Lenovo LOQ 15 evaluate: A speedy price range laptop computer with one massive flaw

Finest Costs At present: Lenovo LOQ 15

Price range gaming laptops are in a pickle. Players typically anticipate them at a value round $1,000 or much less, however between rising GPU costs and inside commerce wars, delivery a laptop computer with discrete graphics for underneath $1,000 isn’t simple.

The result’s laptops just like the Lenovo LOQ 15. It’s profitable in delivering strong recreation efficiency for the value, however Lenovo cuts a whole lot of corners to make that attainable.

Lenovo LOQ 15: Specs and options

The Lenovo LOQ 15’s specs really feel constructed across the Nvidia RTX 5060, which takes heart stage. The AMD Ryzen 7 250 is an appropriate processor, however primarily based on the older Zen 4 structure, which has penalties on the subject of efficiency.

• Mannequin quantity: 15AHP10
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 250
• Reminiscence: 16GB DDR5-5600
• Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5060 8GB (115W TGP)
• NPU: As much as 16 TOPS
• Show: 15.6-inch 1,920 x 1,080 IPS with 144Hz refresh fee, G-Sync
• Storage: 512GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 strong state drive
• Webcam: 5MP with digital privateness shutter
• Connectivity: 3x USB-A, 1x USB-C with 100 watts of Energy Supply and DisplayPort 1.4, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x Gigabit Ethernet, 1x 3.5mm combo audio jack, 1x barrel plug energy adapter
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3
• Biometrics: None
• Battery capability: 60 watt-hours
• Dimensions: 14.17 x 10.19 x 0.94 inches
• Weight: 5.29 kilos
• Working System: Home windows 11 House
• Worth: $809.99

The laptop computer additionally sticks with simply 16GB of RAM and a 512GB strong state drive, each of that are actually the naked minimal for a gaming laptop computer in 2025, no matter value.

At the very least the value is engaging. Though it carries an MSRP of $1,299.99, it’s at present bought for $809.99 by Lenovo’s web site. Lenovo affords an improve to 32GB for $65, and an improve to 1TB of strong state storage for $60. The SSD improve is a must have.

Lenovo affords quite a lot of different LOQ 15 configurations, new and outdated, so pay shut consideration to the specs of any mannequin before you purchase. This evaluate covers the late 2025 LOQ 15 mannequin 15AHP10.

Lenovo LOQ 15: Design and construct high quality

Foundry / Matthew Smith

Lenovo’s PC gaming sub-brand, Legion, has earned a strong repute lately—however the LOQ 15 isn’t a part of it. Or is it? Eager-eyed players may discover the LOQ brand shares the identical stylized “O” discovered within the Legion brand.

In any case, the LOQ 15 undoubtedly lacks the engaging design of Lenovo’s Legion laptops. It’s as an alternative a easy grey machine with minimal branding. If Lenovo swapped the branding to IdeaPad and bought it as a price range desktop alternative, effectively, I don’t suppose anybody would bat an eye fixed. All of which is to say: the laptop computer seems to be a bit drab.

Functionally, it’s about what anybody would anticipate from a 15-inch desktop alternative. It’s a thick machine, measuring as much as 0.94 inches in profile, and it weighs in at 5.29 kilos. It’s solely 14 inches vast and 10 inches deep, nonetheless, that are frequent dimensions for a 15- or 16-inch machine. Because of this, the laptop computer suits snugly in my backpack’s laptop computer compartment.

Construct high quality is sufficient. Fake-metallic plastic is the fabric of alternative. The chassis in all fairness inflexible however some flex could be discovered alongside the keyboard, in addition to when opening or closing the show. It’s ok for a price range machine, but it surely doesn’t stand out.

Lenovo LOQ 15: Keyboard, trackpad, mouse

Foundry / Matthew Smith

Keyboard high quality is commonly a spotlight for Lenovo’s laptops, however the LOQ 15’s keyboard didn’t depart the same old constructive impression. I feel the quantity of key journey is ok, however the bottoming motion felt extra delicate than different latest Lenovo laptops. I’d like each tactile and audible suggestions. For those who like a quiet keyboard, although, you may take pleasure in it.

