Iridescent finish of LG Grams, the light-assisted pentaquark from a coffee shop in New York City. A challenge to capture
In the past, LG Grams have been well known for basically one thing — they weigh nothing. They’ve been great for that specific use case and have been ranked among the lightest laptops you can buy, but they have been a bit boring.
That does not mean this is a computer that will work for everyone. It might turn heads at the coffee shop. It is fun to watch the look unfold, it is a bold new look for an established line.
The first thing to talk about is that finish. It’s iridescent, changing color depending on lighting and viewing angle. In LG’s words, the laptops “shine and shift dynamically; moving and changing depending on the light and angle.”
Up close, this looks like a silvery white. But I can confirm that as I moved the device around, it flashed and signed in different hues, looking blueish and even orange at times. I wish I could have captured that on camera, because it was a challenge with the lighting.
The Look of the Gram Style: A Haptic Touchpad for an XPS or a Pseudoscalar?
The bottom part of the Style’s keyboard deck is one smooth surface and there isn’t any touchpad on it. There is a touchpad under there, in the location where you’d expect a touchpad to be, but it’s haptic and hidden.
We’re seeing more and more of these types of trackpads on laptops this year, and they generally help companies get them thinner (which remains a major draw of the Gram line). Dell has a laptop called the XPS 13. Plus also had a hidden touchpad last year, and I had mixed results with it. The left hand of my right hand knew where to click and when, but I had a hard time with it in the middle of the game.
The Gram Style has LEDs around the touchpad which will illuminate when you touch it. They stay on for what can be less than a couple of seconds after you click, and then disappear. I mean, that is better than nothing but it doesn’t help you find it when you need to. The lights look pretty. I’m not sure why there couldn’t be an option to leave them on.
Oh, and this thing is so light. It’s one of those devices that messes with your mind when you pick it up. You could fool me by thinking this was an empty box. That’s nothing new for LG laptops but is a nice assurance that the Style, despite its various oddities, remains very much a part of the Gram line.
One other hot tip: There are even wilder designs coming. LG had a bunch of patterned Gram Style lids on display — purples, pinks, polka dots galore — and was taking a poll at their booth where attendees could vote for their favorite one. The representatives said the company will bring the winner to market. I voted for the one that was purple, so I hope it wins. Stay tuned.
As companies try to bring in younger, more mobile audiences, they are starting to market established premium lines with cute, fun, and jazzy finishes.
The Z series of the ThinkPad line includes a number of non- Thinkpad colors and designs. The keys were thrown away in favor of haptics and LEDs. This year, a number of companies are angling major products around an elusive hyper-mobile, style-conscious, remote freelance professional. A recent example is HP’s Dragonfly Pro, a Windows PC with a dedicated tech support button.