MSI Alpha 17 vs LG Gram 17 2021 Comparison

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MSI Alpha 17

17.3 inches | September 2020

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LG Gram 17 2021

17 inches | January 2021

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MSI Alpha 17 vs LG Gram 17 2021 Comparison Overview

MSI Alpha 17

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LG Gram 17 2021

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MSI Alpha 17

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LG Gram 17 2021

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In this review, we will be comparing Alpha 17 and Gram 17 2021, two laptops from MSI and LG. MSI Alpha 17 was introduced to market in September 2020 and LG Gram 17 2021 was launched in January 2021. There is only 4 months difference between Alpha 17 and Gram 17 2021 so we are expecting this to be a fair comparison regarding age and technology level.

Click for Available Configurations of the Laptops

Here is a brief look at the main features of MSI Alpha 17 and LG Gram 17 2021 before getting into our more detailed comparison.

MSI Alpha 17 Key Specs

Launched in September 2020
17.3" IPS LCD, 16:9 Aspect Ratio Display
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
GPU: Radeon RX 5600M
16GB Ram
399 x 271 x 28 mm (15.71 x 10.67 x 1.1 inches)
Weight: 2.6 kg (5.73 lbs)

LG Gram 17 2021 Key Specs

Launched in January 2021
17.0" IPS LCD, 16:10 Aspect Ratio Display
CPU: Intel Core i3 1115G4
GPU: Intel UHD Graphics Xe G4
16GB Ram
380.2 x 260.1 x 17.8 mm (14.97 x 10.24 x 0.7 inches)
Weight: 1.35 kg (2.98 lbs)

Let's read on the following sections in order to better understand in detail how Alpha 17 and Gram 17 2021 compares and decide which one is better for you.

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Reasons to choose MSI Alpha 17 over LG Gram 17 2021

Display Size	17.3 inches vs 17 inches	Larger Screen Estate
Refresh Rate	144 Hz vs 60 Hz	Smoother media experience
Contrast Rate	1104:1 vs 951:1	more pleasing colors
Screen Type	Matte vs Glossy	potentially less reflections on screen
CPU Fabrication Process	7 nm vs 10 nm	Newer Generation CPU
GPU Fabrication Process	7 nm vs 10 nm	Newer Generation GPU
GPU FLOPS	5.829 TFLOPS vs 0.84 TFLOPS	Dedicated GPU unit
GPU Type	Dedicated vs Integrated	More RAM Options
Upgradable RAM	Yes vs No	Connect more device at the same time
Number of USB-A Ports	3x USB 3.2 vs 2x USB 3.2	Connects to the local network via Ethernet RJ45
Ethernet RJ45 Port	Yes vs No

Reasons to choose LG Gram 17 2021 over MSI Alpha 17

Weight	1.35 kg vs 2.60 kg	1.25 kg lighter
Screen-to-Body Ratio	~84.8% vs ~76.3%	Larger screen area ratio
Side Bezel Thickness	7 mm vs 8 mm	1 mm thinner bezels
Noise Level	30.5 dB vs 54 dB	Less fan noise
Screen PPI	178 ppi vs 127 ppi	More pixels per inch
Screen Resolution	2560 x 1600 pixels vs 1920 x 1080 pixels	Higher pixel count screen
sRGB Color Space	98.8% vs 59%	Wider sRGB Color Space Coverage
Adobe RGB Profile	83.9% vs 41%	Wider Adobe RGB Coverage
Max Brightness	350 nits vs 250 nits	Brighter Screen
Response Time	30 ms vs 35 ms	Faster Response screen
Fingerprint Sensor	Yes vs No	Easy login with fingerprint
Number of USB-C Ports	2x USB 4.0 vs 1x USB 3.2	Connect more device at the same time
USB-C Port Type	v4.0 vs v3.2	Faster USB-C connection
Thunderbolt	v4 vs No	Support audio, data, power and video all through one single port

