Inverter quiet without the U-shape's install gymnastics.

LG Dual Inverter Smart Window AC (8,500 BTU, LW8024IVSM)

LG

The LW8024IVSM gets you 90% of the Midea U+'s quiet and efficiency in a conventional body that drops into the window like a normal AC. Pick it if the U's bracket install or recall history puts you off — just accept the ThinQ app's mediocre reputation.

LG's answer to the quiet-AC question is brute engineering instead of clever geometry: a dual-rotor inverter compressor that ramps smoothly down to 44 dB in sleep mode — library-quiet — while pushing 8,500 BTU across rooms up to 380 sq ft. Owners consistently describe the same experience: it cools fast, then fades into the background instead of cycling on with a clunk at 3 a.m. Because it's a conventional chassis, installation is the familiar lift, set, extend-the-curtains routine — no saddle bracket, no window-frame clearance puzzle, and it fits standard 22–36 inch openings. Four-way air deflection is a quiet advantage over the Midea's two-way vents if your bed or desk sits off-axis from the window. The weak spot is software. LG ThinQ handles on/off, temperature, scheduling and energy monitoring, and it talks to Alexa and Google — but its app-store reputation is genuinely mixed, and this is not the ecosystem to buy for the app alone. Buy it for the compressor.

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Last reviewed Jul 5, 2026

What we like

• ✓Dual-inverter compressor holds temperature with a steady, low hum instead of cycling
• ✓Conventional install — no bracket, no U-saddle fitting, standard window kit
• ✓4-way air deflection reaches corners the two-way units miss
• ✓Energy Star with claimed 35% margin over the federal efficiency floor

Trade-offs

• −ThinQ app is the weakest link — reviews are consistently mixed
• −Heavier than non-inverter 8K units; still a two-person lift
• −The window stays sealed shut all season, unlike the U-shaped design
• −Rarely discounted as aggressively as the Midea