For connectivity, there’s WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1 through an Intel module on this laptop. It performed well with our setup and the signal and performance remained strong at 30 feet, with obstacles in between.

Here’s what we got in terms of battery life, with the screen’s brightness set at around 120 nits (~60 brightness). However, somehow this Gram 16 felt a bit flimsier than the Gram 17, as I noticed some creaks and pops coming from the underbelly panel during my time with it. In comparison, the same part felt a bit sturdier on the Gram 17, but on closer inspection, they’re both the same kind of thin magnesium alloy and the differences are probably within the margin of error for these two designs. W (~10 h of use) – 1080p fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Optimal + Balanced Mode, screen at 60%, Wi-Fi ON; Here’s what we got on our unit, compared to the previous-gen Gram and a few other portable models. Low settings This design particularity is the reason thermals are not significantly improved when placing the laptop on a raiser stand, as it would if the fan would have been allowed unrestrained air access through the intake grill.The i7 means it runs hotter than my wife's 17" i5 Gram from last year and you do hear the fans from time to time – particularly when LG Glance goes into one of its loops. There turned out to be an acceptable amount of volume (84dB average at 1m from a pink noise source and 87dB peak from a music source at the same distance) and even a reasonable amount of bass, certainly more than the old 2021 model produced. Balance and definition are good, too. I really was genuinely surprised by the quality of the sound that the LG Gram 16 (2022) produces. On to more demanding loads, we start by testing the CPU’s performance in the Cinebench R15 loop test. Mine has a 12th Gen i7 – I did not want this as I have other machines for high performance, but I had to choose that processor buy it to get 32GB of RAM. Mine has a 1TB SSD. A few other aspects worth mentioning here are the fact that this panel doesn’t get very dim at the lowest brightness setting, which could be an inconvenience when using it in a pitch-dark room, and it doesn’t get overly bright either, which could be an issue for outdoor use. So you’ll want to keep this mostly inside.

Spec-wise, this is based on the 2022 Intel 12th-gen Alder Lake Core P hardware platform. The Core i7-1260P is a hybrid design with 4 Performance and 8 Efficiency Cores, as well as 16 combined threads. This implementation supplies the CPU with 15-20W of sustained power in demanding loads, which is lower than most other portable Core P designs on their top-performance profiles. We’ll get in-depth further down.The major updates of this generation are a noticeable bump in overall performance with the 12th-gen Intel Core P hardware on the 2022 models, the implementation of a matte display instead of the glossy options of the past, the addition of some louder and overall punchier speakers, as well as few other minor refinements. On the regular Gram 17, fresh air comes inside through the bottom of the laptop, through the punctured intake grill. However, that intake grill is only partially open over the CPU and is covered over the fan and the heatpipe, in an effort to channel the air over the CPU, into the fan, and then out through the exhaust grill. This design particularity is the reason thermals are not significantly improved when placing the laptop on a raiser stand, as I believe they would if the fan would have been allowed unrestrained air access through the intake grill. There’s a high-resolution 17-inch 16:10 screen on the LG Gram 17, with averagely sized bezels all around and a solid-quality IPS matte panel on this 2022 model. Our test version is the standard configuration of the 2022 LG Gram 17 17Z90Q, with an Intel 12th-gen Alder Lake Core i7-1260P processor, 16 GB of LPDDR5-5200 memory, a fast 1 TB SSD, and the Intel Iris Xe graphics embedded within the Intel processor.

The keyboard layout has changed a tad, with slightly larger keys and less space between them. As before, LG has squeezed in a number pad on the right, which I’m not convinced is necessary, even on a large machine such as this. But the feel of typing has improved, with a slightly more positive action to each key press. It’s still ludicrously light and portable for a 17in laptop, but this year’s version has better battery life, improved connectivity and faster performance. If you hanker after something that works just as well as a mobile workhorse as it does a desktop replacement, it’s pretty much the perfect solution. Aside from this small niggle, the display measures up incredibly well. If you’re using the laptop for professional-level photo editing, especially if you’re working in sRGB content, you’ll still want to break open the calibrator. However, out of the box and within the P3 colour space, performance is highly respectable. A peak brightness of 350cd/m2, a contrast ratio of 1,514:1, an average Delta E colour accuracy of 0.67 and a total colour volume of 101.6% DCI-P3 are all excellent figures. Next, here are some benchmark results. We ran the entire suite of tests and benchmarks on the High profile on this Core i7-1260P configuration, with the screen set at its default QHD+ resolution.

Privacy Guard & Alert

On High, we’re looking at 15-22W of power with fan noise around 37-38dB and CPU temperatures in the mid-70s and to mid-80s C. There was a hardware fault with the camera module out of the box so that never worked for me, hopefully not a common issue and it wasn't a deal breaker for me (at the time - you don't realise how much you miss something until you don't have it). This change of mind return policy is in addition to, and does not affect your rights under the Australian Consumer Law including any rights you may have in respect of faulty items.