lg Gram - Durability long term - Paint and screen (16Z90P)

[extremecarver]

Actualy the same channel has videos showing assembly too - maybe it was so hard because I didn't remove the SSDs. As for the display, I guess you really need panel and a new bezel. Then you should be fine. Never buy a new panel without also getting a new bezel. Old bezel won't do after being unglued.

[extremecarver]

So the next default appeared. The fan started rattling. Guess I have to buy a new fan too.

BTW - I noticed that if PCIe Link Power State Management is not set to lowest state, the Gram needs 3-4watts more - which means the fan kinda has to work all the time at least if connected to a 4k display. That's the default for plugged in state in Windows - so that's really a setting to change. It's much less a problem if using internal display however.

In General it's quite noticeable that the Iris XE gets pushed much harder if using 4K display. I was thinking about buying a 6K display used - but may think twice about it as maybe the Gram in that case really won't be silent anymore.

 

And I'm pretty sure those paint chips happen due to sweat. Now that I haven't used the gram in the heat it's all perfect after 3 months. When I got it new and worked often in the heat - at the front there had been the first chippings appearing. I'm pretty sure it wasn't defective. I really should have warrantied that paint chipping off when buying and when it first appeared in hindsight (would have given me a new keyboard too).

 

3 years in - I will upgrade once LG Gram with Lunar Lake gets some discounts. Lunar Lake finally looks like Intel pushing a really good processor aimed at sipping battery only and  will be produced at TSMC N3P node. So I guess it will mean OLED at 12-14 hours runtime or 24 hours runtime for LCD display versions. I really don't see the huge advantages of the current LG Grams except the brighter displays. If I upgrade in 1.5 years time my Gram will have served me very well.

[extremecarver]

So, by now also replaced the fan. A new one was 33€ from Aliexpress including shipping. My new front cover has a crack besides the keyboard - it doesn't matter much I think however. happened while trekking and stuffing the laptop into the carry bags for the support animals. Yeah - my gram has to take a lot of abuse...

 

I'm not happy about the new battery - it somehow just doesn't achieve that great runtimes anymore. 8-9 hours realistically it is. Maybe windows is just using more and more resources and I haven't done a fresh install ever (but cleaning up programs, autostarts, whatever).

 

And lunar lake gram still isn't released. I guess I have to wait at least another year for decent price for lunar lake gram. Then besides the battery life I don't see a reason to upgrade yet anyhow - nearly 4 years in now - so overall it held up really well. Never had a laptop over 4.5 years before.

 

Next default is - the lower left corner screw system - meaning the thread you screw in the screw was into pieces when I opened it. So one screw less....

[RS4]

My Battery wear level is now at 21.8%, I use it mostly plugged in so don't care. The outer body, screen, keyboard etc is holding up well, specially the white finish and colour.

[John Ratsey]

On 1/10/2025 at 11:28 AM, extremecarver said:

I'm not happy about the new battery - it somehow just doesn't achieve that great runtimes anymore. 8-9 hours realistically it is. Maybe windows is just using more and more resources and I haven't done a fresh install ever (but cleaning up programs, autostarts, whatever).

What does BatteryInfoView report as the battery statistics and power drain when idle or light usage?

[extremecarver]

When idle I get down to 0.7w. Battery capacity after 1 year dropped from 76 to 72mAH (yeah I guess the original LG batteries through the official LG reseller in Austria - are a bit older nowadays). The problem is that even with a lot of cleaning up of processes and so on - Windows just constantly loads 2-3w of power on the CPU even when idle. This has gotten much worse year for year with Windows 10. In the first 2-3 years 10 was pretty sleek - now basically just with standard updates it got very bloated and just moving the mouse the SOC power goes up to 2-3w. 

Also both Chrome and Edge bloated up in consumption. 3-4 years ago the edge nightlies with the battery saving modes worked great, once it got into the trunk edge a lot of those savings had been removed, until 1-2 years ago I noticed now Chrome runs more efficient vs edge and switched back. I guess the only way is to go for Intel Lunar Lake or up to date AMD. With the bloating of browsers and windows - it needs a much more efficient cpu/mainboard.

 

Yeah - not sure about Windows 11, 2 years ago I downgraded back to 10 after 5 days because it was draining more battery plus horrible UI. I still need 2-3 programs that don't work on Linux regularly, Otherwise I would go for Ubuntu. By now Ubuntu runs with much better battery efficiency on the Gram vs Windows 10.

Oh yeah - and no antivirus at all. That would drain even more.

 

Oh yeah - old battery I think if I remember correctly worked pretty well up to 500 full cycles. But I think summer use each year for 2-3 months at 30-35° and winter use every year once for 10 days or so at -10° did strain the battery a bit. I think I replaced it with 56maH and 600 cycles or so. Up to 500 cycles it had barely degraded, from then it went downhill fast. But that also shows to me - restricting at 80% is not my cup of tea. After 3 years I pop in a new battery (that likely was produced some years ago as it cannot hold as much charge as original when new) and that could do another 2-3 years. But then I think in 1 year of time it will be a Lunar Lake LG gram.

 

Actually I have never before used a laptop longer than the LG Gram before. However I also never replaced so many parts. This may be less to the quality of the LG, but more that upgrading to new technology is less and less regular needed as improvements each generation get smaller and smaller. Actually for intel CPU to me 11-14th generation is all the same. Only with Lunar Lake have they finally produced a package that is actually better than 11. gen. Yeah there is no AMD Ryzen to all our dismay. But for me Intel Lunar Lake is a tiny notch above the current Ryzen platform.

 

My Lenovo T440s made it nearly 4 years (until I replaced it with a T480s that I used less than 2 years as it just wasn't a really good laptop). But durability on the Thinkpads was a little above LG. The LG is superb for it's lightweigt package however, and for me overally better than Thinkpads. The keyboard on the LG is not up to older Thinkpads (especially in durability). And yeah other stuff like enclosure or the fan is also a bit flimsy over time. I didn't treat my Thinkpads better - though I didn't use them as much on battery and never as much in really hot countries without aircon...