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Jul 23, 2023

New LG Gram Ultraslim is one of the thinnest laptops in the world

LG Gram Ultraslim is just 0.43 inches thick and joins a growing Gram lineup The

LG Gram Ultraslim is just 0.43 inches thick and joins a growing Gram lineup

The LG Gram ultraportable laptops are known for their great battery life, sleek design and — of course — being incredibly light. Now, LG is about to offer more Gram laptops than ever before.

At CES 2023, LG announced that it is offering nine versions across four distinct models: Gram Ultraslim, Gram Style, Gram 2-in-1 and Gram. The headliner is the new LG Gram Ultraslim, which takes the already ultraportable laptop and makes it even thinner and lighter. This 15.6-inch laptop weighs in at just 2.2 pounds and is about as thin as the average smartphone at 0.43 inches.

This ultraslim design does come with some drawbacks. The screen is a gorgeous OLED display, but it's limited to FHD resolution and a 60Hz refresh rate. It's too slim to fit a USB-A port, so you’ll need to use a USB-C adapter to plug in some of your older peripherals (note: LG says the Ultraslim includes an ultra-compact adapter, but we are still lacking some details on what this adapter can do). The 60Wh battery is also the smallest of the Gram lineup, which is slightly concerning given that the Grams are known for their battery life.

Still, the LG Gram Ultraslim could become a serious competitor to the MacBook Air. It comes with a 13th-generation Intel Raptor Lake CPU, up to 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 1TB of SSD storage. As long as you’re willing to accept a couple of shortcomings, it could be tough to find a more portable laptop.

At 0.43 inches, the LG Gram Ultraslim lives up to its name. But it's not the only ultra-slim laptop on the market. The MacBook Air M2 is just 0.44 inches thick and weighs 2.7 pounds. But that is a half-pound heavier than the Ultraslim — which is noticeable. However, the Air gets a better display, so sometimes weight isn't everything.

Ultimately, whether you want to use macOS Ventura or Windows 11 will determine which laptop you choose, both are lightweight machines with a surprising amount of power under the hood.

In terms of other Windows 11-powered ultraportable laptops, the Gram's main competition comes from the Dell XPS 13 OLED and the Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360. The XPS 13 is a bit thicker and heavier at 0.5 inches and 2.8 pounds respectively, but it comes with a gorgeous 3.5K resolution OLED display, which is a massive upgrade over the Gram Ultraslim's FHD resolution. The Galaxy Book2 Pro share's the Gram Ultraslim's relatively limited resolution but includes 2-in-1 functionality in an ultraportable design. It's nearly as slim as the Ultraslim at just 0.47 inches, but at 3.11 pounds it's noticeably heavier.

While each of its competitors has some advantages over the LG Gram Ultraslim, they also come up short in at least one aspect. The Ultraslim may not be the best choice for each individual but it will certainly be in the conversation when looking at ultra-slim laptops.

The LG Gram Style comes in a 16-inch and 14-inch OLED display with a 16:10 aspect ratio; the 16-inch display at a 3,000 x 2,000 resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate and the 14-inch display at a 2,800 x 1,800 resolution with a 90Hz refresh rate. The Style doesn't manage to be quite as sleek as the Ultraslim, but you do get a nicer display and a larger battery. It seems that if you don't need the extreme ultra-portability of the Ultraslim, the Style may actually be the better choice for most consumers.

The two LG Gram 2-in-1 models are largely similar to the Style, though both models take a step backward in display resolution. The 16-inch 2-in-1 has a 2,560 x 1,600 LCD touchscreen with a 60HZ refresh rate and the 14-inch is just 1,920 x 1,200 with a 60Hz refresh rate. That's still pretty good but it definitely falls short of the Style.

However, if you are someone who uses a tablet to sketch or take notes, the LG Gram 2-in-1 is definitely the option for you. It comes with an LG Stylus Pen (Wacom AES 2.0 & WGP) and Wacom Notes and Bamboo Paper software. That adds a level of versatility that the other Gram laptops cannot provide.

Finally, there is the original LG Gram, which comes in four LCD display sizes: 17-inch, 16-inch, 15.6-inch and 14-inch. The 17-inch and 16-inch both have a 2,560 x 1,600 IPS display with a variable refresh rate of 31-144Hz. The 15.6-inch display is 1,920 x 1,080 and the 14-inch gets a surprising boost to 1,920 x 1,200 resolution — though both are capped at a 60Hz refresh rate. However, all four models come with a large batter that can provide over 20 hours of video playback according to LG. They also come with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB GPU that will allow you to do some lower-end gaming and they come with an HDMI port — something the other models lack.

With nine total offerings within the Gram lineup, LG has definitely provided an array of versatile, portable laptops this year at CES. If you want to see what else is coming from CES 2023, make sure to follow along with our latest CES 2023 news coverage so you don't miss a thing.

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Malcolm McMillan is a staff writer for Tom's Guide, writing about the latest in tech, gaming and entertainment with a particular focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-based tools like ChatGPT. He has written up much of our coverage on the latest AI tools including ChatGPT, the new GPT-powered Bing and Google Bard. He also covers A/V tech such as televisions, soundbars and more, in addition to covering VR headsets from the Meta Quest 3 to the PS VR2.

Before writing for Tom's Guide, Malcolm worked as a fantasy football analyst writing for several sites and also had a brief stint working for Microsoft selling laptops, Xbox products and even the ill-fated Windows phone. He is passionate about video games and sports, though both cause him to yell at the TV frequently. He proudly sports many tattoos, including an Arsenal tattoo, in honor of the team that causes him to yell at the TV the most.

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