Whereas the important thing motion wasn’t my choice, the keyboard structure is a constructive. Lenovo squeezes in a keyboard with a numpad. Regardless of that, the first alphanumeric keys are typically giant, whereas the numpad keys are slimmer than regular. The keyboard additionally gives outsized arrow keys, which I feel is an effective transfer for a gaming laptop computer.

As with most price range gaming laptops, the touchpad is simply kind of… there. It measures about 4.5 inches vast and three inches deep, which isn’t giant for a 15-inch laptop computer. And whereas the floor is responsive sufficient, it feels cheap. The touchpad gives a bodily mouse motion, but it surely’s shallow and appears hole.

With that mentioned, these downsides are frequent for a price range gaming laptop computer. PC video games are sometimes performed with an exterior mouse, so the touchpad turns into much less of a precedence.

Lenovo LOQ 15: Show, audio

Foundry / Matthew Smith

The Lenovo LOQ 15 ships with a 15.6-inch 1080p IPS show with a 144Hz refresh fee. And actually? It’s a little bit of a catastrophe.

See, there’s one specification that stands out as moderately odd on Lenovo’s web site. It lists “25ms.” No context is supplied, however I anticipate that is meant to be the panel’s pixel response time. And on the subject of pixel response instances, effectively, 25 milliseconds might as effectively be an eternity.

And right here’s the actual downside: this specification wasn’t my first indication that the panel was an issue. As an alternative, I seen one thing was fishy whereas transferring home windows across the show on the Home windows desktop. Usually, a 144Hz IPS panel will look crisp in movement. However on the LOQ 15 I seen enormous, smeary trails following textual content and icons. I seen an analogous challenge in video games, which invariably appeared extra like a 60Hz panel (or even perhaps worse) than a 144Hz show.

That’s an enormous downside. It will be affordable, in fact, to anticipate even a price range gaming laptop computer to ship with a show that’s good for gaming. However that’s not what I noticed from the LOQ 15.

However hey, not less than the show helps Nvidia G-Sync. In order that’s one thing.

Movement efficiency apart, the IPS panel is in any other case a typical instance of the breed. Shade efficiency is first rate, however the distinction ratio is low because of the show’s incapacity to achieve a real, inky black stage. Due to that, the show is a more sensible choice for shiny, colourful video games than for darker, extra atmospheric content material. The show can also be moderately dim even at most brightness, so it’s uncomfortable to make use of in a brightly lit room.

Audio, in the meantime, is delivered by a pair of two-watt audio system. They’re not going to impress however do handle to supply a wholesome most quantity and affordable readability in most conditions. They may change into muddy and harsh when listening to music at excessive volumes however they’re wonderful for video games the place audio presentation isn’t as crucial.  

Lenovo LOQ 15: Webcam, microphone, biometrics

There’s not quite a bit to say concerning the Lenovo LOQ 15’s webcam and microphone. It ships with a 5MP webcam that gives acceptable picture high quality for Zoom calls, but it surely’s nothing particular. The identical could be mentioned of the dual-array microphone, which is ok however doesn’t stand out. An digital privateness shutter is on the market.

Biometrics, however, are no-go. That’s typical for a price range gaming laptop computer, however one thing you’ll sometimes discover in the event you spring for another priced round $1,000 and above.

Lenovo LOQ 15: Connectivity

Foundry / Matthew Smith

The Lenovo LOQ 15 has a whole lot of connectivity. It contains three USB-A ports, one USB-C port with Energy Supply and DisplayPort, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet (RJ-45), and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. Energy is delivered over a barrel-plug connector. It is a wide selection of connectivity that may deal with most conditions. An SD card reader is the one choice notably lacking, however SD card readers aren’t frequent on gaming laptops.

Nonetheless, the out there connectivity is fundamental when it comes to technical specs. The USB-A ports all assist USB 3.2 Gen 1 with 5Gbps knowledge speeds. The USB-C port is USB 3.2 Gen 2 with 10Gbps of information. There’s no Thunderbolt and no high-data-rate USB. Additionally, the USB-C port’s Energy Supply solely reaches 100 watts, which isn’t sufficient to completely energy the laptop computer at load.

