2019-09-01_Computer_Shopper

86 SEPTEMBER 2019 |COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE 379

ULTRAPORTABLES

EVENTHEFINESTbig-screenedlaptops

look and feel like bulkybeasts, especially

theyhavea13in stablematetobeplaced

to.That the 2kg Dell XPS 15 is one of the

lightest 15.6in optionsavailable should tell y

all you need to know.

The 1.1kg LG Gram, however,would ap

to buck this trend. This conventional

clamshell-stylelaptop is almost half the

weight of the XPS 15 –and even lighter th

the XPS 13, in fact –but still comes packe

with aFull HD,touch-enabled15.6in displa y

plus high-endinternals such as aIntel Cor

i7-8550Uprocessor.There’s also agenero

1TB SSD at your disposal,althoughthis

pushesthe price up considerably;the 512GB

model is full grand cheaper,at£1,199.

CARRYON

Simply put, no other15.6in laptop is this

portable,and that is gloriously apparent when

carrying it around in abag. Buildquality has

takenahit in the process: the Gram is built

with atough-sounding‘nano carbon

magnesium’alloybut feels rather flimsy in the

hand, and the lid in particularis capableof

bendingto an almost uncomfortabledegree.

Still, that’s about the only caveat.

Indeed,the selectionof ports hasn’t

suffered.On the leftedge is aThunderbolt

3-poweredUSB Type-C port, along with an

HDMI output,afull-size USB2 port and aDC

chargingconnector.Two USB3 ports sit next

to each other on the right-hand side,along

with amicroSD card reader and a3.5mm

headsetjack. Helpfully,LGalso includesan

Type-C-to-Ethernetadaptor in the box, so

you can still have the reliabilityof awired

connectioneven thoughthere’s no room for

adedicated Ethernetport.

The Gram’s backlit full-sizedchiclet-style

keyboardis well spacedacross the width of

the laptop,with adedicated numberpad on

the right side.The typing action is crisp

and consistent across the keyboard,

althoughthe individualkeys are abit too

small forour tastes.

The large,glass-topped trackpad’ssurface

is nice and smooth,and perfectly

responsive.Itperforms Windows10’s

laundrylist of multi-touch gestures

withoutbreakingasweat.

The Gram’s massivescreen

might be its greatest strength.

Measuring15.6in from corner to

corner,with skinny bezels on all four

edges, the touch-enabledpanel is terrific,

capableof covering 96.9% of the sRGB colour

gamut. That means colour performanceis on

LGGram

★★★★★

£2,279•From http://www.ultrabooksco

VERDICT

Astrikinglyfeatherlight15.6inlaptoptha k

nocompromisesonconnectivityorbatte l e

apar with what you’d expect from a

professional desktop monitor.

Brightnessisn’t bad either.Our colorimeter

measuredthe displayreaching308cd/m^2 ,

which is more than adequatefor most lighting

conditions.The resolutionof 1,920x1,080

translates to apixel densityof 141ppi, so

everythingis perfectly sharp,and the contrast

ratio of 1,029:1 is agood result, too.

Sound isn’t quitesoimpressive.Laptop

speakersare never going to be the last word

in hi-fi, but the downward-facing stereo

speakershere are particularlylimited, with

nothingat all in the wayoflower-mid or bass

response,and unavoidabletinninessat high

volumes.This makes it very unpleasantto

listen to music or watch videos, driving you

to hook up some headphonesfast.

HIT FOR SIX

Runningthe show is Intel’s quad-core,

eight-thread Core i7-8550Uprocessor,

clockedat 1.8GHz and capableof boosted

clock speeds up to 4GHz. The Gram

performed decentlyin our 4K application

benchmarks,scoring113 in the image test, 75

in the video test and 60 in the multitasking

test, foranoverall score of 74.

That’s fine foralaptop this slim and light,

and we didn’t run intoany issues when

tacklingheavy-duty applicationssuch as

Photoshop.Ifyou need high performance,

however,the XPS 15 is asafer bet: its

hexa-coreIntel Core i7-8750Hcruisedto 178

overall, makingit farbetter forserious work.

Even so,the Gram performs respectably,

and you can even playgames on it, provided

you stick to less graphicallyintensive titles

and don’t turn up the graphicalquality too

high. We managedto get an average 35fps out

of Dirt Showdown,runningat native

resolutionand the Mediumquality preset.

Storage speeds are slightlydisappointing,

however.The 1TB M.2 SATA SSD in our

review unit producedsequentialread and

writespeeds of 499MB/sand 427MB/sin

the AS SSD benchmark–these are,tobe

sure,good showingforaSATA-based drive,

but most laptops aroundthis price use

much faster PCI-E SSDs.

WEIGHT LOSS,YOUR GAIN

Thankfully,it’s amuch better story when it

comestobattery life. In our video rundown

test, with the displayset to 170cd/m^2 and

airplanemode engaged,the Gram managedan

impressive11h 23m before needingarecharge.

That handilybeats the XPS 15 and its 7h 14m

result, which is partly down to the Dell

laptop’s 4K display, althoughit’s still good to

see that the Gram’s slimlinechassishasn’t

made LG cut down on battery size.

It isn’t faultless, but the Gram is aworthy

large-screenedultraportable,giving you all the

advantagesof the form factor withoutthe

usual back-wreckingweight.Nothingelse

provides the same mix of displayquality,

battery lifeand record-settingportability,

so on those groundsthe Gram is a

surefire success–especiallyif you

get the much cheaper512GB model,

rather than the 1TB version.

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