Common Strengths of LG Gram 17 2021 and MSI Alpha 17

Fast Charging Support	Yes vs Yes	Charge the battery in a shorter time
USB Power Delivery	Yes vs Yes	Charging via USB port gives flexibility
RAM Type	PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x) vs PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x)	Fast RAM type
Upgradable Storage	Yes vs Yes	Option to increase the Storage size
SSD Type	NVMe vs NVMe	Faster Data Transfers
Wi-Fi Standard	v6 vs v6	Fast and Reliable Wi-Fi Connections
Bluetooth Standard	v5.1 vs v5.1	Fast and Reliable Bluetooth Connections
HDMI Output	1x HDMI 2.0 vs 1x HDMI 2.0	Connect to External Displays via HDMI cable
VGA Output	No vs No	Connect to External Displays via VGA cable
Built-in SD Card Reader	Yes vs Yes	Read & Write SD Cards
Numeric Pad	Yes vs Yes	Fast way to input numbers
Keyboard Backlight	Yes vs Yes	Easily see the keys under low light

Common Weaknesses of LG Gram 17 2021 and MSI Alpha 17

Touchscreen Capability	No vs No	No Touchscreen Capability
HDR Support	No vs No	No HDR Support

MSI Alpha 17 vs LG Gram 17 2021: Physical Specs Comparison

In this section, we will be comparing the physical specifications and body features of the MSI Alpha 17 and the LG Gram 17 2021.

Physical Specs
Weight	2.6 kg (5.73 lbs)	1.35 kg (2.98 lbs)
Surface Area	1081 cm2 (167.6 inches2)	989 cm2 (153.3 inches2)
Screen to Surface Ratio	~76.3%	~84.8%
Side Bezel Thickness	~8 mm	~7 mm
Weight per Inch of Screen	0.15 kg/inch	0.08 kg/inch
	0.33 lbs/inch	0.176 lbs/inch
Colors	Black	White, Black, Silver
Cover Opening Angle	160Â°	140Â°

Comparison of the MSI Alpha 17 and the LG Gram 17 2021 External Dimensions

Weight

Alpha 17 weighs 2.6 kg (5.73 lbs), whereas the Gram 17 2021 weighs 1.35 kg (2.98 lbs). There is a notable difference in weight between these two laptops. However, it's important to consider that comparing their weights directly may not provide a complete picture since they also have different display sizes.

Weight Comparison

Displays size larger than 17.0 inches

MSI Alpha 17 2.60 kg

LG Gram 17 2021 1.35 kg

Min 1.29 kg

Average 2.77 kg

Max 4.23 kg

Thickness Comparison

Displays size larger than 17.0 inches

MSI Alpha 17 28.00 mm

LG Gram 17 2021 17.80 mm

Min 8.60 mm

Average 24.42 mm

Max 38.00 mm

Another value that we use for comparing the weights of the laptops is the Weight per Inch of Screen, which is calculated by dividing the total weight of the model with its usable diagonal screen size. This value for the MSI Alpha 17 is 0.15 kg/inch.In comparison, this value for the LG Gram 17 2021 is 0.08 kg/inch.Here are some of the best performing laptops in this area:

Microsoft Surface Go 4: 0.05 kg/inch
LG Gram SuperSlim 15.6 2023: 0.06 kg/inch
Asus ProArt PZ13 HT5306: 0.06 kg/inch
Asus Zenbook A14 UX3407: 0.06 kg/inch
Microsoft Surface Pro 12: 0.06 kg/inch
Dell Latitude 7330: 0.07 kg/inch
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 2: 0.07 kg/inch
LG Gram 14 2022: 0.07 kg/inch

MSI Alpha 17 vs LG Gram 17 2021: Internals (CPU, GPU, RAM, Battery, SSD, etc.) Comparison

