- LG announced the 2021 Gram laptops ahead of CES 2021 event.
- The 2021 Grams feature updated designs, 16:10 Full HD display with narrow bezels, 11th Gen Intel chips, and long-lasting battery life. ultra-light
- All 2021 Grams are Intel Evo-certified. They support instant-on wake, fast-charging batteries, long battery life in real-life situations, and speedy performance (11th Gen Intel Core processor, Iris GPU, fast RAM, and NVMe SSDs).
If you’ve been on the lookout for a new Windows 10 laptop in the past few years, you must have discovered the LG Gram line of notebooks. Their main selling point is the weight, hence the name. The large-screen devices are supposed to be thin and light, hence the Gram name. But the Gram laptops are also supposed to be powerful and efficient, ready to offer hours of battery life on a single charge. The 2021 Gram generation is already here, building on the same core features. We’re still looking at ultra-light, ultra-powerful devices. But they’re even better than last year’s models, featuring a few welcome upgrades, including larger screens, Intel’s new 11th Gen Tiger Lake processors, and Intel Evo certification. And you get to choose from five distinct Gram 2021 models, with screen sizes ranging from 14-inch to 17-inch.
Intel Evo is something you’ll see on many 2020 devices, but it’s not a new chip. It’s a marketing term for an Intel platform supposed to deliver certain features, a concept that follows Intel’s Project Athena from a few years ago. Intel Evo designs will run on 11th Gen Intel Core chips and feature Iris X graphics cards. But the most important thing about Evo is the “key experience indicators” inherited from Project Athena. Intel Evo laptops have to wake from sleep in less than 1 second, they have to deliver at least 9 hours of real-world battery life on devices with Full HD screens, and they have to offer at least 4 hours of battery life on a 30-minute charge.
In other words, Intel Evo certification alone makes the 2021 Grams even more exciting.
These are the five Gram notebooks that will be available in stores this year: LG Gram 17 (model 17Z90P seen above), LG Gram 16 (model 16Z90P), LG Gram 14 (model 14Z90P), LG Gram 2-in-1 16 (model 16T90P) and LG Gram 2-in-1 14 (model 14T90P).
All of them feature 16:10 aspect ratio Full HD displays with a “four-sided super-slim bezel design.” Specs include 11th Gen Intel Core processors, Iris X GPU, 8GB or 16GB of LPDDR4x memory, dual M.2 NVMe SSD slots, backlit keyboards, and a collection of ports (USB-C, USB, HDMI, microSD/UFH, headphones jack). The 2-in-1 models feature 360-degree hinges and stylus support. Other features include fingerprint readers, MIL-STD-810G certification, and Wi-Fi 6 support.
The 17-inch model weighs just 1.35kg (2.98lbs), and it’s the heaviest of the three sizes. The 16-inch and 14-inch weigh in at 1.19kg (2.62lbs) and 999g (2.2lbs).
According to LG, the bigger models feature 80Wh batteries and should deliver 19.5 hours of battery life. Real-life battery experience will probably be well below that, but the devices should offer at least 9 hours of life on a charge, according to that Intel Evo certification.
LG has not revealed actual pricing details or launch dates for any of the five Gram 2021 models, but there’s plenty of time to reveal those details. The new Grams will be showcased during the virtual CES 2021 event next week.
