skipper

The case is EXACTLY the same as the 2024 and 2025 Pro models. They dropped the sd card reader and tapered the edges to make it look thinner after the ports. Simply you have not followed closely the evolution. And about the MUX switch I asked Perplexity because personally I get crazy runtimes where the dGPU is totally inactive: "You do not need a MUX switch to get very good battery life on a Gram‑type machine; with modern Optimus/Advanced Optimus the dGPU can power‑gate down to essentially zero when idle, so most of the time your iGPU already gives you near‑maximum battery without any manual dGPU deactivation.reddit+1 What the MUX actually does A MUX switch is mainly for performance, letting the dGPU drive the internal panel directly and avoid the iGPU bottleneck in games (higher FPS, a bit more latency sensitive).laptopmag It does not magically save battery; in “dGPU only” mode it usually reduces battery life, because the dGPU is forced on all the time. EDIT: The problem with no MUX with the GRAM is probably you do not get full FPS in games and if I connect an external monitor at the HMDI port it is driven by the iGPU.

I have used very little my RTX5050 since I bought the laptop, at home I have an 3080 eGPU and I am gaming much less than I thought I would when I travel. I mostly did the upgrade for the extra CPU oomph's. If I needed the new model I would not mind omitting the RTX5050, but you get other goodies with it: IPS instead of OLED, 4 speakers instead of 2 and higher Wattage and above all 90Whr battery instead of 77hr.

The bezels on the screen look exactly the same as the new ones on the video. I cannot say about the feel, magnesium alloy never felt plastic to me, I just compared the feel with my 2023 and feels similar, so I guess it is not, but the frame and design are absolutely identical.

"I do feel this one is the biggest update since 2021" Not really, the case looks EXACTLY the same with my 2025 Pro model, which is the same as the 2024 model. The dual fan cooling with the fans split apart was also applied in the 2024, with apparently an improvement of the fans in the 2026 model. The Aerominum probably provides a stiffer case, but already my 2025 feels a bit stiffer than my 2023 which was very similar to the 2021. If I understood right in the previous video posted, it could be that my laptop had already Aerominum applied without LG making a big announcement, or it is just the case design that is better. Panther Lake undoubtedly brings a huge improvement if you need good graphics (video editing) and you can even play games on it. Before you could only do it with the RTX models and definitely not on battery. But if you don't need to to do video work on battery, the Arrow Lake versions are just 10% slower in CPU performance and are also pretty efficient in battery. The screen options are exactly the same, the trackpad always the same glass one, the ports, the same, no Thunderbolt 5, the battery sizes the same. So, no, I consider it typical of LG, a small evolution, not a massive improvement. EDIT: Last year the mix between processors and OLED and IPS was pretty mixed, Lunar Lake with IPS, ArrowLake with OLED, Pro with ArrowLake and RTX5050 with IPS, so we don't know of this year's configurations. Even at the launch last year they announced only a 17in with RTX5050 like this year and in the end they also offered a 16in one...

Woaou, I missed this review on Notebookcheck. So they use the dual fans of my 2023 Pro model (with the RTX3050) on an non pro model with a 77wh battery. It is a total mess. And then the ArrowLake that needs at least 2 fans has the old 2021 cooling.... Nothing makes sense. Either you buy the top Pro version or you are in for a lottery. As I have written the cooling and performance of my RTX5050 pro is phenomenal.

Not exactly true. The basic frame and chassis was the same since 2021, in 2022-23 only the Pro versions with the RTX3050 had some elementary dual cooling with the fans next to each other. But the 2024 Meteor Lake Pros changed the case completely, the dual cooling is more efficient, bigger heat pipes, fans wide apart and the dual fans were also applied to the non dGPU models. Also they had already bigger speakers and the 2025 models have twice the amount of speakers. The lower screen bezel is bigger and there is a bigger gap between the keyboard and the screen, improving even more the airflow. But the laptop is a bit deeper also and the screen stays higher, so it does not stay aligned anymore with the LG View portable monitor (this is a bummer for me). They also dropped the mini SD card reader. So basically, except the Aerominum and the new processors, all changes are just incremental. And as RS4 already wrote, probably they are killing the non Pro 16-17 versions, which was about time because their one fan thermal throttling was only causing dissatisfied customers. Prices probably will be absurdly high, but if you wait, the Grams depreciation is always quite steep. The AI bubble will soon bust, Crucial/Micron will regret abandoning retail customers, and IT companies will beg consumers to buy.