CPU Comparison

CPU Model	AMD Ryzen 7 4800H	Intel Core i3 1115G4 Intel Core i5 1135G7 Intel Core i7 1165G7
Base Frequency	2.9 GHz	1.7-3.0 GHz
Turbo Frequency	4.2 GHz	4.1 GHz
Number of Cores	8	2
Number of Threads	16	4
L3 Cache	8 MB	6 MB
Integrated GPU	Radeon Vega 7	Intel UHD Graphics Xe G4
CPU Fabrication Process	7 nm	10 nm
Geekbench 5 (Single)	1198	1264
Geekbench 5 (Multi)	7176	2563
Cinebench 23 (Single)	1255	1330
Cinebench 23 (Multi)	11236	3144

Above you can see the CPU options and the CineBench and GeekBench test scores for both laptops, which gives an idea about what kind of performance difference you may experience between the MSI Alpha 17 and LG Gram 17 2021.

You may also read reviews of latest laptops with the same CPUs and compare them:

Laptops with: AMD Ryzen 7 4800H

Laptops with: Intel Core i3 1115G4

GPU Comparison

GPU Model	Radeon RX 5600M	Intel UHD Graphics Xe G4
Base Clock Frequency	1035 MHz	300 MHz
Boost CLock Frequency	1265 MHz	1100 MHz
TGP (Total Graphics Power)		15 W
Type	Dedicated	Integrated
FLOPS	5.829 TFLOPS	844.8 GFLOPS
Memory Size	6 GB	System Shared
Memory Type	GDDR6	System Shared
Memory Bus	192 bit	System Shared
Memory Speed	~12 Gbps	System Shared
Shading Units Cores	2304	384
TMUs	144	24
ROPs	64	12

GPU is as critical as the CPU for graphic heavy applications and the table above gives a picture of how the two GPU compares. FLOPS is a measure of a GPU's performance based on the number of floating-point arithmetic calculations that the processor can perform within a second. MSI Alpha 17 has a FLOPS value of 5.829 TFLOPS whereas the LG Gram 17 2021 ' has a FLOPS value of 0.84 TFLOPS. If graphical performance of the laptop is important for your use type, the MSI Alpha 17 may be the better choice between these two setups.

RAM Comparison

RAM	16GB 32GB 64GB	16GB 32GB
Memory Bus	2x8 GB	2x8 GB
RAM Clock	3200 MHz	4266 MHz
RAM Type	DDR4	LPDDR4X
Upgradable	Yes	No
Max RAM Size	64 GB
Total Slots	2
Memory Bus	PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x)	PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x)

Both laptops, the Alpha 17 and the Gram 17 2021, come with similar RAM capacities of 16 GB, providing comparable performance in memory-intensive tasks.

LOCAL LLM Compatibility Evaluation

This quick guide shows what types of large language models (LLMs) each of these laptops could support, based on their respective hardware specifications. It's meant to help you compare their suitability for running AI models locally.

LLM Category	MSI Alpha 17	LG Gram 17 (2021)
Small Models(1-3B):Examples: Phi-2, Qwen-1.8B	✔ Run smoothly.	✔ Run smoothly.
Medium Models(7-8B):Examples: Mistral-7B, Qwen-7B	✔ Good performance.	✖ Not supported.
Large Models(13-30B):Examples: Mixtral, Qwen-14B	✖ Not supported.	✖ Not supported.
Extra-Large Models(65B+):Examples: LLaMA2-70B, Qwen1.5-72B	✖ Not supported on most systems. Requires high-end GPU or advanced setup.	✖ Not supported on most systems. Requires high-end GPU or advanced setup.

Note: Optimized (e.g., 4-bit) models may run on limited hardware. Performance depends on runtime and setup.

📌 MoE Models: Some models like Mixtral 8x7B and Qwen3-30B-A3B use a Mixture of Experts (MoE) design, activating only part of the model during inference. This means they can often run efficiently on laptops with 12–16 GB of VRAM when quantized.

