LG gram 15 (15Z980) - Review 2022

LG entered the Usa laptop market with its 14-inch gram in early on 2022, which was followed closely by the xv.half dozen-inch version. The claim to fame for both was their ultra-lightweight designs, a trend that happily continues with the latest gram models. At simply two.41 pounds, the LG gram fifteen (15Z980) ($1,999) is the lightest 15.6-inch notebook we know of—lighter than, and thanks to a nearly borderless screen not much larger than, most 14-inch laptops. Information technology'due south besides a capable desktop-replacement with serious CPU (if non graphics) power, ample memory and storage, a handsome brandish, and remarkable battery life. Nosotros're sufficiently impressed to laurels the LG an Editors' Option, joining such category favorites as the Dell XPS 15 Touch on and the Microsoft Surface Book two.

The gram xv is a premium auto and occupies a price point to friction match. It is sold in one configuration (model 15Z980-R.AAS9U1) in the United states of america that includes a full Hd (1,920-by-1,080) touch display, an Intel Core i7-8550U quad-core processor, 16GB of memory, and 1TB of solid-state bulldoze (SSD) storage. The system has a large 72-watt-hour bombardment, which paid dividends in our unplugged rundown test. Perhaps the only disappointment at this price is the skimpy 1-year warranty.

You'll Forget You're Conveying It

The all-silver exterior of the gram 15 may look like plastic at kickoff blush, but it's actually nano-carbon magnesium. LG says it meets MIL-STD-810G standards for durability. We didn't exactly put our gram through the same battery of tests, but we will say it felt enough stiff and durable.

It'south hard to capeesh this notebook until you pick it up. You tin can exercise that with but two fingers, as the gram fifteen is amazingly light at two.41 pounds. Information technology's really a scrap heavier than the first-generation gram 15Z960, which was 2.2 pounds; we suspect most of that difference comes from the larger battery on this model. Don't accept that as a complaint; despite the extra weight, the gram xv is still scary light for a 15.half dozen-inch notebook. The 15-inch Apple tree MacBook Pro is 4.02 pounds, and the Dell XPS 15 Bear upon is 4.44 pounds. The LG manages to be a bit trimmer than either of those notebooks, besides, at 0.7 by 14.1 by 9 inches (HWD). Its thin bezels help information technology fit a 15.6-inch screen into a chassis that'southward just a tad larger than what we're used to seeing from xiv-inch laptops. This looks to be the about portable 15.6-incher you lot can buy.

Our just complaint virtually the LG's design is i of preference: Its conventionally dull lines don't quite expect the part of its $ane,999 toll tag. The MacBook Pro and the XPS 15 Touch manage classier looks. Different color schemes would accept gone a long manner.

The keyboard backlighting has 2 levels of brightness. The island-style keys felt skilful nether our fingertips. The non-standard iii-column number pad layout is the only bad-mannered role of the experience. We also wished for dedicated Home, End, Page Up, and Folio Downwardly keys, equally opposed to having them piggybacked on the cursor arrow keys. The power push button is at the top right of the keyboard. It'southward not obvious, but it doubles as a fingerprint reader.

Below the keyboard is the buttonless touchpad. Its smooth surface makes information technology easy to use, and information technology'southward appropriately sized for the LG'southward fifteen.6-inch display.

Looking and Sounding Good

The 1080p screen of the gram 15 is a winner. Cheers to its IPS (In-Plane Switching) panel technology, yous tin expect at it from whatever angle and run across a consistent picture. Well-saturated colors plus excellent contrast and effulgence interpret to beautiful picture quality. If y'all desire to reach out and touch information technology, go right alee, every bit this panel has full ten-bespeak bear on support. The simply punishment you'll pay for that is potential smudges on its glossy surface.

The screen resolution is standard fare for a fifteen.vi-inch panel. The competing Dell XPS xv Touch offers 4K resolution at the LG's cost betoken, but we don't necessarily miss the actress pixels. For i, you won't need to crash-land the text size as much (if at all) at 1080p, where yous will with 4K.

