Lenovo LOQ 15 (15IAX9I) review: It feels like a $750 gaming laptop, but performs better

Announced at CES 2024 earlier this year, Lenovo is set to shake up its lineup of budget gaming laptops next month by releasing the LOQ 15. The idea is simple: if you're on a budget and want to get into PC gaming, Lenovo wants to give you an unparalleled value proposition with the LOQ 15. It's a 15-inch gaming laptop that doesn't have the most premium design, the fastest processor or GPU, or the best-looking display. However, Lenovo has managed to make the LOQ 15 priced at just $750, and that's less than most non-gaming laptops. At that price point, if the LOQ 15 can even play games competently at decent settings and frame rates, it'll be a serious competitor for the best cheap gaming laptop title.

Unlike past versions of the LOQ 15, the 15IAX9I model I reviewed doesn't feature Nvidia RTX 40-series graphics or flashy RGB accents. Instead, it uses a humble Intel i5 processor and dedicated Intel Arc A530M graphics. Still, it manages to seriously impress in terms of quality and performance. Games are not only playable, but run well on high or medium settings. There are sacrifices, sure. But to me, those sacrifices are more than acceptable considering the cost-savings you can get by purchasing the Lenovo LOQ 15 instead of competitors.

About this review: Lenovo loaned us an LOQ 15 for review. The company had no input in this article, and did not see its contents before publishing.

Pricing and availability

Lenovo announced the LOQ 15 at CES 2024, and it will be available starting April 2024. The laptop comes in a few different variants, but I reviewed the 15IAX9I model with Intel Arc graphics. This version is expected to retail for $750 from Lenovo and $700 at Best Buy, although prices could change before the laptop's official release. Our review unit was configured with an Intel Core i5 processor, 12GB of RAM, and Intel Arc A530M dedicated graphics.

Specs

Design and ports

This is where cost-cutting measures are most apparent

Perhaps the area where Lenovo's cost-cutting is most noticeable is in the LOQ 15's design and ports. You wouldn't know that from the laptop's design, though. I think the laptop looks stunning, with sharp edges and a plastic body that gives off the appearance of metal. The screen unfolds 180 degrees, which is great for playing games or watching media in bed or on a couch. There is a thermal shelf, but it lacks the RGB that was previously featured on LOQ 15 laptops. This seems like a good move. The thick chassis, measuring a bit under an inch tall, and the thermal shelf are the only two LOQ 15 features that give off gaming laptop vibes. In public, the LOQ 15 passes off as a workstation laptop, and looks a lot like the HP ZBook Studio G10 I reviewed last year.

The collection of ports available on the LOQ 15 is strange, to say the least. There's a proprietary Lenovo power connector that supplies 170W of power to the LOQ 15. Additionally, you'll find three USB-A ports at USB 3.2 Gen 1 speeds. The only USB-C port supports USB 3.2 Gen 2 speeds, but does offer 140W power delivery and DisplayPort 1.4 connectivity. You'll also find an HDMI 2.1 port, a headphone/microphone 3.5mm jack, and an RJ45 Ethernet connector. There definitely should have been more USB-C ports here, and it's strange that there are no ports at all on the left side of the laptop. It's ridiculously difficult to remove an Ethernet cable from the RJ45 jack. I tried multiple cables, and I needed to pull so hard I worried about tearing the laptop apart.

I think the laptop looks stunning, with sharp edges and a plastic body that gives off the appearance of metal.

In situations like that, and also while daily-driving the laptop, you start to notice the laptop's cheap construction. The plastic chassis creaks a lot, especially in situations where you need to yank an Ethernet cable out of its socket. Overall, Lenovo gets away with a lot due to the LOQ 15's large footprint and thick body. Still, there is a good amount of deck flex and creaking if you press hard enough on the keyboard and palm rests.

Keyboard and touchpad

It's great for a gaming laptop, but that shouldn't surprise you

Gaming laptops aren't known for having the best keyboards and touchpads, but if there's any OEM that we'd expect to bring great ones, it's Lenovo. The company has perfected keyboards on its ThinkPad and Yoga lineups, and its touchpads aren't bad either. Overall, I'd describe the LOQ 15 keyboard as similar to a Yoga keyboard but with deeper travel. There's a full function row, a numpad, and full-size arrow keys. Oh, and the LOQ 15 features a Copilot key as well, if you care about that.

I wrote a handful of articles on the LOQ 15 keyboard, and it's certainly usable for more than just gaming. The full-size arrow keys push the touchpad off-center, which is arguably the LOQ 15's biggest flaw for productivity work. Considering this is a gaming laptop, it likely won't be much of an issue. Using the LOQ 15 with a wireless mouse, like the Alienware Pro I recently reviewed, completely eliminates this issue. Additionally, the presence of a numpad is yet another reason the LOQ 15 might be able to double as a gaming and workstation laptop.

