LG gram Pro 2026 review: a great ultrabook for those who bought early!
The basic values and characteristics of the LG gram line still remain the same after nearly 10 years of this laptop line appearing on the market: the chassis is made of super light, super durable alloy, the screen has large size options but is still light, beautiful and the battery is extremely long because LG integrates a large capacity. This 2026 version will still have a few points that you need to compromise on and I think LG has also considered to bring you a high-end ultrabook true to their spirit so far. Tell you a little more, when I first unsealed this laptop, it only cost about 37 million, but now that number is no longer there, a proof that could not be more accurate about RAMaggedon.
The Aerominum design on LG gram is still high-quality magnesium aluminum alloy
Compared to the old magnesium alloy material of previous LG gram lines, the LG gram Pro line solves the problem of the chassis easily bending when you intentionally twist or when typing hard (the aluminum has an elastic modulus of approximately 70 GPa, much superior to the ~45 GPa of magnesium alloy). In fact, when pressing on the middle of the keyboard frame, it is harder than the most recent LG gram version I used, the 2024 version.
Not stopping there, the chassis surface is anodized instead of the previous special magnesium-based paint coating. The case retains the coolness of real metal, the surface is smoother, increases scratch resistance and minimizes sweat and fingerprints. Because aluminum has a higher density than magnesium, LG uses high-pressure stamping and precision CNC milling techniques to thin the shell in non-load-bearing areas, while reinforcing the internal rib structure in load-bearing positions. This approach helps the machine achieve both sturdiness and sturdiness while maintaining the typical feather weight of the gram Pro line. It's clear that compared to other models that only use aluminum, the material of the LG gram Pro 2026 is much more advanced, reflecting the spirit of LG's most advanced ultrabook line.
A 16-inch screen weighs about 1.2 kg and is 13.1mm thick. Those who are used to holding a normal 16-inch laptop and then holding this one will be a little hesitant. Putting it in my backpack with a water bottle and a notebook, I almost can't tell whether I brought a laptop with me today or not. In fact, the LG gram Pro satisfies those who require a large-screen laptop that is thin and light. It's no exaggeration to say, if you like a laptop like the 15-inch MacBook Air that must run Windows, the LG gram Pro is not a bad choice.
The connection port is where I appreciate the gram. In a 13mm thin device, LG still crams in 2 USB-A 3.2 Gen1 ports, 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI 2.1 port and a 3.5mm headphone jack, meaning you can plug in a separate monitor, external hard drive, and wired mouse without having to carry a hub. The Panther Lake platform also carries Wi-Fi 7 R2 version and Bluetooth 6.0 so you can rest assured about the wireless part. FHD webcam with infrared should open the device with Windows Hello, 3W x2 stereo speakers with Smart AMP and Dolby Atmos.
Hinge, keyboard & touchpad
LG gram Pro 2026 uses a center hinge, maximum opening angle is about 130 degrees. This is a solid hinge when you put the device on the table to work, completely normal, but it will not hold the screen firmly when you put the device on your lap to type or simply when you touch the screen, it vibrates more than some other laptop models in the segment. For me, this is not a weakness, but I still have to say it so that you guys understand and know, it's not LG's fault, they do this, I think to increase the durability of the device in case of impact.
The keyboard of the LG gram Pro is still the same as before, meaning you will not have a very deep journey, the typing feeling will be a bit shallow and you will need to get used to this keyboard layout again for a few days. If you switch from the old gram line, there is no problem.
LG tried to make a full-size keyboard for data input needs, the row of number keys is not necessary for me, but because I wanted a large screen size, I still chose the 16-inch version, so the layout is slightly skewed to the left. The touchpad is the opposite, which means it has a more comfortable experience, tracking is very smooth, and the mouse clicks gently. This is important to me.
The screen is beautiful but there are trade-offs
The screen is 16-inch, 2560 x 1600 resolution, IPS panel, 16:10 ratio. Compared to the 16:9 that you often see, 16:10 is a bit higher and that bit when reading documents or code will let you see more lines on the same screen, eliminating the need to scroll. LG's announced color coverage is DCI-P3 99%, watching movies with light photo editing, the color looks quite good. I haven't measured it yet so let's use that number for reference.
But there are two places I have to clarify about this exact version. Firstly, the brightness is only 350 nits, sitting indoors is comfortable but sitting next to a glass window at noon or going to an outdoor cafe is a bit difficult to see. The second is the 60Hz refresh rate, while in the same 16Z90U line, LG has the option of a 2880 x 1800 OLED version with a 120Hz refresh rate. For those of you who are using a 120Hz machine, if you switch to it, when you drag the mouse you will immediately see a difference. I also feel disappointed in this area, and for those who upgrade from an old office machine, I think I won't bother.
