LG gram Pro 16 & 17: Extremely Light, Large Screen, Powerful ... with Some Cons

[00:01] while, you'll know that I use a Gram Pro 17 as one of my daily drivers. I like lightweight despite its large screen. That 17-in screen means I can travel monitor. And because it can come with a dedicated GPU, I can review our videos

[00:15] in Premiere Pro. This year's LG Grams come with a lot of changes. New chassis material and updated Intel Series 3 Panther Lake processors. What surprised us is that the Gram Pro 16 and Pro Max 17 are more different than we would have

[00:31] thought. The Pro Max 17 seems to be a direct successor to my Pro 17 with the heavier. For the additional weight, it feels sturdier and its Nvidia GPU is fed an extra 20 watts. Our Pro 16 comes with an

[00:46] Intel X processor, which does give you solid graphics for an integrated GPU, but it hasn't gone up in weight, which is good. So, it continues to be very light for its screen size. The 16 screen is also a higher

[00:59] resolution OLED panel, but the 16 feels more flimsy and several parts of it just aren't as polished like its speakers. Both Josh and I feel the Pro Max 17 is more special. It's only major con is its microphone. This may be just our unit or

[01:15] fixed with a driver update. What's odd is that at the time I made this video, the 17 is way cheaper. While I'm filming, there is a great sale which makes it quite reasonable for what you're getting, around $2,100.

[01:27] To find sales like this, check out our website bestlaptop.deals. If you want give you or a lower price tag, we'll discuss some alternative laptops throughout the video and link some down below. The LG Gram is unparalleled in

[01:40] terms of how thin and light it is for its size. Compared to the ZenBook A16, which is another 16-in thin and light laptop with a powerful processor, the 16-in LG is lighter, but it is slightly longer and wider. The 17-in weight is

[01:54] its larger screen and included discrete GPU. It still comes in under 4 lb. What improvements to the 17 that are contributing to its extra weight. All of

[02:07] this year's chassis are made of a new material they are calling Aeromagnetic. allows these thin light chassis to be sturdier than they were in prior years. Both lids feel more rigid. However, the 16 still has significant deck flex. The

[02:22] 17's deck flex is much improved. This is very impressive given how large it is. The Aeromagnetic also has a unique aesthetic. On the lid, there is a brushed metal pattern that looks slick, but they don't carry this look across

[02:37] disappointment. It ends up looking less Right now, here in the USA, the 16-in comes in silver, black, or white and I would say each looks stylish. On the ProMax 17, it comes in brushed

[02:52] bronze. It's lid still looks cool, but they've done a poor job matching the color to the keyboard deck. The deck looks slightly pink. The pictures online do not show this rosy tint, so just something to be aware of. It ends up

[03:06] giving this colorway a distinctly feminine look, which may not suit everyone's tastes. I personally would have picked the silver or white if it was an option in this size. The display is different on these two models, so

[03:18] I'll start with the 16-in. It has a 2880 x 1800 resolution OLED panel that refreshes at up to 120 Hz. Small text smooth. It also gets nice and bright over 500 nits and has great color

[03:31] accuracy. We believe it's a matte panel, which is very rare for an OLED display. handling reflections in brighter environments, but it's still not a sunlight. Unfortunately, there is a screen door effect where you can see

[03:46] content, but we did not detect any noticeable PWM flickering, which is good. Last thing on the 16-in screen is that it has a plastic bezel around it that is not color matched. For a $3,000

[03:58] laptop, we found this to be very disappointing. It makes it look a bit dated and cheap. Most modern laptops have a full pane of glass over the screen now to provide a cleaner look. This is actually what they do on the

[04:10] 17-in funnily enough. It is an IPS panel with a lower 2560 by 1600 resolution stretched over 17 in. This leads to a less crisp display. Luckily, it's still pretty close to 180 pixels per inch, which is the minimum we

[04:24] like to see. I found it good enough, but not amazing. It refreshes at up to 144 Hz, which is a little higher than the 16-in and would be nice for some gaming on its dedicated GPU. The lower resolution will also help

[04:36] with frame rates as it's easier for its GPU to drive. It gets a bit less bright around 450 nits, but still plenty for indoor use. Even with its glossy finish, brightness. It makes sense that it's

[04:50] glossy since it is a touchscreen, but it does not support pen input. Both screens have unique pros and cons. Ironically enough, the 16-in OLED loses some vibrancy to its matte finish, and the 17-in IPS looks a bit more vibrant with

[05:04] its glossy glass finish. So, we feel they end up looking quite similar. The 16-in is still a little better. We just wish it didn't have that plastic bezel. these two laptops is also a little different. The 16's feels a bit mushy to

[05:19] type on because of the keyboard's deck flex. It also squeezes in a tiny numpad which shifts the keyboard to the left. The 17's keyboard feels better to type on. The numpad is less squished because it is a larger laptop, and its deck is

[05:31] more rigid, so typing doesn't feel as mushy. Now, both these laptops only have 1 mm of key travel, but it has some clickiness and resistance to the key press, which I like. Josh, on the other hand, didn't like the typing experience

