LG gram 14 (2023) Laptop Review

The LG gram 14 2023 has a simple, business-oriented design. It has a wedge-shaped chassis with ports on both sides, thin bezels, and an island-style keyboard with boxy keys. On the bottom, you can find the speakers near the front and air vents near the back. There are also air vents on the back of the laptop. It's available in two colors: Snow White and Obsidian Black. If you prefer a 2-in-1 convertible, check out the HP Spectre x360 14 (2024).

The build quality is great. The chassis is a magnesium alloy, which helps keep the weight down. The laptop feels sturdy overall; it just doesn't have the hefty feel that we often associate with premium laptops like the Apple MacBook Air 13 (2022). There's some flex on the lid and display but almost none on the keyboard deck. The finish is relatively scratch-resistant, and while it does pick up some fingerprints and smudges, it's nowhere near as bad as other laptops with a dark-color finish, like the LG gram 17 (2021). The feet feel strong and adhere firmly to the bottom of the laptop.

The hinge is outstanding. It feels smooth when opening and closing the lid, and it's very stable, exhibiting no wobble at all, even when typing aggressively.

The LG gram 14 and its power adapter are very compact and lightweight.

The LG gram 14's serviceability is sub-par. It uses standard Philips screws, but you must remove the feet first to get to the screws. Also, the bottom panel bends easily, so you must remove all the screws before removing the panel. Once inside, all the replaceable components are easily accessible. LG doesn't provide a service manual.

• LG gram 14 laptop
• 65W USB-C power adapter and cord
• Documentation

The LG gram 14's FHD+ display looks very sharp and provides just enough space for split-screen multitasking. Its 16:10 aspect ratio is better suited for productivity than a standard 16:9 screen, as the increased vertical space allows you to see more information when reading a document or website, reducing the need to scroll. If you want a similar productivity laptop with a sharper display, check out the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (2024).

The LG gram 14 is only available with a 60Hz display. Its slow response time causes noticeable ghosting, which isn't ideal for viewing fast-moving content or gaming. If you want a productivity laptop with a higher refresh display, check out the ASUS Zenbook 14 Flip OLED (2023).

The display's contrast ratio is good for an IPS panel but is still relatively low compared to other display technologies like VA and OLED. This level of contrast makes blacks look gray in dim settings.

The display gets bright enough for use in most indoor settings but not outdoors in broad daylight. It gets very dim at the lowest brightness setting, which is great for dark room viewing, as it causes less eye strain. If you need a laptop with a brighter display, check out the Apple MacBook Air 13 (2024).

The display's reflection handling is great. Reflections aren't a problem when viewing light-color content with the screen at maximum brightness; they're only distracting when viewing dark-color content.

The display's black uniformity is sub-par. Clouding is minimal, but there's visible backlight bleed at all four corners of the screen.

The display's horizontal viewing angle is okay. The image dims and washes out relatively quickly as you move to the side, so you need to be more or less directly in front of the screen to get the best accuracy.

The display's vertical viewing angle is okay. Like the horizontal viewing angle, the image dims and washes when viewing from above and below, so you need to look at the screen more or less straight on to see an accurate image, which can be hard in tight places where you don't have much room to tilt the screen, like on a bus or airplane.

The LG gram 14's display accuracy is okay out of the box. The white balance inaccuracies are minor and hard to notice. Color accuracy isn't bad; it's mainly the reds, greens, and yellows that look inaccurate because the default color profile targets a wider color space, oversaturating those colors. The color temperature is slightly cooler than the standard 6500K target, giving the image a slight blueish tint. The gamma doesn't follow the sRGB curve; dark scenes look too dark, and bright scenes look too bright.

The LG gram 14 has an outstanding color gamut. It has full coverage of the sRGB and DCI-P3 color spaces, making it suitable for viewing and producing SDR and HDR content. Its Adobe RGB coverage is excellent but not enough for professional print photography as it can't produce the saturated greens that define Adobe RGB.

The backlight is entirely flicker-free, which helps reduce eye strain.