Performance you need to know about the Intel "Panther Lake" Core Ultra 5 325
The chip in the device is Intel Core Ultra 5 325 of the Panther Lake generation. To share a little more so you can easily imagine, in recent years Intel has had difficulty in the production stage and had to rely on outsourcing, as for Panther Lake, the tiles containing the CPU core are made on the Intel 18A process produced by Intel itself, the GPU tiles are on Intel 3. The way to divide the multiplication of 325 is worth mentioning. A total of 8 cores, including 4 P Cougar Cove cores running from 2.1 to 4.5GHz and 4 LP-E Darkmont cores running from 1.6 to 3.4GHz. Please note that there is no regular E core here, nor is there hyper-threading, so 8 cores run exactly 8 threads. Regarding how it works, when you do light tasks such as surfing the web, typing documents, listening to music, the machine will put all the effort into the group of 4 LP-E cores, which consume very little electricity and almost do not wake up the 4 P cores. Only when opening a heavy task will the P core group jump in. That way of dividing tasks is the direct reason why this device's battery lasts so long, I will talk about it in detail later.
The integrated graphics part is 4 Xe3 cores, has hardware ray tracing, maximum clock speed is about 2.45GHz. For an office machine, ray tracing is a bit redundant, but video decoding and light rendering are really beneficial. Intel announced power is PL1 25W, PL2 55W. But remember, this machine is only 13mm thick, it doesn't stay at 55W for too long, it only boosts for a short time and will stabilize at 20W. The temperature of the LG gram Pro during office tasks is very cool and there is no problem. When doing tasks that require high performance such as rendering images or videos, it will quickly rise to over 90 degrees Celsius. At this time, the pulse and power must be cut off to lower the temperature. Therefore, this machine is not very suitable for you to do long-term heavy tasks, only occasionally you do a few side projects besides the office work you usually do.
For my work needs, every week I only need to edit 1-2 videos, edit 2-3 sets of raw images, LG gram Pro does it perfectly well, I divide the work compared to my PC, so LG gram Pro rarely has to handle heavy work for a long time.
77Wh battery and LG's 29.5 hour figure
Next to the chip is the battery, because these two are directly related to each other. The battery in the device is 77Wh and according to LG, the device can watch videos continuously for up to 29 and a half hours. If you hear this number, just leave it as a reference, it is a measurement under the company's own conditions, low brightness and only running one task. What you really need is how long the machine can last during a normal working day, so I tried it out and recorded it. LG gram Pro completely gives me a very comfortable working day, from 9-10 hours of work at 75% screen brightness. The included charger is 65W and charges via USB-C. This is convenient because if you forget to charge it while going out, you can temporarily borrow your phone's fast charger and plug it in. Of course, it will be much slower.
Dual AI software, gram Link
As for LG, the company calls its feature set Dual AI, the word Dual here means the machine runs AI in two ways. LG already has their EXAONE model running straight on the machine, so things like summarizing a long document file, finding an old file or translating a piece of text, the NPU handles it on-site, the data doesn't have to be pushed to the cloud. When you need a heavier task that the machine can't do, then it will call the cloud. The immediate benefit is that daily errands are faster and more personal. Comes with a chat gram for asking and answering questions right on your device, My Archive, you can just verbally describe the file you need and it will help you find it, and Time Travel helps restore data. In addition, with a few simple settings on the device, LG gram chat can also handle it for you. My feeling is that it is effective but the response is a bit slow. LG also has LG gram link for you to connect to your phone and transfer files between the two devices more conveniently, or connect with ThinQ to turn off the device remotely. I think if you use LG laptops, you should try these software to see if they are suitable for you or not.
Conclusion
Since ancient times, LG grams have been sold by weight. People buy grams because they want a 16-inch screen to carry all day without tiring their shoulders, and what's inside comes later. But the group of thin and light laptops has been gradually increasing in recent years, everyone can make 1.2 kg machines, so the way LG keeps the distance this year is to equip Intel with the latest configuration, run AI right on the device and upgrade design materials. With about 53 million, you can have more powerful configuration options, but there are almost no options for a 16-inch device weighing 1.2 kg with such a new chip inside. So the question here is not how powerful this machine is, but how far you have to carry your laptop every day.