:32And in terms of pricing,
08:33I don't have pricing on any of this stuff yet.
08:35It's relatively early in the launch cycle,
08:36but I do remember that last year...
08:38I mean, these things go on sale pretty regularly,
08:40but I remember the 17-inch model hitting, I think, like $1,200.
08:44It was crazy to have that kind of configuration
08:47and this screen size and this kind of package
08:49for that kind of pricing.
08:50So keep an eye out for the sales on these things.
08:53Okay.
08:54That's the LG Gram lineup.
08:56Thumbs if you liked it.
08:57Subs if you loved it.
08:58See you guys next time.