It succeeds on the latter front, since its light and thin enough to carry around with relative ease.
There are better-value productivity laptops out there, especially at this price point.
The IPS display is certainly large, but it isn’t exactly vibrant.
In terms of performance, the LG Gram 17 handles the tasks its designed for with aplomb.
The model on test was equipped with anIntelCore Ultra 7 and 32GB of RAM.
It made short work of spreadsheet creation and word processing, and could deal with light photo editing.
It also played back HD and4Kvideo content with ease.
During our benchmarking, it outperformed many of thebest laptops such as theMicrosoft Surface7 for productivity.
However, it wasnt as impressive when it came to GPU workloads, including gaming.
Mercifully, the LG Gram 17 is mostly free from the bloatware that can plague other Windows laptops.
LGs software suite is mixed in terms of usefulness, but it wasnt too intrusive or resource-heavy.
This was apparent even during setup, with the fans whirring up near the start of the process.
The low-pitched hum would then elevate during heavy workloads, to the point of becoming distracting.
The underside and the keys also became very hot to the touch, giving me cause for concern.
Another issue that severely hampers the LG Gram 17 is the keyboard.
As for graphics, you have a choice of either an Intel Arc or Intel Iris XE Graphics GPU.
That machine is superbly built with an excellent keyboard and display.
Specs-wise, it does come in behind the LG Gram 17, and so do its costlier range-topping variants.
However, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8 is durable and built to last, delivering your moneys worth.
It keeps to a minimal aesthetic, with clean edges and surfaces unsullied by unnecessary bulges or protrusions.
The hinge is incredibly loose, meaning the display ricochets like a pendulum.
The keys are compact and well made.
The trackpad is highly engineered and large, too, with a very smooth surface that creates little friction.
This makes for pleasant and precise swipes and gestures.
Its welcoming to see a large screen that isnt compromised by a thick bezel.
The display itself uses IPS technology, which produces a fine enough image.
However, it fails to impart a level of sharpness you’d expect from the 2L/ WQXGA resolution.
Theres also a headphone output, a microSD card slot, and an HDMI port.
The keys are well damped with just enough travel, making for a snappy and satisfying feel.
Another typing issue is the aforementioned position of the character keys.
Occasionally, this would cause swipes and taps to register.
For any laptop, these two issues pose a major obstacle for getting work done.
Conversely, I also experienced too many occasions where the trackpad would fail to register taps I performed deliberately.
However, in other aspects, the trackpad is great to use.
Its smooth and accurate, while swipes and gestures are easy to perform consistently, thanks to the responsiveness.
Everything from knocking out spreadsheets and word processing to low-key photo editing is within reach.
And, when it comes to downtime, video playback is fast and smooth, even with 4K content.
The Intel Core Ultra 7 certainly appears to live up to expectations.
In our benchmarking tests, it scored well on office-based tasks.
For more graphics-heavy workloads, scores werent so great either.
Mirroring my phone screen on the LG Gram 17 worked well, but keyboard and trackpad inputs were sluggish.
One of the chief annoyances I had with the LG Gram 17 was the noise.
I was almost convinced it was the sound of a hard disk, as it sounded very similar.
Sometimes, even the keys themselves became hot to the touch.
As far as the speakers go, they perform well enough, offering a balanced sound without distortion.
They dont have much impact, but compared to most other laptops, they acquit themselves admirably.
During my tests, I found it could handle more than a whole days worth of work.
Should you buy the LG Gram 17?
Youll be using it for workThe LG Gram 17 handles office-based tasks well, including intensive ones.
Its also very capable of entertaining you with its hi-res content streaming pedigree.
Some keys also fail to register when pressed.
All this makes the LG Gram frustrating to use.
It does command a very high price, though.
It also comes with Nvidia RTX 40 series GPUs, so creatives and gamers will be much better served.
I commuted with it to test its portability.
These emulate various workloads, from productivity and content editing to gaming.
I have plenty of experience with laptops of all varieties, from Windows machines, MacBooks and Chromebooks.
I also have experience testing tablets and using desktop PCs for gaming.
Read more about how we test.