Display

Solid for the price point, but far from outstanding

The display is just fine, and sometimes that's all it has to be. Lenovo included a 15-inch, IPS display on the LOQ 15 with a 1080p resolution. Text is a bit blurry out of the box due to the low resolution, especially at smaller sizes. This isn't as much of an issue while gaming, but the LOQ 15 is noticeably behind more expensive panels featuring a higher resolution and OLED technology. The bezels are pretty large for 2024, and are made of plastic. Included in the top bezel is a 720p webcam that shouldn't be used if you can avoid it due to low quality.

The LOQ 15 can push high frame rates in certain games at certain settings to the 1080p display, taking advantage of the 144Hz refresh rate.

Lenovo says that the LOQ 15 display covers all the sRGB color gamut, and we were able to confirm that in our independent testing. The panel didn't fare as well in the NTSC, AdobeRGB, and P3 gamuts, though.

The lower display quality is both a blessing and a curse. I'd love to see a higher resolution, but a better display would raise the price of the LOQ 15 and require a more powerful GPU. The LOQ 15 can push high frame rates in certain games at certain settings to the 1080p display, taking advantage of the 144Hz refresh rate. In this system, that is more important than having the highest-quality display considering the price. However, you'll want to use it indoors, because we measured a peak brightness of around 323 nits. The LOQ 15 and its matte display were hard to view in direct sunlight.

Performance

Surprisingly "good enough" considering the price point

The LOQ 15 is powered by an Intel i5-12450HX processor and an Intel Arc A350M GPU, and neither of those components jump off the spec sheet. Intel isn't as big of a player in the graphics world, and there are things you give up by choosing a gaming laptop with an Intel Arc graphics card. For example, the Nvidia version of the LOQ 15 has support for DLSS, while the Intel Arc model obviously does not. With all that said, the LOQ 15 performed far better in tests and real-world gaming than I expected.

With all that said, the LOQ 15 performed far better in tests and real-world gaming than I expected.

I played a variety of games on the LOQ 15 connected to wall power, including Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto V, and Forza Horizon 5. While running Fortnite at the game's maximum "epic" settings with unlimited frame rates, there was a bit of stuttering. For the most part, frame rates hovered around 30 FPS, which is playable. Turning down the game's settings to "high" was a dramatic improvement, and I averaged about 60 FPS. In the Forza Horizon 5 benchmark, the LOQ 15 finished with an average of 64 FPS. If you want to play next-gen AAA titles, like Cyberpunk 2077, the LOQ 15 might not be able to handle the most demanding games at the most demanding settings. For most games, the LOQ does just fine.

The LOQ 15 impressed in synthetic benchmarks, too. We tested the laptop in PCMark 10, 3DMark: Time Spy Extreme, and Geekbench 6. Compared to laptops we've recently reviewed around double the price of the LOQ 15, this laptop did not perform badly at all. It scored around a thousand points lower than the three reference gaming laptops, all of which cost about $750 more than the LOQ 15. The Intel i5 chip can't hang in multi-core performance, but single-core performance is right there with the competition. In graphics tests, the Intel Arc A530M gets destroyed by the RTX 4070, although that is to be expected. At just $750, you get a lot for your money when performance is considered with the Lenovo LOQ 15.

Stay near an outlet, though, because the 60Wh battery doesn't last that long. While doing basic productivity work, the LOQ 15 lasted about three hours. Intensive gaming sessions could drop battery life near the hour-long mark, which isn't ideal. However, it comes with the territory of gaming laptops.

Should you buy the Lenovo LOQ 15?

You should buy the Lenovo LOQ 15 if:

• You need a gaming laptop on a sub-$1,000 budget
• You don't need the best display or a premium build
• You can live with Intel Arc graphics instead of Nvidia or AMD graphics

You should NOT buy the Lenovo LOQ 15 if:

• You have more money to spend, and can jump up a tier in the gaming laptop market
• You value high-resolution and color-accurate displays for gaming
• Nvidia RTX 40-series graphics are a must-have in a gaming laptop for you

Most laptops are priced at or around $1,000 these days, and that context is important to understand the Lenovo LOQ 15's value. At $750, you are getting a good keyboard and touchpad, a decent display, and internal components that can handle AAA games. That's hard to beat if you're on a tight budget. I'd probably look at upgrading to the RTX 4050 model if you have the money, but the LOQ 15 I reviewed is more than passable. It has one of the best value propositions of any gaming laptop out right now, and that's the most important factor for some buyers.