[05:44] on either because when you press the keys, they drop below the keyboard deck, which he finds uncomfortable. He still felt the typing experience on the 17 was They both have a decently bright backlight and light does not bleed

[05:56] around the keys. It's not a great keyboard, but it's not so bad that it's distracting, at least for me. The trackpads on both these laptops are mechanical, which at this price point cheapens the laptop. It is a little

[06:09] working in a quiet environment. The click is also a little deep for my misclicking at all. On the positive, I like the smooth texture of the trackpads. It doesn't feel too slippery, so tracking and

[06:23] clicking felt accurate. For ports on both, we have two Thunderbolt 4 ports and an HDMI 2.1 port on the left, as well as two 10 gigabit USB-A ports and a headphone mic combo jack on the right. This is a nice selection, but we would

[06:35] have liked to see a charging capable port on both sides and maybe even an SD card reader considering these are aimed at creators. Something else to be aware of is that on the 17-in we did have an intermittent issue docking laptop. When

[06:47] connecting via USB-C, external monitors weren't always detected. We believe this is an issue with the DisplayPort over USB-C on some Nvidia laptops as mouse. We've seen a similar issue on the Blade

[07:01] 16. Like with the Blade, it doesn't always happen, but when it does, it's annoying. The Gram Pro 16 works fine with any dock. It was disappointing that I couldn't reliably use my single cable to charge the Pro Max 17 and drive my

[07:15] external display. Let's now talk about how these laptops perform. In Geekbench, performance tasks, the new Intel Series 3 CPUs perform well, suitable for CPU intensive tasks like programming. These do better than Intel Series 2 from last

[07:29] do better than Intel Series 2 from last year and AMD's Ryzen 400 series, but not Extreme from Qualcomm's newest Snapdragon series or Apple's higher-end M5 chips. Both of which also perform better for single core and can

[07:42] definitely be found in the price range. In Cinebench, which tests how well the processor can perform at its max, the top two stay the same, while the other ones move around a little bit. Laptops with slightly thicker chassis, like the

[07:54] Zephyrus G16, likely have more room for better cooling and can feed their CPUs more power. So, the same 386H processor in that one is able to perform a bit in that one is able to perform a bit better than in the LG Gram Pro Max 17.

[08:08] On power draw, the 17 feeds its processor around 60 watts sustained, whereas the smaller 16-in only feeds it 45. This is the primary reason the 17 performs a bit better. The difference between an Ultra 9 and Ultra X7 is

[08:22] generally pretty minor. Apple's M5 processors are much more efficient than any of the Intel or AMD chips though, as are Qualcomm's X2 CPUs. The LG Grams are also allowing their processors to heat up a bit more than

[08:35] other similar laptops, which might again point to a less robust cooling solution than some of these other laptops that aren't built to be ultra thin. The these laptops actually feel on the keyboard deck. In a worst-case scenario,

[08:48] the Gram 16 gets warm at 43 Celsius, which would be a little annoying, but it's not nearly as hot as the similarly sized Zenbook A16. On the other hand, the underside of the Pro 16 is far too hot to have on your lap during

[09:02] performance tasks like this. The new Pro Max 17 feels cooler, tying with the Zephyrus G16 with the same processor. This is impressive considering this is a thinner laptop. The Yoga Pro 9i stays the coolest among

[09:15] competitors. For GPU performance, these two laptops are closer than you think. The 16-in has a very strong integrated GPU thanks to its Intel Series 3 X chip. While the 17-in has a dedicated RTX 5050 GPU from Nvidia. This is a lower-end

[09:30] graphics card and it is fed less than full power in the Gram Max, 85 watts rather than 115. In Time Spy, a gaming benchmark, the 16-in does very well, beating out other integrated GPUs in similar laptops. In

[09:44] fact, it keeps up with the Gram Pro 17 from last year. This year's Max 17 pulls ahead now that they are feeding it 20 watts more power. It scores 15% better than the 2025 version and 26% better than the 16-in with its integrated GPU.

[09:58] Steel Nomad Light is a more GPU heavy test and it also runs natively on all platforms, including MacBooks and Snapdragon laptops. point, there are many laptops with better gaming performance. Even the

[10:11] MacBook Pro 16 with the M5 Pro 20-core GPU beats out the LG Grams here. This poorly though. When we tried out our lower-end gaming tests on these laptops, which is at 1920 by 1200 resolution, the Max 17 was very playable. In Cyberpunk

[10:26] at mid-range settings, it got around 75 FPS on average with 1% lows around 50. The 16-in actually does decently well here, too, around 70 FPS and 1% lows In Marvel Rivals, the story is a bit different. The 17-in is good enough for

[10:41] gaming at 1920 by 1200 and a big step up from last year's, particularly in the 1% lows. But, it's nowhere near as good as gaming laptops you can buy at this price point. The 16-in isn't playable in this title. In Forza Horizon 6, the 16-in

[10:55] does become playable again. Looking across these gaming tests, the Gram Pro Max 17 with its 50/50 is further ahead than it seemed in synthetic benchmarks like Time Spy. It goes from a 25% difference to a round a 50% one in some