BATTERY

BATTERY	65 Wh	80 Wh
Battery Type	Li-Po	Li-Ion
Replaceable	No	No
Fast Charging	Yes	No
USB Power Delivery	Yes	Yes
Charging Port Position	Bottom	Left
Charge Power	230 W	65 W
AC Adapter Weight	911 gramm	287 gramm

On the other hand, the Gram 17 2021 features a higher battery capacity of 80 Wh, delivering longer usage time compared to the Alpha 17's 65 Wh.

Battery Comparison

Displays size larger than 17.0 inches

MSI Alpha 17 65 Wh

LG Gram 17 2021 80 Wh

Min 37.00 Wh

Average 77.38 Wh

Max 100.00 Wh

STORAGE
Both laptops, the Alpha 17 and the Gram 17 2021 have similar max. storage capacities of 1 TB, allowing for ample space to store files and applications.

Storage Options	512 GB, 1 TB	512 GB, 1 TB
Upgradable	Yes	Yes
Total Slots	2	2
Storage type	SSD (M2)	SSD (M2)
NVMe	Yes	Yes

If your budget allows, we recommend opting for the largest possible disk size, considering the potential increase in storage capacity needs in the future. However, please keep in mind the question 'What will the laptop be used for?' when making this decision. Of course, you can later upgrade the hard disk capacity by getting a larger disk. However, if your laptop has only one disk slot, it may not be as straightforward as a RAM upgrade, where you simply add or replace a module, as moving or cloning files to a new disk may be necessary.

MSI Alpha 17 vs LG Gram 17 2021: Display Comparison

The display is an essential aspect to consider when comparing the MSI Alpha 17 and LG Gram 17 2021 since its is the component that you interact the most and significantly impact the experience.

Screen Area and Dimensions

Now let's look at the comparison of the actual display areas of both laptops below, keeping the bezels around the screens out of the equation. Alpha 17 has a display size of 17.3".On the other hand, Gram 17 2021 has a smaller 17.0" display.The total usable screen area of the Alpha 17 is 825cm² / 128inch² whereas the Gram 17 2021's total usable screen area is 838cm² / 130inch².

PPI (Pixels per Inch)
Additionally, the Gram 17 2021 features a higher pixel density with 178 pixels per inch (PPI), ensuring sharper image details.

Screen PPI (Pixels Per Inch) Comparison

Displays size larger than 17.0 inches

MSI Alpha 17 127 ppi

LG Gram 17 2021 178 ppi

Min 106 PPI

Average 142 PPI

Max 266.00 PPI

Refresh Rate
The Alpha 17 offers a higher refresh rate of 144 Hz, resulting in smoother motion and improved visual experience.

Furthermore, the Gram 17 2021 boasts a faster response time of 30.0 ms, reducing motion blur for fast-paced content.

Brightness
The Gram 17 2021 offers a higher maximum brightness of 350 nits, delivering a brighter screen.

Brightness Comparison

Displays size larger than 17.0 inches

MSI Alpha 17 250 nits

LG Gram 17 2021 350 nits

Min

200 nits

Average 376 nits

Max 1200.00 nits

MSI Alpha 17 vs LG Gram 17 2021 Connectivity Comparison

In terms of connectivity,

Wifi
Both laptops offer the same Wi-Fi standard (v6), ensuring fast and reliable wireless connections.

Below, you'll find a Wi-Fi Versions Table, along with their release dates and speeds, to provide a brief overview of its development.

Wi-Fi Versions and Speeds

Standard	Speed	Release Date	Network	Frequency Bands (GHz)
Wi-Fi 7	up to 40 Gbps (5 GB/s)	2023	802.11be	2.4, 5, 6
Wi-Fi 6E	up to 9.6 Gbps (1.2 GB/s)	2020	802.11ax	2.4, 5, 6
Wi-Fi 6	up to 9.6 Gbps (1.2 GB/s)	2019	802.11ax	2.4, 5
Wi-Fi 5	up to 6.93 Gbps (866.25 MB/s)	2014	802.11ac	2.4, 5
Wi-Fi 4	up to 600 Mbps (75 MB/s)	2009	802.11n	2.4, 5

* Please note that the provided transfer rates are maximum theoretical values, and real-life performance may vary based on environmental factors.

