LG Gram SuperSlim (2023) vs MacBook Air (M2): Which lightweight laptop is better for you?

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  LG Gram SuperSlim

  The LG Gram SuperSlim is one of LG’s newest laptops. It’s also their thinnest laptop available, coming in at a mere 0.43~0.49 inches in thickness. Yet the laptop still has an OLED screen, and 13th-generation Intel P-series CPUs.

  Pros

  • Features latest Intel CPUs
  • Has OLED screen
  • Design makes it super portable and light

  Cons

  • Still has a 16:9 aspect ratio screen
  • Overly expensive

• 

  MacBook Air (M2)

  $949 $1099 Save $150

  The 2022 MacBook Air offers the M2 chip, and a redesigned chassis with MagSafe 3 support. It is powerful and can handle pretty much any kind of work, and it comes in either 13.6-inch or 15.3-inch sizes.

  Pros

  • Works great with other Apple devices
  • Has a great trackpad and keyboard
  • Come sin multiple colors

  Cons

  • Not for those who like Windows
  • Also expensive

When shopping for a new everyday laptop, you might want to consider a lightweight laptop instead of a more traditional one. Lightweight laptops are super portable and can be taken anywhere and everywhere you go. There are two that we suggest. If you’re a fan of Windows, there’s the LG Gram SuperSlim. And, if you’d rather MacOS, there’s the MacBook Air M2. Of course, that operating system is the big difference between these laptops, but we want to go beyond that. We’ll also be looking at the design, pricing, display, and performance to help you decide which laptop is worth the money.

LG Gram SuperSlim (2023) vs MacBook Air (M2): Price, specs, and availability

Both of these laptops are up for sale right now. The best place to buy the LG Gram SuperSlim would be through LG’s website, which links out to retailers like Amazon, and Best Buy. Pricing starts at $1,700. That gets you a base model with the 13th-generation Intel Core i7-1360P CPU, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD. You also can bump the RAM and storage up to 32GB and 2TB if need be. As for the MacBook Air, there are two models. A 13-inch model starts at $1,099, and a bigger 15-inch model is also available, but it starts at $1,299. That’s for base specs, with an 8-Core Apple M2 CPU, 8GB RAM, and 256GB of storage on the 13-inch model, and the same CPU, but 512GB storage on the 15-inch model.

• 	LG Gram SuperSlim	MacBook Air (M2)
  Operating System	Windows 11 Home	macOS
  CPU	13th-generation Intel Core i7-1360P	Apple M2
  GPU	Intel Iris Xe (integrated)	8-core or 10-core
  Storage	Up to 2TB SSD	Up to 2TB SSD
  Battery	60Wh	52.6WH battery
  Display (Size, Resolution)	15.6-inch OLED, 16:9 aspect ratio, 1920×1080, VESA DisplayHDR 500 True Black, 100% DCI-P3	13.6-inch Retina (IPS), 2560×1664, P3 Wide Color, True Tone, 500 nits or 15.3-inch IPS, 2880×1864, 500 nits, True Tone, P3 Wide Color
  Camera	Full HD 1080p webcam with Windows Hello	1080p Full HD FaceTime camera
  Speakers	2x 2W stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos	Quad-speaker stereo setup, Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos
  Color	Neptune Blue	Silver, Space Gray, Starlight, Midnight
  Memory	Up to 32GB	Up to 24GB
  Ports	2x Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C), 1x USB4 40Gbps,	2 x USB4/Thunderbolt, 3.5mm headphone jack, MagSafe 3
  Network	Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211, Bluetooth 5.1	Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0
  Dimension	14×8.95×0.43-0.49 inches (355.6×227.33×10.92-12.45mm)	11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches (13-inch model) / 13.4 x 9.35 x 0.45 inches (15-inch model)
  Weight	2.18 pounds (0.99kg)	2.7 pounds (13-inch) / 3.3 pounds (15-inch)
  Price	Starting at $1,700	Starting at $1,199 (13-inch) or $1,299 (15-inch)
  Brand	LG	Apple
  Model	Gram SuperSlim	MacBook Air (M2)
  Power	65W slim power adapter	Up to 35W dual USB-C power adapter

