Summary

• LG Gram +View is a fantastic portable monitor with great color accuracy and a premium, lightweight design.
• It offers excellent contrast ratio, 2560x1600 resolution, and 16:10 aspect ratio perfect for color-sensitive projects.
• Easy to set up with a single USB Type-C cable connection, but lacks speakers, Switch support, and auto-rotation feature.

LG's Gram laptops have some of the best displays in the business, so it only makes sense for the company to throw its hat in the ring of portable monitors, too. The LG Gram +View first made its debut in 2022, and it's designed to be the perfect pairing for the 16-inch Gram laptops, but it's also just an excellent portable monitor.

It has great color reproduction and contrast in a package that's very lightweight yet still feels premium. There are some missing features I wish it had, but overall, it's still fantastic.

About this review: LG sent us the Gram +View for the purposes of this review. The company had no input in its contents.

Pricing and availability

LG announced the 2023 model of the Gram +View at CES 2023, and it launched later that year. It's still the most recent version of the monitor.

Just like the original, the 2023 LG Gram +View costs $350, putting it in line with most portable monitors from major brands.

What I like

An excellent display

As I've already mentioned, LG typically uses great displays for its LG laptops, and so it makes sense that this would translate to the company's portable monitors, too. Thankfully, it does, and the LG Gram +View offers an excellent screen that outclasses many of the more prominent names, like the Lenovo ThinkVision M14d. It's a large 16-inch panel with a sharp 2560x1600 resolution and a 16:10 aspect ratio, making it an excellent companion for getting work done on the go.

LG touts 99% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut with this screen, which is an excellent number if you're working on color-sensitive projects. Based on my tests, the LG Gram +View delivers, hitting 100% of sRGB and 98% of P3, making for a terrific visual experience all around. Compare that to the Lenovo monitor above, which only hits 71% of DCI-P3, and you can already tell how great of a screen this is in this market.

There's no official claim on LG's spec sheet for the brightness of this display, but I ran these tests too, and I got back a maximum of just under 385 nits, which is solid. The display has a matte finish to reduce reflections, so visibility is still great under bright lighting, though it may not be amazing if you're in direct sunlight.

The contrast ratio is great, too, reaching over 1200:1, a solid rating for a portable monitor. Again, contrast ratios a common drawback of these kinds of monitors, so it's great to see LG brought its A game here.

The design feels premium, yet lightweight

It's also apparent that LG put a lot of effort into designing a good product with the Gram +View. The display is encased in an all-metal chassis, aside from the plastic borders around the screen, and it feels great. Despite being metallic, the monitor is very light, just like LG's excellent laptops, coming in at just 1.45 pounds, or 657 grams, which makes it easy to throw in a backpack along with your laptop.

The monitor also comes with a screen cover that doubles as a kickstand, and it works well. The kickstand can hold the monitor in both landscape and portrait orientation, and it supports both 105 and 120 degree angles. It's not as versatile as you might have hoped, but these two options are probably the ones most will want to use.

Actually using the kickstand is relatively easy, with magnets holding it in place on the back of the display so you can stand it up in either orientation. You may need some help from the manual to figure out the right ways to set up the kickstand, but it's great otherwise.

It's easy to set up

Setting up the LG Gram +View is also super easy. It uses a USB Type-C cable, so all you need is to connect that cable, and you're good to go. It works right away, and there's one port on each side so you can have your laptop on either side of the monitor without worries.

There's also nothing complicated to learn in regards to menus. There's a rocker on the right side that's used to adjust the brightness, and it doubles as a power button, but that's about it.

What I don't like

No sound output (and no Switch support)

One downside of the LG Gram +View is that it's strictly a monitor, which is a bit of a shame if you were also hoping for some audio output. Granted, if you're using a laptop, you probably have better speakers than what a portable monitor would include, but if you wanted to use the monitor with a Nintendo Switch, this could have been useful.

Maybe that doesn't matter much because the monitor also doesn't support the Switch at all. I have another portable monitor I bought for myself, and that one lets me use my Switch with it, so it was a bit deflating to learn that this isn't possible with the LG Gram +View.

Auto rotation doesn't seem to work

One of the features LG touts for the Gram +View is support for automatically rotating the screen, which requires the LG Switch app for Windows or Mac. This would be a very good feature to have, but despite installing the app on two PCs, I wasn't able to get this to work. The feature appears in the LG Switch app, but nothing happens with it enabled. You can always rotate manually, both in the app and in Windows itself.

I also don't like that the LG Switch software packs so many features, like splitting the screen or launching videoconferencing apps, when all I want is to use the auto rotation. There should simply be a driver to enable this, though this isn't a major issue. At the same time, settings that could actually be useful, like changing color temperature and finely tuning color levels, aren't available here. Aside from brightness, the only option that appears in the LG Switch app is a contrast slider.

Should you buy the LG Gram +View?

If you're on the hunt for a portable monitor for your setup, I'd say the LG Gram +View should be one of your first considerations. It's well-built and lightweight, and the display itself is excellent, making this an excellent addition to any mobile work setup. It's also pretty easy to get started with, so there's nothing complicated to learn.

I do wish there were speakers and support for the Switch, though, and I'm not sure why auto-rotation doesn't work. If those are things you were counting on, you'll have to look elsewhere, but otherwise, this is a terrific portable display.

You should buy the LG Gram +View if:

• You want a large portable monitor for working don't he go
• You want the best color accuracy and resolution
• You want something that's still lightweight

You shouldn't buy the LG Gram +View if:

• You want to use it with a Switch
• You need sound output from it
• Auto rotation is a mandatory feature