To be truthful, that is all more-or-less the norm for a price range gaming laptop computer. It’s not affordable to anticipate leading edge connectivity in a laptop computer that has Nvidia discrete graphics, but retails underneath $1,000.

The LOQ 15 additionally sticks to Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 for wi-fi connectivity. Wi-Fi 7 is the newest normal, and lots of laptops assist it, whereas price range machines typically get by with Wi-Fi 6E. Wi-Fi 6 is a a lot older normal at this level and it lacks the high-speed 6GHz band that was launched with Wi-Fi 6E.

Lenovo LOQ 15: Efficiency

The Lenovo LOQ 15’s internals pair an AMD Ryzen 7 250 processor with Nvidia’s RTX 5060 discrete graphics. The Ryzen 7 250 is an eight-core, 16-thread processor with a most clock pace of 5.1GHz. The RTX 5060, in the meantime, has 8GB of VRAM and a most graphics energy of 115 watts. This core duo is flanked by 16GB of DDR5-5600 reminiscence and 512GB of strong state storage.

Foundry / Matthew Smith

First up is PCMark 10, and also you may discover one thing odd concerning the outcomes. The LOQ 15 really crashed mid-way by the benchmark, in the intervening time the Nvidia GPU needed to be engaged, regardless of efforts to regulate settings (like turning off Nvidia Optimus and G-Sync) to easy issues over. This isn’t a novel challenge for the LOQ 15. PCWorld evaluations have, on uncommon events, run into points with PCMark 10 failing to complete a benchmark run for opaque causes.

Nonetheless, the Lenovo LOQ 15 did report Productiveness a rating for the Essentails portion of the benchmark, which is the primary half, and PCWorld has data of these scores posted by different laptops. So, that’s what you see above.

And, reality be advised, it’s not too thrilling. The Necessities duties—which embrace internet shopping and video conferencing—are vital, however not precisely tough for a contemporary Home windows gaming laptop computer.

Foundry / Matthew Smith

Let’s transfer on to a extra illuminating benchmark: Cinebench 2024. It is a closely multi-threaded CPU check that advantages from numerous high-performance cores. The AMD Ryzen 7 250 has simply eight cores, nonetheless—which isn’t all that many in 2025. On high of that, the Ryzen 7 250 is predicated on the Zen 4 processor structure, not AMD’s newer Zen 5.

The Cinebench 2024 outcomes undergo consequently. The multi-core rating of 818 isn’t horrible however, when in comparison with a spread of gaming laptops, it’s actually in the direction of the decrease finish of what’s out there.

Foundry / Matthew Smith

Subsequent up is Handbrake, a program that may transcode quite a lot of video codecs. We use it to transform a characteristic size movie from .MP4 to .MKV format, a process which takes roughly six minutes on the Lenovo LOQ 15. That when once more is in the direction of the upper finish of what’s out there from a contemporary gaming laptop computer. Nonetheless, the Ryzen 7 250 is aggressive with Intel Core 7 chips just like the Core 7 240H, in addition to older {hardware} just like the Intel Core i7-13650HX.

Foundry / Matthew Smith

It’s clear the Ryzen 7 250, although an honest performer for a price range gaming laptop computer, isn’t going to set data. However what concerning the Nvidia RTX 5060 cell? It’s arguably a very powerful piece of silicon within the laptop computer, because it contributes essentially the most to recreation efficiency.

3DMark Fireplace Strike returned a rating of 11,779, whereas Port Royale (a ray traced benchmark) reported a rating of seven,529.

These outcomes are a little bit of a combination. On the plus aspect, the Lenovo LOQ 15 gives good efficiency for an RTX 5060 laptop computer. The RTX 5060 additionally posts modest however noticeable enhancements in each benchmarks.

However, although, the RTX 5060’s achieve over the RTX 4060 is slim for a brand new era of {hardware}. It’s there, but it surely’s slim.

Foundry / Matthew Smith

Shifting on to actual video games, we first come to Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and an older title most fashionable gaming laptops can deal with with ease. The LOQ 15 isn’t any exception, because it averaged 118 frames per second at 1080p and the Highest element setting.

The LOQ 15’s rating is unremarkable for a gaming laptop computer with RTX 5060, although. Maybe we’re taking a look at a CPU bottleneck, because the aggressive programs that rating higher on this recreation additionally beat the LOQ 15 in CPU benchmarks.