[11:10] of these games. However, while the 16-in with its integrated B390 falls behind in AAA titles like these, it will still provide plenty of performance for many e-sports and indie games that are less demanding. So far, all the tests we've

[11:22] highest performance mode. To get a good idea of heat and fan noise when the GPU is in use, we do a breakdown of Forza 6 in each of the laptop's different modes. Looking at the Pro Max 17, you can see that you can get a playable experience

[11:36] on this modern game for far less fan noise. That's if you use its normal or high mode, but it does warm up more on the keyboard deck. It never gets too warm or too loud to use, just slightly annoying on either end. The same cannot

[11:51] be said for the 16-in. Stepping down to high or normal mode gets too hot to the touch for our tastes. On its low mode, it feels cooler, but its frame rates are unplayable. So, you can really only game on max, which is

[12:05] still warm and has much louder fan noise. Next, let's talk creative tasks, which both of these grams do well at. The 16-in is best suited for photo editing and lighter video editing. The 17-in gives you more mid-range

[12:17] >> [snorts] >> In Photoshop, the 16-in holds its own, scoring around the same as the 17-in and the gaming laptops. In video editing benchmarks like Premiere Pro, the 16-in with its integrated GPU falls behind

[12:30] laptops with dedicated GPUs by quite a bit. The Pro Max 17 sees a nice 18% bump here from last year's version. The Zephyrus G16 and MacBook Pro 16 do the best in this test. In DaVinci Resolve, the Pro Max 17

[12:45] increases even more here over last year's version, around 33%. When we look at 3D rendering in Blender, the MacBook and the Zephyrus are clearly in the lead, with the 5060 laptops trailing behind those, and then the

[12:58] lower wattage 5050 and integrated GPUs. Intel is actually doing quite well here in the Pro 16, beating out last year's 5050. Now, let's talk about how well these laptops do when unplugged. They don't lose any performance here.

[13:12] unplugged for things like office work, they both last around 9 hours, which is solid. The 17-in lasting that long is especially impressive, given it has a dedicated GPU, and those usually suck power even in lighter use. In this case,

[13:26] it must be good at automatically disabling it when it's not being used so. Something to keep in mind though is that the Max 17 does have quite a large battery which helps it last longer, too.

[13:39] For upgradeability, both the 16 and 17-in have an empty SSD slot that can be the chassis. The RAM is not accessible and the Wi-Fi card is soldered. Accessing the internals is slightly easier to do on the 16-in as the 17 has

[13:52] screws that required needle point tweezers to remove them. The speakers on the Pro 16 are decent, but the 17-in sounds better, clearer with more bass. They are downward-facing speakers on both, so they will lose

[14:05] volume on a blanket or other soft surface. Take a listen. surface. Take a listen. >> [music]

[14:21] sounds on the Gram Pro 16 in studio lighting. It does have IR for Windows Hello, but it does not a privacy shutter. Here's how the 1080p webcam looks in normal overhead lighting. Here's how the 1080p webcam looks and

[14:35] sounds on the Gram Pro Max 17. It also has IR for Windows Hello and no privacy shutter. Here's how the 17's webcam looks in normal overhead lighting. We've contacted LG about the mic on the 17, so if it's an issue with just our unit or a

[14:49] driver fixes it, we'll pin a comment down below. As with all laptops, we did test Linux to see if it worked. For the Pro 16, both Fedora and Ubuntu booted. just the trackpad, keyboard, keyboard backlight, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. No

[15:03] sound or brightness controls. The camera also worked on Ubuntu specifically, but we couldn't check the mic. On the Pro Max 17, Fedora didn't boot at all and we had to boot Ubuntu in safe graphics mode for it to work. Luckily, almost

[15:15] everything worked except for screen brightness in that case. A full install may resolve some of of issues, but Intel Series 3 processors are still relatively new, so it's not guaranteed. All right, let's wrap. When it comes to the Gram

[15:27] Pro Mac 17, it's one-of-a-kind with its big screen and dedicated GPU. There really aren't any competitors. So, if you want a laptop like this, buy it, especially when it's on a big sale. But, be aware that this laptop's performance

[15:43] really caps out at mid-range. You'll be gaming at lower resolution with lower frame rates. On the creator side, projects can't be overly complex, and for video editing, you'll probably be playing back at a lower resolution, too.

[15:57] than this at this price point with a slim gaming or creator laptop like a Legion 7. I've listed several alternatives down below. When it comes to the Gram 16, there is real competition. Acer Swift 16 gives

[16:10] you a bit more for half the price. It feels more premium, its keyboard is more comfortable. However, it is heavier, and its trackpad has dreadful palm rejection, but at least it's a haptic trackpad. MacBook Pro 16 is also a much

[16:24] price point. On that note, check out bestlaptop.deals to see what's currently available in your budget. You can track prices across retailers, which can help That's all we've got for you today. Until next time, I hope you all have a

[16:38] wonderful rest of your day, and I will catch you later.