LG Gram SuperSlim review: A perfect mix of power and portability

We all remember the iconic moment when Steve Jobs pulled the first MacBook Air from a manilla envelope, and at WWDC 23 Apple doubled down on the theme by declaring the 15in version as the "world's thinnest 15-inch laptop" at 11.5mm. LG would no doubt disagree, declaring the SuperSlim to be 10.9mm – but that's at the front. At the rear, it measures almost precisely 13mm. Still, that's not exactly chunky. 

And at 990g this isn't only a SuperSlim machine but SuperPortable, too. We won't add SuperRugged to that list, despite the fact it passed seven MIL-STD 810H tests, because those concentrated on temperature, altitude, and vibration rather than how well the SuperSlim can sustain direct blows or drops.

The chassis is finished in a sober but attractive dark hue that LG calls "Neptune Blue". LG is coy about exactly what it's made of, but aluminum, magnesium, and ABS plastic are the key ingredients. The ludicrously thin lid is certainly made from a metal alloy, but if you're nervous (and note the stingy one-year warranty) you should choose a bag with extra protection when venturing outside with the SuperSlim.

But there's excellent news for anyone looking for a laptop to take on their travels, and that's battery life. It lasted a tremendous 11hrs 23mins in the light-use PCMark Modern Office test, 11hrs 53mins when looping a video, and ten minutes shy of 16 hours when left idling, all with Wi-Fi on and the screen set to 150cd/m2.

LG Gram SuperSlim review: Display

That screen brightness may sound low, and we generally push a laptop screen to 200cd/m2 or higher in normal conditions. As the SuperSlim includes an AMOLED panel, however, that isn't an issue: this technology always appears brighter than IPS, in part because of its superb contrast. LG throws an extra abbreviation into the mix, AGLR, which stands for anti-glare low reflection, with the promise that this greatly reduces glare and reflection. Both are still present, but we found the screen supremely easy to read even with the sun behind us.

The panel flew through our technical tests, too, with an average Delta E of 0.39 and a peak of 1.1, so near-perfect color accuracy. It covers 99% of the DCI-P3 gamut (out of a 119% volume), 95% of Adobe RGB (115% volume), and 100% of sRGB (167% volume).

The screen excels with movies, with DisplayHDR 500 certification and the benefit of OLED's true blacks, but I was less taken when using it for office duties. That's for two reasons. When viewed head-on the whites are excellent, but push the screen back to around 110° and the color shifts to a slightly off yellow (though this effect is less visible as you push the brightness towards its 416cd/m2 peak). The second is that a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution on a 15.6in panel robs you of crispness on letter edges; at this price, we would have hoped for 2,560 x 1,440 or higher.

We also found ourselves poking at the screen in the expectation it would support touch, but LG opts for a non-touch panel here. That isn't a big omission, but we would have liked a larger touchpad than 112 x 70mm. It's topped with glass and therefore responsive, and many people will appreciate that LG avoids haptic technology and sticks with real clicks, but if you look at the touchpad you'll see there's a lot of space to the left and right. Part of LG's thinking may have been to avoid palm interference, but we still faced this issue with our right palm on a couple of occasions. Fortunately, a press of the F5 touchpad on/off button prevented this from becoming a big problem. 

LG Gram SuperSlim review: Keyboard, trackpad, and ports

The keyboard itself naturally has shallow travel. We didn't mind this: there's still a distinct feel to each key press, and it's suitably quiet if you want to use it in public. LG provides two backlight levels (low or high), and with separated cursor keys the only potential annoyance is a half-height and relatively small Return key. But these are minor quibbles. 

With no fingerprint sensor, you're reliant on normal passwords or the Windows Hello webcam. This is a great addition for video calls, with a sharp 1080p resolution, accurate colors, and surprisingly strong performance in low light. LG backs it up with a pair of high-quality microphones, and it's worth playing around with its noise-canceling options using the LG Smart Assistant app.

All of this means that you can get away without using the 3.5mm jack, or indeed USB headphones. USB headphones that you probably won't be able to use without an adapter, as LG finds space for only three USB-C ports here – and that's your lot.

1TB PCI-E Gen 4 SSD that laughed in the face of CrystalDiskMark 8, with sequential reads of over 7,000MB/sec and writes over 6,300MB/sec. We transferred over 11GB of files to this laptop in less than 20 seconds, twice as fast as most machines.

Gaming? Well, there is some potential via Intel's integrated Iris Xe graphics. It returned a solid 1,851 in 3DMark, a touch behind the Intel NUC 13 Pro, but switching to Shadow of the Tomb Raider revealed the cooling conundrum once more. Where the Intel system, using the same graphics chip, hit 32fps at 1080p High and 51fps at 1080p Low, the LG could only muster 22fps and 26fps respectively.

Rich pickings LG has one final surprise and that's upgradability. All seven crosshead screws are hidden from view so you'll need to remove their coverings, but it's worth the effort as inside you'll find that an extra SSD slot sits vacant (unless you buy the 2TB version for around £200 more).

You'll need to be more careful if you ever need to replace the 60Wh battery, but we were surprised to see that you could feasibly remove the heatsink and replace the CPU. That is incredibly unusual in a modern laptop, let alone one this slim. Just keep your fingers crossed that the memory doesn't fail, as this is embedded on the motherboard, as is Intel's AX211 Wi-Fi 6E module.

LG Gram SuperSlim review: Is it worth it? 

While LG can't quite claim this is the world's slimmest 15in laptop, and it definitely isn't the fastest, it is one of the lightest – and one of the best.

Windows 11 flies, battery life is superb, it's relatively easy to repair, the webcam is top-notch and even if the screen has weaknesses, it packs an impact in films. As do the speakers. It's expensive, but if portability is your priority then the LG Gram SuperSlim should rise to the top of your shortlist.

LG gram SuperSlim specifications