Foundry / Matthew Smith

Metro Exodus can also be an older title, however one which’s nonetheless tough for contemporary laptops to run on the Excessive element preset. Right here, the LOQ 15 managed to achieve a mean of 49 frames per second, which is a strong end result. The Alienware 16 Aurora with RTX 5060 isn’t practically as fast.

The LOQ 15 with RTX 5060 additionally has a commanding lead over older RTX 4060 laptops, which cluster round 40 FPS on common.

Foundry / Matthew Smith

We wrap issues up with Cyberpunk 2077. Although the sport has a repute for demanding system necessities, the LOQ 15 didn’t have a lot bother, because it managed to achieve a mean of 91 frames per second at 1080p and the Extremely preset with out ray tracing.

The system-slaying Overdrive preset tanked efficiency down to only 17 FPS. However that’s hardly a shock, as even RTX 5080 laptops barely nudge over 30 FPS at that preset.

It must be famous that video games with DLSS 4, like Cyberpunk 2077, can attain significantly better efficiency with DLSS 4 and body era engaged. For instance, the LOQ 15 averaged solely 36 FPS at Extremely when ray tracing was turned on—however DLSS 4 with 2x Body Gen boosted efficiency to 99 FPS.

One remaining {hardware} concern value mentioning is the laptop computer’s 16GB of RAM and 512GB of strong state storage. The RAM must be sufficient for many fashionable titles, but it surely doesn’t depart a lot room for future-proofing. The 512GB SSD, however, is already borderline unusable for a gaming laptop computer. Simply three or 4 fashionable video games, like Fortnite or Name of Responsibility, will replenish the drive. You’ll want an exterior SSD or a high-speed Web connection that makes putting in and un-installing digitally owned titles much less painful.

Lenovo LOQ 15: Battery life and portability

The LOQ 15’s cheaper price forces a concession in battery life. It gives simply 60 watt-hours of capability. That’s not a whole lot of capability for a gaming laptop computer—or any fashionable Home windows laptop computer, actually. The HP Victus 15 has a 70 watt-hour battery, for instance, and the Dell G15 has an 86 watt-hour battery.

On the plus aspect, the LOQ 15 helps Nvidia Optimus switchable graphics. Which means the Nvidia RTX 5060 could be turned off in favor of the built-in AMD Radeon graphics in much less demanding conditions.

Foundry / Matthew Smith

I measured simply over 5 hours of battery life in our normal battery check, which loops a 4K clip of the brief movie Tears of Metal. That’s not a prolonged end result.

With that mentioned, nonetheless, it’s about what I might anticipate from a contemporary gaming laptop computer. Because the graph exhibits, some opponents which have bigger batteries flip in even much less interesting outcomes.

Lenovo LOQ 15: Conclusion

The Lenovo LOQ 15 may very well be an honest price range gaming decide if not for one critical challenge: the show. I seen critical ghosting and blurring whereas utilizing the laptop computer. This was a problem each in-game and in addition on the Home windows desktop. It’s a disgrace, as a result of the LOQ 15’s efficiency stage is respectable for its price ticket, however I can’t advocate the laptop computer until you don’t wish to use the included show and as an alternative intend to make use of the laptop computer with an exterior monitor.

Certainly, I feel that’s arguably the one interesting use case for the LOQ 15. You can simply use it as a transportable RTX 5060. At $809.99, the LOQ 15 isn’t that rather more costly than a desktop RTX 5060 paired with a PCIe dock and energy provide, and it’s manner simpler to journey with, and even transfer round your own home.

Players must also bear in mind that although the LOQ 15 is cheap, you arguably get extra worth in the event you can spend round $1,000 to $1,200. For instance, the Lenovo Legion 5 with an AMD Ryzen 7 260, Nvidia RTX 5060, OLED show, and 512GB SSD could be had for $1,150, or $1,215 with a 1TB strong state drive. A $350 to $400 value leap is nothing to scoff at, however a laptop computer just like the Legion 5 is a much more well-rounded system that ought to maintain you cheerful a number of years longer than the LOQ 15, making the upper value worthwhile in the event you can stretch your price range.