LG gram Pro 2-in-1 16T90SP review - Light and powerful

[Redaktion]

For a long time, LG's laptops have impressed with their lightweight design and excellent display but, when it comes to computing power, LG hasn't exactly blown us away. The Gram Pro 2-in-1 shows that LG can also make powerful laptops. Only the weight remains area in which the manufacturer continues to be economical.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/LG-gram-Pro-2-in-1-16T90SP-review-Light-and-powerful.850220.0.html

[NikoB]

However, our experience with the LG Gram Pro 2-in-1 presented a slightly different picture. Even in high-performance mode, there are often not much more than 30 watts available for temperature reasons.

and further the same author states:

In normal fan mode, the 2-in-1 laptop tends to throttle quickly, as demonstrated in our Cinebench loop. Anyone requiring high performance over a longer period should select the according mode. In the high cool mode, the laptop maintained its performance.

That is, at the beginning the author assures that there is temperature throttling in the maximum performance profile, and then shows a picture where these drops in performance on the CBR15 looped test are miraculously not observed.

A note regarding the 17" model - despite the fact that it has a larger body, the overall weight is the same as the 16" model, which means that LG saved on radiators. Hence the consequences (albeit a clearly inadequate difference with the same processor, which again casts doubt on the reliability of the results laid out by the author for the maximum performance profile of the 16" model, and this correlates with doubts due to the absence of clearly visible thermal throttling on the graph, although previously the author himself assures us of this) - despite the huge difference in consumption of 22W for PL1 for the 17" model and 35W for the 16".

It's clear that LG made a stupid decision (in any case) to reduce the weight of the 17" model to 16" with a loss in performance. Although the difference shown between them is clearly subject to doubt, for the reasons I stated above.

The transition to flickering OLED (with a color resolution clearly lower than stated and with a glossy glare screen and an increased burn-in rate) is undoubtedly a huge disadvantage for people who work a lot behind the screen. LG should abandon AMOLED screens and return to IPS - what prevents it from installing its vaunted Black IPS panels with a native contrast of more than 1800:1, which is more than enough for a work panel and multimedia entertainment. And also think about installing an A-TW polarizer, the patent for which they have long held, thereby eliminating the unpleasant Glow effects.

The memory controller is poorly balanced in terms of memory write speed. The failure of tuning is obvious.

Installing a bufferless SSD from Samsung as a system drive is again a shame for LG, given the typical prices for this series, especially outside of the "discount" season.

In the 4k@60fps video playback test, the shame is obvious, both Intel and x86 - a completely primitive, even banal task for 2024, requires a monstrous 65% of iGPU resources. This is NOT normal even for 2020, four years ago - the load should not exceed 10%, both on the CPU and on the iGPU. In this matter, Qualcomm clearly wins several times in terms of consumption and, therefore, the load on the SoC in this mode.

[Hotz]

That score of the iGPU in Witcher 3 looks "gigantic"... at least in comparison to the other ones in the list. What's up with that? Has Intel released some magical driver?

[Ednumero]

with a color resolution clearly lower than stated

Niko, please, you depress me. I thought we were past this.


https://www.notebookchat.com/index.php?topic=185151.msg564862#msg564862

The color resolution is a proper [2880(RGB)x1800]. I understand that the matrix looks odd, but if you could put aside any reservations against its shaping and shifting compared to IPS panels, you will be able to see that each pixel is allocated its own independent red, green, and blue dots (actually, two blues per). I have this panel (a non-touch version), and it passes the MS Paint black-background line test at 100% zoom for all three primaries. The PWM*, refresh rate, and glossy coating may not be ideal, but there is no funny business going on with its color resolution. It meets the advertised spec.

[*Panel referred to in this comment had 60Hz PWM. The 480Hz in this LG Gram is at least a considerable increase over that.]

https://www.notebookchat.com/index.php?topic=180160.msg554088#msg554088

The display has the same color resolution as IPS panels with the proper and familiar RGB-stripe matrix. There is one red, one green, and [two blue dots] per pixel, however oddly they may be shaped or shifted.

There are no OLED laptops I have seen reviewed on this platform whose panels did not have full color resolution. This is only an issue in phones, and in some tablets.

https://www.notebookchat.com/index.php?topic=175493.msg544222#msg544222

The color resolution is the same as that of a standard IPS panel, with one red, one green, and [two blue emitters] per pixel. They're just moved around slightly.

I'm with you on contrast, delta-E, and PWM*, but this isn't the same situation as mobile phone OLEDs that omit subpixels. We need to focus that criticism towards those displays; there are plenty of valid criticisms you point out about this panel already.

[*Panel referred to in this comment had 120Hz PWM. The 480Hz in this LG Gram is at least a considerable increase over that.]

On an alternate note, I must say I am extremely happy with what I only presume is a genuine effort on part of the reviewer to align the matrix correctly under the microscope in all three shots! Translate this over to the smartphone space and you'll be well on your way.