LG Gram SuperSlim (2023) vs MacBook Air (M2): Operating system

16-inch MacBook Pro on the left, 15-inch MacBook Air on the right

As we mentioned to start, the big difference between these laptops is the operating system. On the Mac, you’re getting Apple’s macOS operating system. But on the LG Gram SuperSlim, it’s Windows 11. These operating systems are truly different, and that’s the first big thing to think about with these two laptops.

If you’re a person that’s into creative tasks like editing photos or videos, we suggest you consider the MacBook Air M2, or macOS in general. Apple’s operating system is home to some really great video editing apps, like Final Cut Pro, and iMovie. And if you own other Apple devices, like an iPhone or an iPad, you can get synergies with these devices. You’ll be able to see your texts on your Mac, transfer photos to your Mac with AirDrop, and even enjoy FaceTime.

On the other side of things, Windows 11 is more suited for those who are into productivity. It has great features like Snap Layouts, that help you multitask and it even lets you run Android apps, so you can use the same apps from your Android phone on a PC. And if you own an iPhone? Well, you get basic connectivity through Phone Link to send and receive messages. Windows even runs Linux apps, too. So, it’s a very capable operating system that many will be at home for many people.

LG Gram SuperSlim (2023) vs MacBook Air (M2): Design

The LG Gram SuperSlim and the MacBook Air M2 are both clamshell laptops, but that’s the only similarity. If you look at the dimensions, the LG Gram SuperSlim isn’t quite as versatile as the MacBook since it just comes in one size. The LG Gram SuperSlim comes in at a 14-inch length and between a 0.43 and 0.49-inch thickness. As for weight, it’s 2.18 pounds.

The 15-inch MacBook model comes in at 13.40 inches in length, 0.45 inches in thickness, and 3.3 pounds in weight. It’s slightly heavier, but also just a bit thinner. That thinness helps in sliding the laptop into a bag, though most people won’t feel the difference. As for the 13-inch MacBook Air, it comes in at an 11.97-inch length, and a 0.44-inch thickness, making it more portable. It also weighs 2.7 pounds. Despite the larger size, the Gram SuperSlim is lighter than either of the MacBook models due to the magnesium chassis compared to the aluminum used on the MacBook Air.

In other design differences, the MacBook Air M2 comes in more colors. You can choose between Silver, Starlight, Space Gray, or Midnight colors. The LG Gram SuperSlim is a bit more boring, since it’s black. More importantly, though, neither of these are well-connected machines. The MacBook sports two Thunderbolt ports, MagSafe charging, and a headphone jack. The LG Gram SuperSlim has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a USB-4 port. It has the advantage of one extra port, but on both laptops dongles will be needed.

Of course, we can’t forget some smaller things. The MacBook Air M2 has a haptic touchpad, which is a single glass surface, letting you tap anywhere to click. The LG Gram SuperSlim has less than an impressive keyboard and trackpad. In our review, we found the keyboard troublesome, but we did love the size of the trackpad, saying it was comfortable, though we wished it was bigger.

LG Gram SuperSlim (2023) vs MacBook Air (M2): Display

As we turn our attention to the display, there’s a big difference here. The MacBook Air M2’s 15-inch screen has a higher resolution and a notch at the top bearing the webcam, but the LG Gram SuperSlim has a better and more color-accurate OLED display. The choice of which laptop you choose depends on which one of those is more important to you.

The LG Gram SuperSlim has a traditional 15.6-inch panel with Full HD resolution (1920×1080) resolution. We found that low resolution quite disappointing for multitasking, even though the color accuracy of the screen was amazing with fantastic levels of brightest and contrast.

