As of April 2026, the laptop industry is navigating a 20–40% AI-driven price correction, with retailers clearing legacy inventory at inflated prices. The LG Gram 15Z90P (2021) is a prime example: a 5-year-old ultrabook built on Intel’s 11th Gen Tiger Lake platform, now being sold as new for $799.99—$150 more than the far superior 2026 ASUS TUF Gaming A15 with RTX 3050 and 16GB DDR5.
This model targets portability-obsessed users, but it lacks the NPU hardware required for 2026’s Copilot+ AI PC standard, ships with non-upgradeable 8GB RAM (half the 2026 prosumer baseline), and uses integrated graphics that are obsolete compared to modern AMD Radeon 890M and NVIDIA Blackwell parts.
Chassis & Ergonomics
Build Quality
The magnesium alloy chassis is MIL-STD-810G certified for durability, but suffers from flex: the screen lid bends under light pressure, and the keyboard deck has noticeable give when typing. At 2.43 lbs, it remains lighter than most 2026 15.6" ultrabooks, but the build quality feels cheap compared to 2026 Lenovo Aura Edition or ASUS ZenBook flagships.
Input Devices
Keyboard: 1.5mm key travel, single-zone white backlight, decent tactile feedback for typing. No dedicated media keys or fingerprint reader (2026 models all include fingerprint/IR webcam login).
Trackpad: 4.1 x 2.3 inch plastic precision trackpad, smaller than 2026 glass trackpads. Tracking is accurate but lacks haptic feedback standard on 2026 premium models.
Ports & Connectivity
2x Thunderbolt 4 ports are forward-compatible with 2026 docks and eGPUs, a rare bright spot. HDMI 2.0 lags behind 2026’s HDMI 2.1 standard for 4K/120Hz output. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 are adequate but lack Wi-Fi 7 support found on 2026 models.
Webcam & Speakers
720p webcam is grainy and low-light incapable, failing the 2026 1080p baseline. Downward-firing speakers are tinny, with maximum volume of 75dB—unusable for media consumption.
Core Specifications
| Category | Specification |
|---|---|
| Model | LG Gram 15Z90P (2021) |
| Processor | 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7 (Tiger Lake, 10nm SuperFin, 4C/8T, 2.4GHz base / 4.2GHz boost, 8MB L3 cache, 0 NPU cores) |
| Graphics | Intel Iris Xe G7 (80 EUs, 1.3GHz max dynamic frequency) |
| Memory | 8GB LPDDR4X-4266 (soldered, non-upgradeable) |
| Storage | 512GB PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD (single user-accessible M.2 slot) |
| Display | 15.6" Full HD (1920x1080) IPS LCD, 60Hz refresh rate, 300 nits typical brightness, 72% NTSC (99% sRGB) color gamut, 1000:1 contrast ratio |
| Battery | 80Wh lithium-ion, claimed 21-hour runtime |
| Ports | 2x Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C), 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, HDMI 2.0, microSD card slot, 3.5mm headphone jack |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.1 |
| Weight | 2.43 lbs (1.1 kg) |
| Dimensions | 14.1 x 9.0 x 0.7 inches |
| OS | Windows 11 Home (upgraded from factory Windows 10) |
| Price (New, April 2026) | $799.99 |
Performance Analysis
CPU & Thermal Throttling
The 4-core/8-thread Core i5-1135G7 is a 2020-era part that trails 2026 entry-level ultrabook CPUs by 60% in multi-threaded workloads: Cinebench R23 scores sit at ~4800 multi-core and ~1500 single-core, compared to ~12000 multi-core for the 2026 Intel Core Ultra 5 226V (Lunar Lake) and ~18000 multi-core for the AMD Ryzen AI 5 360 (Strix Point).
Thermal management is poor: the 0.7-inch magnesium chassis can only sustain 15W CPU power draw for 10 minutes before throttling to 10W, dropping clock speeds to ~2.8GHz. Sustained creative workloads like 4K video rendering are unusable.
Memory & Storage
The 8GB LPDDR4X RAM is soldered and non-upgradeable, failing the 2026 prosumer baseline of 32GB. Even 2026 office laptops ship with 16GB minimum; this device will struggle with basic multitasking (10+ Chrome tabs + Spotify + Word) without swapping to the slow PCIe 3.0 SSD.
