John Ratsey

Yes, the bigger connector is about 7.5mm diameter while the smaller one (about 4.5mm dia) was introduced when the computers got slimmer. Dell sold a short adaptor cable so that the old connector could be used with the smaller socket so that companies' stocks of spare PSUs didn't become obsolete.

Does it look like this? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dell-Genuine-Latitude-Adapter-450-ABFO/dp/B07GJQ3W7X

Do you mean an Inspiron 6420 or a Latitude 6420? The latter uses the same PSU as many other Dell models and the plug has a thin pin in the middle which is used for communication between the computer and the PSU.

I stumbled on this LG document showing the disassembly of one of the 2025 Gram 17 models (17Z90TL). It's got a nice dual fan system.

I see an extra heat pipe but are the fans any bigger than on my 2024 Gram 17 Pro? Both that notebook and the Superslim 15.6 lack the micro SD card readers. Fortunately, external micro SD card readers are small and inexpensive.

I would be cautious of using "lightweight" and "powerful" in the same sentence. The performance of most, if not all, of the LG notebooks is limited by their ability to dissipate heat so they underperform compared to other notebooks with similar CPUs / GPUs. Some of the LG notebooks have two cooling fans, which helps a little, whereas others have only one. Sometimes this can be figured out from LG's specs and photos while the notebookcheck reviews include internal photos. I own two LG notebooks but my primary requirements were light weight with large, good quality displays and adequate performance. You will find some discussion of the LG notebooks in this section of the forum.

1. I struggle to see any quality difference between the OLED panel on the 15.6" Gram SuperSlim and the IPS panel on the Gram Pro 17. The main visual difference is that the OLED panel is glossy and can cause reflection problems under certain lighting conditions. 2. Windows 11 might sort itself out in a week or two. For the first couple of weeks of my Gram Pro ownership the fan would get noisy every time I told the computer to sleep. This has now stopped so I presume the cause was Windows doing optimising when the computer was idle.

Comparison of the specs shows that the 2025 Gram Pro 17 is 1.7mm thicker and 70g heavier than the 2024 version. Perhaps the extra thickness is to accommodate thicker fans which will increase the cooling airflow. There's no change in the thickness of the normal Gram 17 although the specs indicate that the Arrow Lake version is 39g heavier than the 2024 model. Has that been given a second fan? If so, that will reduce the feature difference between the two models.

One big unknown at the moment is how much the LG Gram chassis limitations will throttle the Arrow Lake potential. In recent years the hardware improvements have tended to be incremental. Perhaps the biggest performance boost this century came from the shift from mechanical hard drives to SSDs. My reason for changing from a 2022 Gram 17 to the 2024 Gram Pro 17 was primarily to get quieter operation because of the dual fans. I haven't noticed any significant change in performance but my tests indicated an improved battery run time should the need arise.

I've run Geekbench 6 on my 2024 Gram Pro and, not surprisingly, the results, particularly for the multi-core CPU test, depend on the fan control settings. I could probably get slightly higher results of I closed all my open programs, but I did close Firefox with its innumerable open tabs. For the auto fan control setting, the CPU result is 1809 (single)/ 7688 (multi), the GPU result is 27722. For the normal fan control setting, the CPU result is 1833 (single)/ 10304 (multi), the GPU result is 26691. For the high fan control setting, the CPU result is 2207 (single)/ 11658 (multi), the GPU result is 27378. For comparison, I've also done the same tests on my 2024 Gram SuperSlim which has the same CPU but only 16GB RAM, one fan and nothing else running. The SuperSlim's GPU score is consistently lower than for the Gram Pro. Strangely, while the Geekbench GPU report includes "Transfer Rate 5592 MT/s" for the Gram Pro, there's no corresponding entry in the report for the SuperSlim. The OpenCL Device memory shows as 14.4GB for the Gram Pro and only 6.86GB for the SuperSlim. Does the system allocate more RAM to the GPU when there's 32GB? For the auto fan control setting, the CPU result is 2072 (single)/ 10580 (multi), the GPU result is 19618. For the normal fan control setting, the CPU result is 2013 (single)/ 10950 (multi), the GPU result is 21448. For the high fan control setting, the CPU result is 2101 (single)/ 11178 (multi), the GPU result is 21554. Regarding the keyboard on my Gram Pro, I feel it's an improvement on my 2022 Gram 17. However, I find that fingers usually quickly acclimatise to keyboards.

I have had some very sturdy notebooks in times past which were more likely to cause damage than be damaged. Bend the display slightly and it would crack. Bend the chassis slightly and the mainboard might crack or, as a minimum, a connection would be upset. The first notebook I owned which was less sturdy was a Sony G11 (2007) which had a 12.1" display, weighed 1.13kg and had a decent battery life. I discovered that the chassis or the display could be bent a little without any adverse effects. The drawbacks were a single core CPU and a 1024 x 768 display at a time when dual core and higher resolution were becoming the norm so I didn't keep the notebook very long. LG has combined lightweight materials with thinness which makes the overall product more flexible. The electronics can tolerate this fairly well as the mainboard has shrunk from being the full width of the notebook to something the size of a postcard which is joined to other parts by ribbon cables. Your Gram 17 has revealed what happens under severe conditions, but chassis problems can usually be fixed with some tape or glue. However, when I take my SuperSlim on holiday I will be surrounding it with clothes to minimise the risk of bending and possible damage.

My 2024 Gram 17 Pro has now been in use for several weeks. Under my normal usage situation I can't hear the fans although they are running, quietly, so the notebook has fulfilled that requirement.

There's a simple review of a 2025 Gram 17 here. There's a lot of emphasis on AI, but how much of that is new? The 2025 Gram has an AI fan setting whereas the 2024 models have an Auto fan setting. I wonder if there's any difference.

The impact will be greatest on notebooks with small screens. I've just done a quick test looking at the battery drain on this Gram Pro 17" at both ends of the display brightness range. At minimum brightness the drain was about 3.5W and at maximum drain it was 7W. There was still some backlighting on the minimum setting and I would assume that about 1.5W of the average 4.5W in the test above is for the backlight. This won't reduce with the new Intel hardware. Working on text only with a black background on an OLED panel may reduce the display power drain.

The Gram Book has appeared on the LG UK website. What caught my eye was "Color gamut NTSC 45% (Typical)" which, unless I'm mistaken, is underwhelming. I'm prepared to pay a extra for a notebook with a top quality display but the LG book appears to offer anything above average except for the price tag. It's a bewildering system and it's challenging trying to make sure that I select the right product out of AD78A1, AA78A1, AD89A1 and AD79A1.