LG's ultralight gram laptops get 11th-gen Intel chips and 16:10 displays for 2021

[Humza]

Bottom line: Ahead of CES 2021, LG has announced a refresh of its gram series of ultralight laptops, all of which will now feature Intel's 11th-gen Tiger Lake processors and 16:10 aspect ratio screens. These hardware improvements will likely boost the gram's battery life and portability credentials while still keeping heft to a minimum. Expect pricing and availability to be revealed next week at LG's CES virtual showroom.

LG's gram series has famously stood out for its ultra-thin and lightweight design that doesn't sacrifice durability, connectivity, or battery life. The company is continuing that philosophy in 2021 by updating these laptops with Tiger Lake processors and taller displays.

Although the limited CPU choice might irk some prospective buyers, the new 16:10 aspect ratio screens with thin bezels will now grace all model sizes instead of just the 17-inch variant. The new lineup contains three clamshell models (17", 16" and 14") that feature non-touch displays with 99% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage and two convertibles (16" and 14") with touchscreen displays protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6.

All models in the new Gram range feature Wi-Fi 6 and dual NVMe m.2 SSD slots for performance, while durability is ensured with US Military Standard 810 G compliance. LG notes that the keyboard and touchpad have also been enlarged for a better typing experience, while performance benefits from the integrated Iris Xe graphics, faster LPDDR4x memory (8GB or 16GB), and Thunderbolt 4 support thanks to Tiger Lake chips.

LG also claims up to 19.5 hours of battery life on the Gram 17, Gram 16, and 16 2-in-1, which it has equipped with 80Wh batteries, while the 14" gram and its convertable variant should do slightly less with their 72Wh pack.

In terms of weight, the heaviest model is the 16" convertible at 1.4kg (3.26 lbs), followed by the 17-inch clamshell variant. The latter with its largest footprint in the range and 80Wh battery is still the world's lightest laptop - for this size category - coming in at just 1.3kg (2.98lbs). LG has not revealed the price or availability of this new lineup, though that info might be revealed when it gives visitors a virtual tour of its showroom at CES next week.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/88198-lg-ultralight-gram-laptops-get-11th-gen-intel.html

 

[SirDigby]

Beautiful laptops, I'm very impressed and jealous that I can't justify buying one.

 

[VitalyT]

Still doesn't justify the name, which implies that the product weight is in grams, I.e. less than 1kg.

 

[Uncle Al]

It should be an interesting and successful product, but I agree that some of these names are avoidably mis-named for the sake of sales and ultimately will be branded as deceptive by the buying public.

 

[Avro Arrow]

"the new 16:10 aspect ratio"

Just how is 16:10 a new aspect ratio when it was en vogue in 2005? The so-called "new" 16:10 aspect ratio was, at the time, the traditional high-definition ratio for monitors while 16:9 was the ratio for televisions. Then everything just started using 16:9 for simplicity's sake.

Good luck finding anything new at 1920x1200 (aka WUXGA). I haven't seen 16:10 displays in at least five years. They had gone the way of the Dodo so there's nothing new about them!

 

[madboyv1]

stuff you said

Cute, but I suspect the marketing fluff (and I suspect you actually know this) meant the phrasing to refer to it being new for the line as a whole, since previously only the 17" had that aspect ratio.

I for one welcome the change, and actually makes a lot of sense for laptops if you're trying to maximize the space a screen takes up (or conversely minimize the bezels). Dell has had 16:10s in their XPS lines that look great and honestly I've preferred it to for the extra vertical space for over a decade, but I've learned to live with the ubiquity of 16:9.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

OMG another one jumps ship to 16:10. Death to 16:9 forever!

Biggest problem though it's Lucky Goldstar, QC is optional.

 

[defaultluser]

OMG another one jumps ship to 16:10. Death to 16:9 forever!

Biggest problem though it's Lucky Goldstar, QC is optional.

Yeah, but their IPS panels are actually pretty good, along with their OLED TVs.

But yeah, I wouldn't trust a PC from LG, or a smartphone -anything that tightly-packed together is going to have issues.