Storage read speeds top out at ~3500MB/s, half the speed of 2026 Gen 4 NVMe drives and a quarter the speed of Gen 5 parts. The single M.2 slot is user-accessible, but upgrading to a modern SSD does not offset the RAM bottleneck.
AI Capability
Critical for 2026: the i5-1135G7 has zero NPU cores, making it incompatible with Copilot+ local AI workloads. This violates the industry’s 2026 AI PC threshold, rendering it obsolete for any AI-assisted productivity tasks.
Gaming Performance
The Intel Iris Xe G7 integrated graphics (80 EUs) are non-viable for modern gaming. 1080p low settings deliver:
- League of Legends: ~30fps (unstable)
- Fortnite: ~25fps
- Cyberpunk 2077: <15fps (unplayable)
This is 3x slower than the 2026 AMD Radeon 890M integrated graphics, and 5x slower than the RTX 3050 in the $649.99 ASUS TUF Gaming A15. Even entry-level 2026 discrete GPUs (RTX 5070) deliver 30x the frame rate of this 2021 integrated part.
No support for DLSS, FSR 3, or frame generation—features standard on all 2026 gaming laptops.
Display Analysis
The 15.6" FHD IPS panel is dated by 2026 standards:
- Brightness: 300 nits typical, well below the 500+ nit baseline for 2026 ultrabooks. Outdoor use is limited to shaded areas.
- Color: 72% NTSC (99% sRGB, 75% DCI-P3) coverage, delta E ~3. Acceptable for office work, but inadequate for professional photo/video editing.
- Refresh Rate: 60Hz, with 25ms gray-to-gray response time. Motion blur is noticeable in scrolling and casual gaming; 2026 prosumer panels offer 120Hz+ with <5ms response times.
- Resolution: 1920x1080, while 2026 mid-range laptops have moved to 2.8K/3.2K resolutions for higher pixel density.
Battery Life & Weight
Weight
At 2.43 lbs (1.1 kg), this is still the lightest 15.6" laptop on the market in April 2026—0.1 lbs lighter than the 2026 LG Gram 15 with Lunar Lake. Portability is the only category where this 2021 model beats modern competitors.
Battery Life
LG claims 21 hours of runtime, but real-world office use (web browsing, document editing, 150 nits brightness) delivers 10–12 hours—respectable for its age, but 3–6 hours shorter than 2026 Lunar Lake ultrabooks with smaller 60Wh batteries. Video playback runtime is ~14 hours, vs ~20 hours for 2026 models.
Charging via Thunderbolt 4 takes 2 hours for a full charge, slower than 2026 models with 100W USB-C fast charging.
Final Verdict
Pros
- Class-leading 2.43 lb weight for 15.6" form factor
- 2x Thunderbolt 4 ports with eGPU support
- MIL-STD-810G durability certification
- User-accessible M.2 storage slot
Cons
- Non-upgradeable 8GB RAM fails 2026 baseline
- Zero NPU cores, incompatible with Copilot+ AI workloads
- Obsolete Iris Xe graphics, unplayable for modern gaming
- Dim 300-nit 60Hz FHD display
- 720p webcam, poor speakers
- $799.99 price is $150 higher than far superior 2026 gaming laptops
Who Is This For?
No one, frankly. As noted in our April 2026 Master Briefing, users should avoid legacy models failing Copilot+ NPU thresholds: this device has no NPU at all, and its 8GB RAM is half the 2026 prosumer standard. The only use case is a user who absolutely requires the lightest possible 15.6" laptop and cannot stretch to a 2026 LG Gram—but even then, the $649.99 HP Pavilion x360 14 offers a convertible form factor and newer CPU for $150 less.
Recommendation
Skip this entirely. For $799.99, you can buy the ASUS TUF Gaming A15 with 16GB DDR5, RTX 3050 graphics, and a 144Hz display—delivering 5x the performance for $150 less. If you need an ultraportable, wait for 2026 Panther Lake models or buy a refurbished 2025 LG Gram with 16GB RAM.