86 PCWorld JANUARY 2020REVIEWS LG GR AM^17
LG’s insistence on including a number pad—
but not stretching the keyboard closer to the
edges of the frame—is also a mistake,
resulting in overly small space bar and
backspace keys.
The trackpad, however, is a delight, at
least for those of us who are accustomed to
touch-tapping. It’s a smooth and spacious
surface that doesn’t stick under prolonged
use, and Microsoft’s Precision Touchpad
drivers do a great job with palm rejection as
you type. Those who prefer to click down on
the trackpad will have more to complain
about, as the LG Gram 17’s clicking
mechanism is pretty stiff.SPEAKERS AND SOFTWARE
Windows laptops seldom shine on speaker
quality, but the LG Gram 17 stands out for being
worse than most. Bass lines are almost
indiscernible while listening to music, and audio
overall sounds strangely muffled, as if you’re
talking to someone over the phone. Even just
listening to people talk on YouTube, sound
quality was more on a par with a smartphone
than decent laptop or tablet speakers.
Along a somewhat similar line, I expect
most Windows laptops (except Microsoft
Signature Edition (go.pcworld.com/sged)
ones) to include some level of bloatware, but
LG’s software suite has one unusual quirk: Its
Support Center software shows information
only in Korean in the system tray. The laptop
also includes a “Reader Mode” feature thatLG forgot to translate its customer support app in
the system tray.gives the screen a reddish tint, which is fine,
but it has a bad habit of nagging you to use it
via notifications, and Microsoft’s built-in Night
Light (go.pcworld.com/nlit) does a better
job. Fortunately, LG’s bloatware can be
removed without incident.PERFORMANCE AND
BATTERY LIFE
Let’s start with the best news first: LG put a
massive 72Wh battery in the LG Gram 17, and
the result is stellar runtime. It is incredibly
relieving, at the start of a work day with no
charger on hand, to see Windows estimating
over 9 hours of battery life. While those
estimates do fluctuate based on workload, I
had no issues getting through an entire
workday with this laptop.
That anecdotal experience is backed up
by our battery rundown test, in which the LG
Gram 17 clocked 12 hours and 45 minutes of
looping video at 255 nits’ brightness. The
only laptop that came close in our tests is LG’s
own Gram 14 2-in-1 (go.pcworld.com/dl14).
LG also deserves credit for the thermal
design of this laptop. Under heavy loads—for