LG, Samsung Announce New Laptop Ahead of CES
It’s almost time for the Consumer Electronics Show, which means a lot of new Windows 10 devices are going to launch in the next few weeks. LG and Samsung aren’t too happy with getting lost in the crowd, so both the companies are revealing two new laptops ahead of CES today.
LG is revealing the 2018 Gram notebook today. The company debuted the Gram line of ultrathin notebooks back in 2014, and the latest iteration of the Gram comes with more power and upgraded batteries. Just like every other laptop coming out in CES next month, the most recent LG Gram comes with Intel’s 8th gen i5/i7 processors, which includes performance and power usage enhancements over the last gen of processors. LG has upgraded the battery of the Gram now comes with a 72Wh battery, up from last year’s 60Wh battery. The upgraded battery will offer 22.5 hours of battery on the 13.3-inch variant, 21.5 hours of battery on the 14-inch option, and 19 hours of the larger 15.6-inch variant of the device. Despite the larger battery size, LG is still able to keep the device lightweight, with the 13.3-inch and 14-inch variants weighing just around 0.9kg (2.12lbs, 2.19lbs), while the 15.6-inch weighs around 1kg.
Like LG, Samsung’s new upgraded line of Notebook 9 devices focus on battery life, too. The company’s new Notebook 9 and convertible Notebook 9 Pen devices come with Intel’s 8th gen Core i7 processors, 512GB (1TB on the regular Notebook 9), and up to 16GB of RAM. More importantly, the company claims to have packed the “most powerful battery ever” inside a notebook, and users will get “always-on-power” with the new 75Wh Hexacell battery that also supports fast charging. Samsung isn’t saying exactly how long the Notebook 9 will last with the 75Wh Hexacell battery though.
Samsung and LG are both focusing on the battery life this year, just a week after the launch of the first two Windows on ARM devices from HP and Acer that claim to offer up to 20 hours of battery life. Lenovo is also expected to announce its Windows on ARM laptop at CES next month, so the competition amongst laptop makers will hopefully get heated this year.
In case you are interested, the 2018 LG Gram goes on sale next month in the United States, and the updated Notebook 9 line launches in Korea this month, with US availability set to arrive in Q1 2018.