LG Gram 17 Pro

[John Ratsey]

I've just been looking at the details of the Gram 17 Pro although it's been around for a year or more. There are two versions:

1. With a Nvidia GPU, which I was vaguely aware of and knew it had two cooling fans

2. With the Intel CPU / GPU, which I've just discovered also has two fans according to https://www.lg.com/uk/laptops/gram-pro/17z90sp-g-aa78a1/. I've tweaked the photo on the LG website to show more detail and it can be seen that one fan is smaller than the other. Nonetheless, the extra cooling capacity is welcome.

The right hand fan occupies the space where the SSD slots are on the standard Gram 17 model. One slot has been relocated next to the CPU while the other is on the right hand side of the photo.

 

The other features of the Pro version are that it is thinner than the standard Gram 17 and the weight is reduced from 1.35kg to 1.30kg. The battery capacity of the Intel GPU Gram 17 Pro is 77Whr but so is the standard 2024 Gram 17. The Nvidia GPU version of the Pro has a 90Whr battery. 

 

I'm getting tempted on account of the improved cooling system and the knowledge that my 2024 LG SuperSlim seems to sleep OK. Perhaps it's this detail which has caused my 2022 Gram 17 to have nightmares during the past few days: It's been waking from hibernation! I've done several reboots to see if that will clear what is a serious bug (could the latest Windows update have included something causing this?).

 

I've also looked around to see if there are alternatives to the Gram 17 in the same size. Most have 16:9 displays or have a strong gaming bias.

[skipper]

When it was first launched in 2024 with Meteor Lake it did not have the two fans:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/LG-Gram-17-2024-laptop-review-Small-improvements-and-a-new-Core-Ultra-7.826926.0.html

and used the old design.

The 16in pro was already with the 2 fans and slimmer design (and no SD card reader anymore).

So I guess the slimmer design and the Pro moniker guarantees 2 fans now.

 

The 2025 with Arrow Lake and RTX4050 will be a beast but almost 1. 5kg

[John Ratsey]

I asked LG to confirm that the Intel graphics version of the Pro does have two fans and two SSD slots and have received confirmation (despite it being Sunday). I've done a little more research and the inside of the Nvidia graphics version of the Gram Pro is shown at about 6m 20s in this video review 

 

The fan layout looks to be identical in both versions of the Gram Pro. I haven't yet found an answer as to whether the extra cooling provided for the Intel version just keeps the notebook quieter or whether LG has increased the CPU power limit compared to the normal Gram (reviews show that this power limit is a constraint on performance compared with other notebooks using the same Intel hardware). One way to find out is to buy one!

[skipper]

I like Andrew's reviews. But this is the one with the RTX3050 and since 2022, all models with the dGPU have always dual fans. And actually they were necessary for all models after the core count increase since the 12th gen Intel processors. At the same time of this review on Youtube Notebookcheck did the 17in version review that I posted above. No reviews of the model you mention are to be found.

This one is also with the one fan:

 

[John Ratsey]

Curiosity overwhelmed financial prudence so I now own a 2024 Gram Pro 17 with 32GB RAM. UK stock of this version seems to be running low as the LG website now shows no stock and Amazon has pushed up its price from £1,439 to £1,699 since I made my purchase. Perhaps more are on the way or maybe it's the 2025 version but the box for my Gram Pro shows a manufacturing date of 24 January 2025.

 

What have I confirmed?

1. The Gram Pro is thinner than the normal Gram but the front-to-back dimension has increased (the width is the same). It's also slightly lighter - just under the claimed 1.3kg according to my digital scales.

2. There are two fans and two SSD slots (while the Pro only has 4 screws holding the base, there are a lot more clips around the edge so overall it's much harder work to get inside).

 

What have I discovered about noise and performance? Subjectively, it's quieter than my 2022 Gram 17 or the SuperSlim 15.6" (same hardware except for only 16GB RAM). However, according to Cinebench 23, the Pro runs about 9% faster in the single core test and at least 30% in the multi core test. Also, based on the Cinebench 23 testing, the Pro is about 15% faster on single core and 50% faster on multicore than my 2022 Gram 17. The maximum external temperature on the Pro stayed below 40C and both the SuperSlim while the 2022 Gram 17 crept over 40C under the same test conditions. My Pro came with a 1TB Hynix PC801 SSD (same as in the SuperSlim). It's a good performer but has been replaced by a 2TB Crucial T500. I have yet to move over the 4TB second SSD from my 2022 Gram 17.