The 15-inch MacBook Air M2 uses a much higher resolution panel since it’s a 2880×1864 resolution. Apple’s Macs also use Liquid Retina IPS technology, so you get great viewing angles, but it’s not really comparable to OLED, which packs the best color accuracy on the market. Note the weird resolution on the Mac here, it’s because of the notch, which is at the top of the screen. On the other side of things, the 13-inch MacBook Air has a 2560×1664 resolution. That’s still higher than what you’d get with the LG Gram SuperSlim.

And the webcams at the top of the display? Both laptops sport 1080p webcams. Most laptops have 1080p webcams now, so it’s hard to complain. The advantage of the LG Gram SuperSlim’s webcam, though, is that it has Windows Hello facial recognition onboard, so you can log into your PC with your face. The MacBook doesn’t have this, but uses a fingerprint sensor on the power button, and has an advanced image signal processor with computational video to help in making your video feed look better.

LG Gram SuperSlim (2023) vs MacBook Air (M2): Performance

Finally, we come to performance. Featuring the power of the Apple M2 silicon, the MacBook Air M2 will be a more powerful laptop to consider buying for video editing and more intensive tasks. For standard web browsing, though, either laptop will be fine, especially the LG Gram SuperSlim. Neither laptop will lag in performance, but the MacBook will be slightly better due to the GPU onboard.

Under the hood of the LG Gram SuperSlim are 13th-generation P-series CPUs and integrated Iris Xe graphics. There’s only one option, and it’s the Intel Core i7-1360P. This is a 28W CPU that has Intel Core i7-1360P. You also can add either 16GB RAM or 32GB RAM, and up to a 2TB SSD. As we mention in our review, this CPU is great for day-to-day performance, and it never failed is in our tests like running Photoshop or image editing software, even when multitasking on a video call. The only slowdowns came when handling multiple displays. Battery life was anywhere between eight and ten hours, which is standard for a Windows laptop.

As for the MacBook Air M2, this is in a class of its own. It’s using a custom Arm-based SoC, the Apple M2. It’s an 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores and a 10-core or 8-core GPU. You also can add up to 24GB of RAM, and as much as 2TB of storage. The strength there, however, is with the GPU cores. As you can see with the table above, for generic benchmarks that simulate everyday tasks, both laptops are equally fast scoring in the same range. But once you consider the GPU in the MacBook Air, it’s much faster. As we noted in the review of the MacBook Air M2, the MacBook is fairly decent for video editing. The export times it put up above other laptops when using DaVinci Resolve. Intel’s Iris Xe graphics simply don’t compete with that speed for tasks that need a GPU, like video editing. Even battery life on the MacBook is better, since it hits past ten hours.

You’ll want to buy the MacBook

If you’re willing to learn MacOS, then the MacBook will be a better laptop for you. While it doesn’t have an OLED display, it beats the LG Gram SuperSlim in a few areas. You end up getting battery life, and more power for video editing. If you own multiple Apple devices, you also get amazing synergies with your phone and your tablet. The screen onboard is also higher-resolition, so you can punch out some more multitasking.

MacBook Air (M2)

A great laptop

$949 $1099 Save $150

The 2022 MacBook Air offers the M2 chip, and a redesigned chassis with MagSafe 3 support. It is powerful and can handle pretty much any kind of work, and it comes in either 13.6-inch or 15.3-inch sizes.

If you prefer to use Windows, however, then the LG Gram SuperSlim will be for you. It is a solid laptop for everyday web browsing, and common productivity. It also packs an OLED display which is great for bringing the content you’re looking at on the screen to life. However, that screen isn’t as high of a resolution as what you get on the MacBook. You also won’t be using the laptop for video editing, as the MacBook is much better in this area.

LG Gram SuperSlim

Great for everyday productivity

$1400 $1700 Save $300

The LG Gram SuperSlim is one of LG’s newest laptops. It’s also their thinnest laptop available, coming in at a mere 0.43~0.49 inches in thickness. Yet the laptop still has an OLED screen, and 13th-generation Intel P-series CPUs.