LG Gram 14 costs $1600 USD, somehow manages to be one of the slowest Core i7 Ice Lake laptops you can buy

The LG Gram series distinguishes itself from the competition by prioritizing weight over almost everything else. The 14-inch Gram 14Z90N, for example, weighs at least 200 grams less than the latest Dell XPS 13 9300 even though the latter is a smaller 13.3-inch laptop. The repercussions for having such a lightweight Ultrabook, however, can be steep.

The aforementioned LG laptop comes with the 10th gen Core i7-1065G7 CPU commonly found on many high-end Ultrabooks like the Dell XPS 13, HP Spectre x360 13, or Razer Blade Stealth. Unfortunately, raw multi-thread performance on the LG is approximately 30 percent slower than the average Core i7-1065G7 laptop as shown by our comparison graphs below. In fact, even some older laptops with an 8th gen Core i5-8250U like the Dell Latitude 3390 can provide essentially the same CPU performance as the much newer LG system.

By extension, the integrated Iris Plus G7 GPU would also perform much slower than expected on the 14-inch LG Gram. 3DMark scores range between 30 to 60 percent slower than the average Iris Plus G7 laptop in our database.

The disappointing processor performance isn't a huge surprise when looking closer at the Gram 14Z90N hardware. It's copper heat pipe, for example, is shorter and smaller than on most other Ultrabooks likely to keep weight in check. Secondly, fan noise is always very quiet no matter the onscreen load. And lastly, the CPUs in LG Gram laptops have been consistently performing below average year after year. These details all suggest that LG is content with minimizing processor performance if it means having a lighter and quieter Ultrabook than the rest. It's a trade-off that some users might not mind but more should be aware of.

More information on the LG Gram 14Z90N including temperatures, sustained clock rates, and fan noise can be found on our full review here.