 

A useful improvement compared with the older Gram is that the fan mode options now include an "auto" setting. I've now set this as the default as it provides most of the performance provided by the "high" fan setting but only gives the extra noise when the computer is working hard. There is no obvious difference in the quality of the display compared to the older Gram 17 (there's a different panel number and the maximum brightness seems to have increased) and, to my eyes, the quality matches the OLED panel in the SuperSlim.

 

Whether the Pro is worth the extra money over the normal Gram depends on how much the user values a bit less noise and a bit more performance, plus the difference in price. I have said for a long time that I would get a two fan version if it were available as I'm often sitting in an otherwise quiet room.

[skipper]

Well done, enjoy!!!. Could you remind me, your 2022 version is with the 12 cores? Or still 4 cores? Do you mind also checking how is the battery life? I am really tempted. I plan to sell to a friend my old 2021 Gram that I just have it as backup and thinking to get a small upgrade, just to be on the safe side.

EDIT: Unfortunately on Amazon.co.uk there is only your model that is 32gb, no 16in with 32gb RAM.. But will check again.

By the way you have the Variable Refresh Rate monitor if I am not mistaken, you can see this in the Display settings- Advanced Display and set it in Dynamc

[extremecarver]

I don't get why you didn't wait another couple of months and then get an lunar or arrow lake version. Imho processor wise intel hasn't improved from 2021 to 2024 and now it's really a huge step up again. 

 

Well for me at least battery life is always the number 1 priority on a laptop, and therefore I'm really looking forward to Lunar lake lg gram. 

 

Yeah cutting 4k video is stretching it on the 2021. But besides that I just use a server to do whatever is needed that really needs computing power. Cannot be bothered to keep a desktop for those things. 

 

I'm in Taiwan right now and the 2025 have already hit the shelves.

 

 

[skipper]

Grams always had good battery life, Lunar Lake will have probably exceptional battery life, but if you keep it always on your desk it does not really matter. John has already written that he bought the Slim as a super light travel laptop and since the Slim is not a battery monster, I guess he does not care about battery that much. Lunar Lake probably will be a downgrade in performance and Arrow Lake is only incremental, so I guess it is not worth the extra money for the latest versions. The rest, screen, chassis, battery, fans will be the same anyway.

[John Ratsey]

On 3/3/2025 at 11:46 PM, skipper said:

Well done, enjoy!!!. Could you remind me, your 2022 version is with the 12 cores? Or still 4 cores? Do you mind also checking how is the battery life? I am really tempted.

EDIT: Unfortunately on Amazon.co.uk there is only your model that is 32gb, no 16in with 32gb RAM.. But will check again.

By the way you have the Variable Refresh Rate monitor if I am not mistaken, you can see this in the Display settings- Advanced Display and set it in Dynamc

My 2022 Gram 17 has the Intel i7-1260P with 12 cores.

 

I've done a video playback battery rundown test on the Gram Pro 17. It took a long time. I didn't take specific power-saving measures such as turning off the WiFi and the average power drain was about 4.5W. For comparison, the similar test on the SuperSlim 15.6 with the same chipset but the OLED display gave an average 5W power drain.

On 3/5/2025 at 6:08 AM, extremecarver said:

I don't get why you didn't wait another couple of months and then get an lunar or arrow lake version. Imho processor wise intel hasn't improved from 2021 to 2024 and now it's really a huge step up again.

I would then be waiting another year for the price to drop but decided I wanted to experience the twin fan benefits without a long delay. It will also be interesting to see how much the overall system power drain drops with the latest Intel hardware. I suspect not as much as the headline CPU change suggests.

[extremecarver]

I'm pretty sure with lunar lake battery runtime will be 50-80% longer. With arrow lake 40-50% longer. They should be really way better especially on low load.

[Samir]

It's great to see LG still keeping the fantastic 16:10 2560x1600 screen on these as the series continues.  The screen is the reason I got mine since my desktop monitor is native 2560x1600 and I always am RDPing into my desktop so it's like a smaller version of a screen I already know.  And since the older ones are limited due to soldered ram, etc, they're actually excellent for my use so I should probably look into getting some spares since they're probably starting to fall in price.

[John Ratsey]

18 hours ago, extremecarver said:

I'm pretty sure with lunar lake battery runtime will be 50-80% longer. With arrow lake 40-50% longer. They should be really way better especially on low load.

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.