The LG gram 14 has a great keyboard. The layout is fairly standard, and while key spacing is a little tight, it's fine for a 14-inch laptop. The keycaps feel high-quality, and the keys are stable. As for the typing experience, the keys have a lot of travel and provide satisfying tactile feedback; however, they require a fair amount of force to actuate, which might cause some fatigue over time. Typing noise is relatively low and isn't bothersome in quiet settings.

The touchpad is great. It's reasonably large, and it tracks all movements and gestures well. There aren't any issues with palm rejection or actions like dragging and dropping. The click mechanism feels satisfying, but you can only click in the bottom half of the touchpad.

The LG gram 14's speakers get very loud with minimal dynamic compression at max volume. They deliver speech clearly; however, they sound hollow and slightly unnatural, with almost no bass, so they aren't ideal for music or movies.

The webcam's video quality is good. The image has a fair amount of fine details but looks slightly faded and underexposed. Voices sound loud and clear over the microphone; there's just a little static background noise.

The port selection is outstanding. Both USB-A ports support USB 3.2 Gen. 2 data transfer speed of up to 10Gbps. The USB-C ports support Thunderbolt 4 (up to 40Gbps data transfer speed and two 4k displays at 60Hz), DisplayPort Alt Mode, and Power Delivery. The latter allows for fast charging of the laptop and other PD-enabled devices connected to the port.

The wireless adapter is an Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211. Wi-Fi 6E has faster speeds, lower latency, and less signal interference than previous Wi-Fi standards. However, you need a router that supports Wi-Fi 6E to benefit from these features.

The LG gram 14 is available with the following CPUs:

• Intel Core i5-1340P (12 cores/16 threads, up to 4.6GHz, 12MB cache)
• Intel Core i7-1360P (12 cores/16 threads, up to 5.00GHz, 18MB cache)

Both CPUs are designed for thin and light laptops. Intel's P-series processors a step up from the U-series typically found in most ultraportables, as they have more cores and operate at a higher wattage of 28W. Like Intel's 12th Gen. processors, the Core i5-1340P and i7-1360P have a hybrid architecture with a mix of performance and efficiency cores. They both have four performance and eight efficiency cores; their clock speeds and cache memory size are the only differences between them. These P-series CPUs can handle general productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, video playback, and more demanding tasks like photo and video editing. The Core i7 is faster, although the performance difference isn't significant.

The LG gram 14 is only available with Intel Iris Xe graphics. This integrated GPU is designed to handle light tasks like web browsing and video playback, not demanding workloads like video editing or 3D graphics. You can play some older or puzzle-like games, but you'll likely have to play at a lower resolution or with low graphical settings to get smooth gameplay. If you need a thin, light laptop with a discrete GPU, check out the Lenovo Slim Pro 7 14 (2023).

You can configure this laptop with 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB of RAM. The memory is soldered onto the motherboard and isn't user-replaceable.

You can configure this laptop with 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage. The Samsung drive is an M.2 PCIe Gen. 4 NVMe SSD. The storage drive is user-replaceable, and there are two available slots. There's also an option for two 512GB, which you can set up in a RAID array for better performance.

The LG gram 14's overall score in Geekbench 5 is outstanding. The Intel Core i7-1360P performs well in single- and multi-threaded workloads, making it suitable for general productivity tasks and more demanding workloads like programming and video editing. However, there are faster CPUs on the market, like the H-series CPUs typically found in mobile workstations and gaming laptops. The Core i5-1340P is only slightly slower. As for GPU computing tasks, the CPU's integrated Iris Xe GPU performs poorly. If your workload needs a lot of GPU processing power, it's best to get a laptop with a discrete GPU or an Apple MacBook Pro with an Apple ARM-based SoC.

The LG gram 14 performs exceptionally well in the Cinebench R23 benchmarks, making it suitable for 3D graphics rendering and other related workloads. The CPU throttles under load, so you aren't getting the full CPU performance. If you want even better performance to get the fastest render times, you'll have to get a laptop with a better cooling system and an H-series CPU, like the Intel Core i9-12900HX in the MSI Raider GE67 HX (2022).

