LG Updates Ultralight Gram Laptops & Convertible: Ice Lake Inside
by Anton Shilov on December 13, 2019 6:00 PM EST
Along with their flagship 17-inch model, LG this week has also given its 14 and 15.6-inch LG gram laptops an Ice Lake upgrade. The updated machines pair Intel’s Ice Lake processors with up to 24 GB of RAM, all contained within the gram's minimalist, ultra-thin carbon magnesium alloy body, with a total weight of around 1 kilogram. The new LG gram notebooks and convertible will be available next year.
The 2020 LG gram mobile PCs are powered by Intel’s 10th Generation Core processor (Ice Lake) with up to Iris Plus Graphics. The CPU is cooled down using LG’s Mega Cooling System, though the only thing that the company says about it is that it runs cool and quiet ‘under all usage scenarios’. The updated notebooks can be equipped with up to 24 GB of DDR4-2666 memory, whereas the convertible only supports up to 16 GB of RAM. Meanwhile, all the machines feature two M.2 slots for a couple of NVMe SSDs to provide both speed and capacity.
Being premium consumer laptops, LG’s next year gram systems come equipped with a robust set of I/O capabilities, which includes Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.1, HDMI, microSD/UFS slot, and a 3.5-mm audio jack for headsets. As far as multimedia features are concerned, the notebooks have a webcam, DTX X Ultra-badged speakers, and a microphone array. Finally, they also have a fingerprint reader.
One of the key selling points of LG’s gram mobile PCs is their long battery life. The new 14-inch machines will use a 72 Wh battery, whereas the 15.6-inche will come with an even larger 80 Wh battery. The maker says that the convertible LG gram 2-in-1 machine will work for over 20 hours on one charge, and the 15.6-inch model should be able to last for even longer.
| The LG Gram 2020 Brief Specifications | ||||
| LG Gram 2-in-1 14T90N |
LG Gram 14 14Z90N |
LG Gram 15 15Z90N |
||
| Size | 14-inch IPS | 15.6-inch IPS | ||
| Screen Resolution | 1920×1080 | |||
| Touch Support | LG's IPS In-Cell Touch technology | - | - | |
| Color Gamut | ? | over 96% sRGB | ||
| Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 6 | - | - | |
| CPU | Family | 10th generation Intel Core processors (Ice Lake) | ||
| Model | various | |||
| Graphics | Intel UHD Graphics | Intel UHD Graphics or Intel Iris Plus Graphics | ||
| RAM | up to 16 GB DDR4-2666 onboard + SO-DIMM |
up to 24 GB DDR4-2666 onboard + SO-DIMM |
||
| Storage | up to two M.2 NVMe SSDs | |||
| Wi-Fi + BT | Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth | |||
| USB | 2 × USB 3.1 Type-A 1 × USB 3.1 Gen 2 via TB3 |
3 × USB 3.1 Type-A 1 × USB 3.1 Gen 2 via TB3 |
||
| Thunderbolt 3 | 1 × Thunderbolt 3 | |||
| Fingerprint Sensor | Yes | |||
| Audio | Microphone array, DTS X Ultra stereo speakers, TRRS jack | |||
| Other I/O | MicroSD card reader, webcam, etc. | |||
| Battery | 72 Wh | 80 Wh | ||
| Battery Life | over 20 hours | many hours | many hours | |
| Dimensions | Width | 324.6 mm | 12.78 inch | 323.4 mm | 12.73 inch | 357.6 mm | 14.08 inch |
| Depth | 210.8 mm | 8.3 inch | 209.8 mm | 8.26 inch | 225.3 mm | 8.87 inch | |
| Thickness | 17.9 mm | 0.7 inch | 16.8 mm | 0.66 inch | 16.8 mm | 0.66 inch | |
| Weight | 1145 grams | 2.52 lbs | 999 grams | 2.2 lbs | 1120 grams | 2.47 lbs | |
LG will demonstrate its new portables at CES 2020 in early January. Expect the company to disclose more information about pricing and availability timeframes there as well.
Related Reading:
- LG’s Lightweight Gram 17-Inch Laptop Gets Intel’s Ice Lake CPU
- LG Releases Gram 17 Laptop: An Ultra-Thin Notebook with a 17.3-Inch Display
- LG Gram 2018 Laptops Unveiled: Quad-Core i5/i7, TB3, ~2.2 Lbs, 22 Hrs
- Razer Unveils New Blade Stealth 13: Quad-Core Whiskey Lake, dGPU, 4K UHD
- ASUS Unveils Ultra-Thin ZenBook Pro 15 with Six-Core Core i9, GTX 1050, Calibrated 4K LCD
Source: LG
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fazalmajid - Saturday, December 14, 2019 - link
I have the 2019 LG Gram 17. It does feel flimsy, unlike a ThinkPad X1 or a MacBook Pro, and the hinges don't have enough tension to keep the humongous screen rock-solid. On the other hand, it has that amazing screen in the footprint of a 15-inch laptop, and is featherweight.danielfranklin - Sunday, December 15, 2019 - link
Yeah its always going to be a tradeoff somewhere.Ive been eyeing it off as a secondary machine for when im working without external monitors on the road etc. Icelake certainly makes this more appealing as ive been finding the old UHD620 to struggling so much in desktop rendering whenever its pushing multiple monitors of even just more than 1080p.
A GPU SHOUDLNT drop frames opening the start menu Intel!
olafgarten - Saturday, December 14, 2019 - link
This actually looks pretty good, unlike most ultra portables it seems like it's designed to be partially upgraded. Good port selection to.Ice Lake also has good performance so this could quite easily compete with the new Macbook Pro if you discount the GPU.
isthisavailable - Sunday, December 15, 2019 - link
It’s time for 16:10, LG!danielfranklin - Sunday, December 15, 2019 - link
Agreed. Though the 17" version is 16x10 !jmunjr - Tuesday, December 17, 2019 - link
The Grams are all about being light, so almost all the complaints about it can only be solved by adding weight. The one exception has been their use of SATA SSD drives instead of NVMe. A year ago I set up my friend's 14" Gram and replaced the SATA drive with an NVMe one in the x4 slot. Much much faster storage. Actually it had two m.2 slots so I left the SATA one in there. Yeah that adds a tiny bit of weight and uses a tiny bit more power but the extra capacity and local backup capability was worth it. Hopefully these new ones are strictly NVMe now.AdhesiveTeflon - Thursday, December 19, 2019 - link
So it's basically a HP Spectre. It's the exact same chassis.jmunjr - Sunday, December 22, 2019 - link
It's much, much lighter than the Spectre.rychastings - Saturday, December 21, 2019 - link
how much of a difference compared to the Intel® Core™ i7-8565U, 1.80GHz/4.60GHz?