I thank you also for the videos and the summary. I guess Aerominum is not just marketing gimmick but it is LG's innovation to answer to all these Youtubers that kept complaining when they were reviewing the Grams. So I guess the 2026 models will be much sturdier and maybe just a little lighter. What is a pity is the focus on AMD late in the game, now that AMD is annihilated by Panther Lake.

I cleaned up my library recently, I threw away some 15 year old books about peak oil. The debate about limited resources was always popular, even more popular at our parents time, my father was talking about peak oil 40 years back. Recently some huge lithium deposits were discovered in Germany of all places.... I am more doubtful if LG Grams will still be in the market in 2030, they do not seem to innovate much anymore, there is a new Chinese company which launched a Gram competitor, albeit with 2024 processors: https://www.geekom.de/geekbook-x16-pro-laptop-16-zoll/

I checked the LG site in US and they have already increased their prices by 20-30%. But on Amazon.com (where I bought mine) the price stays the same for now.

Risky proposition, it is not only the fan but also the heat pipes. With the Pro you have also 4 speakers (amazing sound) and VRR monitor and a bit brighter I think. On the other hand if you are happy with the 14in performance, you will be fine with the 17in also. Arrow Lake is the Intel miracle that nobody talks about, as I wrote above, everybody was talking about Lunar Lake

No, my Arrow Lake gives at least 30-40% more battery life than my older 13th Gen Raptor Lake. They have gone with TSMC and 4nm if I am not mistaken instead of 10nm. The progress in heat and efficiency is impressive, I found back the coolness of my 2021 model that I missed. And of course performance is more than 50% faster. Intel did all the marketing with Lunar Lake which of course is even more efficient because of the RAM on the chip like Apple, but ArrowLake was a great improvement also. Simply they wanted to focus on the amazing battery life and probably they were ashamed to show that with similar architecture they managed such great improvements with ArrowLake just by not using the Intel foundries.

The journalist of Engadget just parrots the old bull... of Grams being too flexible and not sturdy, since 2021 the flex has diminished significantly. The upgrades, apart from the processors and the aerominum marketing jargon look minimal. The 16in look exactly like my Pro, same case and port placement. And no huge gain in weight despite the aerominum story.

LG has announced the new lineup: https://www.lg.com/global/newsroom/news/media-entertainment-solution/lg-electronics-introduces-2026-lg-gram-lineup-elevated-by-aerominum/ I wonder how this "aerominum" will feel and what it will contribute to the overall weight. But basically the lineup is almost the same as the 2025, RTX5050 for discrete GPUs plus the new Panther Lake. I wonder if Intel manages to not mess up the production. I am very very satisfied with my 2025 16in Pro, very silent, quiet and great battery life. It has the 285H and yet it is much quieter and cooler than the 2023 version with the 13th generation boiler for a processor. Just to say that I recommend the 2024 models, they are a real improvement since the 2022 change to higher core count processors.

The 2025 machines are not just more power efficient. Lunar Lake but also Arrow Lake are day and night. They are not produced by Intel but by TMSC, on less than half nanometers than the previous generation, they are much cooler and the Lunar Lake battery that has RAM integrated in the CPU like Apple has the greatest battery life of any Intel processor ever made.

I agree, last year LG introduced the 16in Pro version only with an OLED screen and the same 1800p resolution, also glossy. I would have never bought this version. I am glad that this year the top of the range came back to matte IPS with 1600p, but there are still some versions with the same OLED 1800p screen, Arrow Lake processors and no dGPU. The Lunar Lake versions are all with the same IPS display.