The LG gram 14 performs well in Blender; however, it's best to get a laptop with a discrete GPU if you need to render images professionally. Even an entry-level GPU, like an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, can render images much faster than the CPU.

The LG gram 14 performs poorly in the Basemark GPU benchmark. Its Intel Iris Xe isn't bad compared to other integrated graphics, but it's starting to show its age and isn't fast enough to provide smooth gameplay in graphically demanding games. It can only handle simple, puzzle-like games or older titles at 1080p, and even then, you'll have to play at a lower resolution or with low graphics settings to get playable frame rates.

The SSD's performance is outstanding. Its fast read speeds allow the system to boot up, launch apps, and retrieve data quickly. The sequential write speed is slow for a PCIe Gen. 4 SSD but still plenty fast for a general productivity laptop. Also, remember that this is the 512GB SSD; the 1TB drive is likely faster, as larger capacity SSDs typically perform better.

The LG gram 14's battery life is excellent. It lasts easily through a typical 8-hour day of light productivity. The battery life for video playback is particularly noteworthy and among the best for Windows laptops.

Borderlands 3 isn't playable. The gameplay is extremely choppy, even with low graphical settings. The Intel Iris Xe integrated GPU can't handle such a graphically demanding game. You can expect the same performance in other similar titles.

Civilization VI is choppy at 1080p with high settings, but you can get much smoother gameplay if you lower a couple of graphical settings. The average turn time is okay and within the expected range for an Intel 13th Gen. processor. The Core i5 is only slightly slower.

CS:GO runs poorly at 1080p with high settings. Although the average frame rate is good, the game stutters a lot due to frame drops. It runs more smoothly with low settings, but there are still noticeable stutters. The Core i5 will perform slightly worse.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider runs poorly at 1080p with high settings. The Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics can't maintain playable frame rates in this and other similarly demanding games.

The LG gram 14's keyboard is cool when idle and only gets mildly warm under load, not enough to cause discomfort. The fan is audible at full speed but isn't distracting at all.

The performance over time is decent—both the CPU and the GPU throttle under load. The CPU's performance is somewhat inconsistent, leading to unpredictable completion times in heavy, sustained workloads. The GPU's performance loss is minimal and isn't noticeable. If you want a similar laptop with better performance over time, check out the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 (2023).

The LG gram has many pre-installed applications, including:

• Clipchamp: Video editing software.
• Dolby Access: Adds Dolby Atmos support and lets you set up Dolby Atmos devices.
• Intel Connectivity Performance Suite: Lets you tweak network settings to improve performance.
• Intel Graphics Command Center: Lets you adjust the display's contrast, color, saturation, power management, and video enhancement settings.
• Intel Unison: Lets you connect your smartphone to the laptop, allowing you to send and receive messages, view photos on your smartphone, and transfer files, similar to the MyPhone app.
• Laplink PCmover Professional: Lets you transfer programs, files, and settings to a new PC.
• LG Glance by Mirametrix: Software application that adds attention-sensing capability. When enabled, it can automatically lock your computer when you walk away, pause a video or blur the content when you aren't directly looking at the screen, or move windows from one screen to another.
• LG PC manuals: User manual.
• LG Security Guard: Monitors suspicious activities when the user is away from the laptop.
• LG Smart Assistant: Lets you change the fan and power settings, enable dark mode, toggle USB-C offline charging, and enable AI noise canceling.
• LG Update & Recovery: Checks for software and driver updates. It also lets you backup your data in case of system failure.
• McAfee LiveSafe: Antivirus and internet security software. Requires subscription.
• Realtek Audio Console: Audio settings.
• Solitaire Collection: Solitaire and other casual games.
• Spotify: App for the music streaming service.
• Sync On Mobile: Lets you send photos and videos from your smartphone to the PC.

The LG gram 14 has a Windows Hello facial recognition IR camera. You can use it to log into Windows, authorize Windows Store purchases, and auto-fill saved passwords on supported websites.