LG unveils the Gram Fold, its first foldable-screen laptop, weighing 2.76 lbs and arriving in South Korea on October 4 for ~$3,700 to rival Asus, Lenovo, and HP
This is an engineering achievement — it's the exact same weight as Microsoft's Surface Laptop in May 2017, which was lighter than Apple's MacBook Air. [embedded post] Forums: Msmash / Slashdot : The First Foldable PC Era is Unfolding Ars OpenForum : The first foldable PC era is unfolding
Context & Ripple Effects
LG is extending its lightweight Gram positioning into a new form factor: its earlier 2.9-pound Gram clamshell showed the company’s emphasis on portability before foldable displays entered the line.
The Gram Fold joins a small but increasingly visible premium-PC category. Asus had already introduced a 17.3-inch foldable model, while a review of its Zenbook found price and software glitches remained meaningful constraints; HP then set an even higher price point with its $5,000-plus Spectre Fold.
First-order effects
- LG gains a foldable-laptop offering against Asus, Lenovo, and HP, with a 2.76-pound design and an initial South Korean launch priced around $3,700.
- Buyers seeking a large flexible display in a portable PC get another option, but at a price that keeps the category firmly premium.
Second-order effects
- Asus, Lenovo, and HP face a closer comparison on weight, device modes, software polish, and price; LG’s pricing sits below HP’s recently announced Spectre Fold but near the level cited for Asus’s reviewed model.
- The launch puts more pressure on foldable-PC makers to demonstrate that flexible hardware solves a practical workflow need, rather than merely offering a novel display.
Third-order effects
- If more established PC brands sustain foldable launches, the format can evolve from isolated flagship experiments into a distinct ultra-premium laptop segment—but software reliability and pricing remain the adoption gates highlighted by prior coverage.
- Competition is likely to center on packaging large screens into lighter devices, making display durability, input design, and operating-system behavior core differentiators rather than secondary specifications.
The trend: Foldable PCs are becoming a multi-vendor premium category, with vendors competing to pair large adaptable displays with conventional laptop portability.