USB
Both Alpha 17 and Gram 17 2021 have USB-A ports. Alpha 17 has 3x USB 3.2 USB-A ports, while Gram 17 2021 has 2x USB 3.2 USB-A ports.
Both Alpha 17 and Gram 17 2021 have USB Type-C ports. Alpha 17 has 1x USB 3.2 USB Type-C ports, while Gram 17 2021 has 2x USB 4.0 USB Type-C ports.

Below, you'll find a table of USB ports, along with their release dates and speeds.
To mitigate the confusion caused by generation names, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) suggests using marketing names like USB 5Gbps, USB 10Gbps, and so forth, based on their respective transfer rates.

USB Type and Speeds

USB Type	Version	Speed	Date	Other Features/Explanations
USB4	Gen 4 (2.0)	80 Gbps	2022	Also known as USB 80Gbps
USB4	Gen 3×2	40 Gbps	2019	Also known as USB 40Gbps
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 2x2	20 Gbps	2019	Double the data transfer rates of Gen 2
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 2	10 Gbps	2017	Previously known as USB 3.1
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 1	5 Gbps	2017	Previously known as USB 3.0
USB 3.1	3.1 Gen 2	10 Gbps	2013	Faster data transfer rates
USB 3.0	3.1 Gen 1	5 Gbps	2010	SuperSpeed USB, improved data transfer rates
USB 2.0	2.0	480 Mbps	2000	High-speed data transfer
USB 1.0	1.0	1.5 Mbps	1996	Original USB standard

Thunderbolt
Gram 17 2021 is equipped with Thunderbolt 4 port. Alpha 17 does not have Thunderbolt port.

HDMI
Both Alpha 17 and Gram 17 2021 feature an HDMI port (1x HDMI 2.0) for connecting to external monitors.

Below, you'll find a comparison table detailing different HDMI versions, including their bandwidth, color depth, maximum resolution, and release dates. This information can be helpful in understanding the capabilities of each HDMI version and choosing the most suitable one for your needs.

HDMI Comparison Table

HDMI Version	Maximum Resolution	Bandwidth (Gbps)	Color Depth (bits)	Release Date
HDMI 2.1-2.1b	7680 x 4320 *(8K)* @ 60p 3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 120p	48.0	48	2017
HDMI 2.0-2.0b	3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 60p	18.0	48	2013
HDMI 1.4-1.4b	3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 30p	10.2	48	2009
HDMI 1.3-1.3a	2560 x 1440 @ 60p	10.2	48	2006
HDMI 1.0-1.2a	1920 x 1200 @ 60p	4.95	24	2002

* Please note that the provided resolution values represent the maximum supported resolution, and actual display quality may depend on other factors such as source content and connected devices.

SD Card Reader
Both Alpha 17 and Gram 17 2021 come with an SD Card Reader for easy access to memory cards.

Audio Jack
Both Alpha 17 and Gram 17 2021 are equipped with a 3.5mm Audio Jack, providing seamless connection to headphones and speakers.

To summarize the connectivity and ports details, please refer to the table below to see them listed.

Connectivity and Ports
WiFi Standard (latest: v7)	v6	v6
Bluetooth (latest: v5.4)	v5.1	v5.1
USB-A (latest: 3.2)	3x USB 3.2	2x USB 3.2
USB Type-C (latest: USB4 2.0)	1x USB 3.2	2x USB 4.0
Thunderbolt (latest: 5)	No	Thunderbolt 4
HDMI (latest: 2.1)	1x HDMI 2.0	1x HDMI 2.0
Display Port (latest: v2.0)	No	No
VGA	No	No
Fingerprint Sensor	No	Yes
Optical Drive	No	No
Audio Jack 3.5mm	Yes	Yes
Ethernet RJ45	Yes	No
SD CardReader	Yes	Yes
Proprietary Charging Port	Yes	No