January 19th, 2022, Graeme Bruce
The forthcoming UltraGear is LG’s first gaming laptop, which will stand alongside its more business-focused lightweight Gram series.
While the tech giant has been manufacturing gaming-focused monitors, this move from LG – whose bread and butter is home appliances and home entertainment products – appears to be leveraging its brand to further expand its presence in the gaming space.
YouGov data indicates it has plenty of brand equity to spend. YouGov BrandIndex shows that, compared to other major laptop brands, LG has the highest Impression score among different types of gamers.
A brand’s Impression score is a net measure based on responses to two questions: “Overall, of which of the following brands do you have a positive impression?” and “Now which of the following brands do you have a negative impression?” By calculating the difference between these two scores, we create our Impression metric.
LG tops other brands among PC gamers (with a score of 33), esports fans (32), and self-described “hardcore” gamers (34).
LG holds the top spot among these groups, albeit with slim margins, slightly ahead of HP and Dell, who have been mainstays in the gaming rig world.
HP, with its stable of gaming notebooks, also gets high marks among PC gamers in general (32), esports fans (27) and hardcore gamers (28).
Gamers also hold the Dell brand in high regard – it returns an Impression score of 29 among PC gamers, 31 among esports fans, and 31 among hardcore gamers.
LG joins a growing list of laptop makers that don’t have a long history making gaming-focused computers, including Lenovo and Acer, whose products have traditionally been geared toward productivity. Among PC gamers, Lenovo scores a 17, 22 among esports fans and 24 among hardcore gamers, while Acer registers scores of 15, 19 and 18 among those groups.
Dell-owned Alienware, a considerably more niche brand than others on our list, clocks an Impression score of 12 among PC gamers, 15 with esports fans and 21 with hardcore gamers.
It’s worth noting that Mac – not traditionally known to make gaming-friendly laptops – has roughly the same Impression score as Alienware among hardcore gamers (21). While gaming has not been a priority for the Mac’s makers in the past, it’s clear Apple has long-term ambitions in the gaming space by way of Apple Arcade, its video-game subscription service.
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Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. Each brand’s Impression score is based on the questions: “Overall, of which of the following brands do you have a positive impression?” and “Now which of the following brands do you have a negative impression?” and delivered as a net score between –100 and +100. Scores are based on a sample size of 635-1,556 US PC gamers, 781-1,483 US esports fans, and 112 – 1,499 adults who describe themselves as “hardcore” gamers between January 7, 2021 and January 6, 2022. Learn more about BrandIndex.