LG has announced it will enter the gaming laptop market with the UltraGear 17G90Q, and it’s promising to be an interesting option for consumers thanks to several notable components.
Powering the 17G90Q is an 11th-gen Intel Tiger Lake H processor, joined by an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Max-Q graphics card. LG has also equipped the system with dual-channel memory (DDR4), M.2 dual SSD slots (NVMe), up to 1TB of storage, and RAM configuration options up to 32GB.
The 17-inch IPS panel features a response time of 1 millisecond, as well as a 300Hz refresh rate. You’ll be able to play video games on a full HD 1080p screen, alongside a 16:9 aspect ratio. If you’re running titles that are heavily dependent on the GPU, LG has incorporated a cooling system that relies on a vapor chamber to keep the laptop running cool.
The UltraGear 17G90Q gaming laptop will share a similar design with LG’s lineup of lightweight laptops. In addition to a 93Wh battery, the thickness of the system measures under 21.4 millimeters. The weight of the machine, meanwhile, is less than 2.7 kilograms. All the aforementioned features are housed within an aluminum casing that promises durability, while the laptop itself has been designed with a purple-gray color.
Other noteworthy specifications consist of a fingerprint reader situated on the power button, a 1080p webcam, and a per-key RGB backlit gaming keyboard. The laptop also offers a range of ports: two USB-C ports, an additional USB-C 3.2 2×1 port, two USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 ports, HDMI and RJ45 Ethernet ports, a headphone jack, and a microSD slot.
Elsewhere, the 17G90Q will be compatible with LG’s gaming software, LG UltraGear Studio. Users will be able to optimize their gaming experience by customizing various aspects pertaining to performance in real-time, including CPU clock, GPU TDP and clock, and memory share rate.
As for the laptop’s audio capabilities, LG has built a two-way speaker system that supports DTS:X Ultra, which allows sound designers to apply a different quality to each sound attribute such as location, movement, and size. Furthermore, the laptop comes with Intel Killer Wireless, a feature that leverages Wi-Fi connectivity and powerful gaming network technology to minimize lag, latency, and packet loss.
Pricing has yet to be revealed, but more details will be unveiled at LG’s CES presentation on January 4. The 17G90Q will be available in the U.S. and South Korea from early 2022, while other markets will follow thereafter.
LG highlighted the fact that its first gaming laptop has already won the CES 2022 Innovation Award. That said, you do have to question the timing of the announcement. Opting for an 11th-gen CPU may not be particularly ideal given that 12th-gen gaming laptops will be introduced in 2022. For example, Intel’s Alder Lake-P chips have already demonstrated they can outperform both AMD’s flagship processor and Apple’s M1 Max CPU.