The webcam above the display is a 720p/30fps model. The film quality looked precipitous and had minimal grain in our Skype testing.

The gram 15'south port choice is respectable. The left border holds the AC power jack, a USB 3.0 Blazon-A port, HDMI video-out, and a USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3. The latter can be used to hook up docking stations, external monitors, or fast storage. LG includes a USB-C-to-Ethernet adapter in the box.

The right edge holds the remaining connectivity, including a microSD bill of fare reader, the audio combo jack, two more USB 3.0 ports, and a Kensington-style cable lock. For wireless, the gram packs Intel'southward 8265AC 802.11ac card and Bluetooth four.1.

The stereo speakers confront downward from under either side of the palm residuum. They projected surprisingly well when we had the LG sitting on a solid surface. There is little bass, but the relatively impressive volume helps make upwards for that.

A 'Kaby Lake R' Contender

Two of the LG 15'due south closest competitors are the XPS fifteen Touch and the xv-inch MacBook Pro. The Dell offers a slightly faster CPU and a dedicated Nvidia graphics carte at the LG'due south price indicate, only includes but half the storage (512GB). The $1,999 Apple too packs a faster processor and dedicated AMD graphics, but just 256GB of storage. Neither motorcar is an entirely (no pun intended) apples-to-apples comparison, merely they do show the LG'southward pricing equally competitive.

Intel's eighth-generation Cadre i7-8550U processor is at the heart of the gram 15. This chip fits iv processing cores into its 15-watt thermal envelope, whereas previous-generation Intel chips packed just two cores. Our benchmarks show the gram has a pregnant performance reward over notebooks with the older CPUs. Coupled with a generous 16GB of memory, the gram 15 is ready for just nigh anything. You lot can all but exclude modern AAA-level gaming from that listing, even so; the Intel UHD 620 integrated graphics in this notebook aren't capable of much more than than entry-level 3D work.

There'south a generous 1TB of storage packed inside that is comprised of two 512GB SSDs. The drives had excellent performance in our non-scientific testing; we timed a Windows 10 cold kickoff at less than xv seconds.

The gram 15 was a strong performer in our PCMark 8 office productivity criterion; any score college than iii,000 indicates a very fast auto. The XPS 15 Touch lagged behind largely because of its 4K screen resolution, which requires pushing four times as many pixels.

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The Cinebench R15 and Handbrake tests are virtually entirely CPU-dependent. The Cadre i7-8550U in our LG was ultimately limited by its 15-watt thermal envelope, as opposed to the more substantial 45-watt envelopes of the Core i7 fries in the Dell and Apple tree contest. The LG handily outperformed the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro and its previous-generation Core i7-7500U, however.

The gram fifteen more than doubled the battery life of its predecessor. Its ballsy 16 hour, 14 minute showing is outstanding for a desktop-replacement. The XPS 15 Touch didn't fifty-fifty come up close to the LG'southward stamina. The times from the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch and the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro (fifteen-inch) were impressive, but the gram 15 wasn't to be outlasted.

The Intel UHD 620 integrated graphics in the gram fifteen were totally outperformed by the dedicated Nvidia GTX 1050 GPU in the Dell XPS fifteen Touch, simply that was expected. Equally nosotros noted, this LG isn't cut out for modern gaming.

In terms of heat and racket, the gram xv was quiet fifty-fifty during our benchmark runs. The fans remained off most of the time for silent running. The center-rear of the chassis tended to rut up under heavy usage, simply cooled downwardly only as rapidly.

Fearless Flyweight

The LG gram 15 is a notebook of many extremes, all of them skilful. At the forefront of these are its phenomenal light weight and 16-plus-hour battery life. Those stats are—or were—practically unknown among laptops sporting 15.half dozen-inch displays. The gram besides offers a great-looking touch screen, fantabulous system performance, and a comfortable keyboard. Its odd three-cavalcade numeric keypad layout and plainly, generic looks are all we could come upwardly with as downsides. If yous're in the market for a premium 15.6-incher, the gram 15 is an easy pickup. We mean that in more ways than ane.