Still Best Budget Gaming Laptop? Lenovo LOQ 15 (2024) Review
Lenovo’s LOQ was my favorite budget gaming laptop last year, but is that still the case with the new 2024 redesign? I’ve got a cheaper model with Intel Arc graphics, and a slightly more expensive model with Nvidia GeForce graphics to find out. Now Lenovo has made some nice changes this year, but as you’ll see in this review, not everything is better. But first, this part of the video is sponsored by the Ugreen Nexode Pro 100W charger! With up to 100 watts from a single port, it can charge a MacBook Pro 14 from 0 to 86% in
just 60 minutes, while also being smaller than my 96W MacBook charger too. And with a Type-A and two Type-C ports, it can also charge up to 3 devices at once – even your laptop, with all the latest fast charge protocols. Or if you need even more power you can charge up to 4 devices with the Ugreen Nexode Pro 160W charger! Check them out and Ugreen’s whole range of chargers with the link below. The LOQ still has a grey plastic finish on the lid and interior, just like last year. Build quality still feels decent, there’s not
much flex to the keyboard or lid even when pushing down fairly hard, but there is a little more screen wobble noticeable. The front of the lid sticks out
6.6lb or 3kg with the relatively small 170 watt charger included. Both of my LOQ laptops have the same screen, battery, SSD and RAM, the only difference is the CPU and GPU. The cheaper configuration has an older 12th gen CPU and Intel Arc graphics, while the slightly more expensive one has a newer 13th gen CPU and Nvidia graphics. There’s also a 14th gen CPU option with RTX 4050 or 4060 graphics, so there’s a fair bit of customization available, you can check the options and current prices with the link below. The keyboard has 4 zones of RGB
backlighting, but there’s also a cheaper white only option. All keys and secondary functions get lit up, and you can change between 3 profiles with the function and spacebar shortcut. There aren’t any keyboard shortcuts for controlling key brightness, but Spectrum in Lenovo’s Vantage control panel gives you 2 brightness levels, and this is where you customize the RGB lighting effects. I thought the keyboard felt nice to type with, as I usually like Lenovo keyboards. My partner isn’t usually a fan, but she thought it was fine. The touchpad works alright, but we both thought that it didn’t feel
very smooth. It’s plastic, and sometimes it just felt like it was gripping my fingers and making it harder for me to move. As for ports, the right side has a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, camera disconnect switch, 3.5mm audio combo jack, and a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port. They’ve also completely removed the air exhaust vents on the left and right sides this year – more on that soon. There’s nothing at all on the left side. Last year’s model had the audio and Type-C here, but now it’s all on the right. I thought this
was a strange choice, given most mouse users are right handed – why not move it all to the left instead of the right? The rest is on the back, we’ve got two more USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a HDMI 2.1 output, gigabit ethernet and the power input on the right – the same ports as last year’s model, just in a different order. The Type-C port on the right can be used to charge on both laptops, and it also provides DisplayPort support so you can connect screens. I also confirmed both the Type-C port and HDMI
ports always connect directly to the discrete graphics, bypassing the integrated graphics whether optimus is on or off. And that’s the case on both laptops. Getting inside was much easier compared to last year’s LOQ, just take out the 10 phillips head screws and pry it open. I’ll leave a link to the pry tools I use below the video. The internal layout is the same in both laptops with the battery down the front, two DDR5 memory slots in the middle, M.2 SSD on the right with a spare slot on the left, and Wi-Fi 6 card just under
the spare slot. Wi-Fi speed wasn’t amazing and basically the same compared to last year’s LOQ with the same Wi-Fi card, but at almost a gigabit speed, it should be fine for most people. Both of my LOQs came with 512gb SSDs, but they’re different models, and the one in the more expensive 13th gen + Nvidia combo was faster. And both M.2 slots fit my 4TB drive with chips on both sides no problem, which wasn’t the case last year. The upgradeability score was about as good as it can get compared to most other laptops. The 2024 LOQ
is a point ahead compared to last year because those were harder to open up and get inside, and one of their M.2 slots didn’t support double sided SSDs. The speakers are found down the front on the left and right sides. I thought they sounded average for a gaming laptop. Nothing special and not much bass, but they’re clear enough and loud enough. The Latencymon results weren’t good on both laptops, but that’s been the case with most laptops in the last 12 months. Both of my LOQs are powered by a 4-Cell 60Wh battery, but there’s also a
larger 80Wh option, which is why mine has some empty space. The vantage software also lets you enable adaptive refresh rate, which lowers the screen’s refresh rate down to 60Hz when you unplug the charger to save power. The screen flashes black as the refresh rate changes, and it automatically goes back up when you plug back in. You can manually do this at any time with the function plus R shortcut. You can also enable conservation mode in Vantage. This limits the maximum charge level between 75 and 80%, helping battery longevity. You can’t use it at the same
time as rapid charge, and you’ve also got the option to charge the battery slower overnight, again to help longevity. Battery life wasn’t amazing, with both laptops lasting just over 4 hours in video playback, and about the same result makes sense as they’re both using the same integrated graphics. The game test however indicates that Nvidia is more power efficient, as it was lasting for 51% longer with a game running. Last year’s LOQ 15 with the same sized battery was able to last longer, because the 13700H uses the newer Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics, while the 13450HX
is using Intel UHD graphics. Based on my testing last year, it’s absolutely worth paying a little more for the 80Wh upgrade if available in your region. Unfortunately I noticed some battery drain during my thermal testing. During that I run a combined CPU and GPU stress test to simulate a full load worst case scenario. And by the time that was finished, the Arc laptop had 93% battery charge remaining while the Nvidia laptop had 85% left. So it’s nothing too major considering I was running those thermal tests for more than 3 hours, but it’s not ideal because
this just doesn’t happen on most other laptops I test. You can enable the battery drop protection option in Lenovo’s BIOS which limits power and performance to prevent battery dropping, which sounds like a great solution, but on the Nvidia laptop I found that this meant that the RTX 3050 was limited to just 30 watts of power. Down from 90, so it just doesn’t perform anywhere near as good when running games. So it’s not really a great solution unless you don’t need the extra power. That said, you could probably use custom mode to manually lower the GPU
power to something in between. Basically we’re limited by the 170 watt charger, and last year’s 3050 LOQ had the same charger too. So this may not be new this year. I didn’t see a battery drain issue with my LOQs last year, but those came with a heavier 230 watt charger as they had more powerful CPUs and GPUs. Again this was only noticeable during extended periods with both the CPU and GPU fully utilized. Most games just aren’t going to behave that way for an extended period like a stress test. And considering in that worst case I
only lost 10-15% after 3 hours, I don’t think it’s going to be a big issue for most people. Let’s get into those thermal tests next. Both laptops have two fans with a heatpipe shared between the CPU and GPU. There are air intake vents directly above the fans, as well as exhaust at the back. As mentioned earlier, this year’s LOQ removes the air exhaust vents on the left and right sides, so no hot air blowing on your mouse hand. Air only comes out the back in this year’s model, but does this mean the laptop gets hotter?
Lenovo says no, as they’re using foam inserts to better control air flow inside, which apparently makes up the difference. Lenovo’s Vantage software allows us to change between different performance modes, which from lowest to highest are quiet, balance, performance and custom. Custom mode lets us set the fans to full speed or customize them, and we’ve also got the option to tweak CPU and GPU power and temperature limits – at least on the Nvidia version. The Arc laptop only has CPU control, you can’t do anything to the Arc graphics in here. The Arc laptop also doesn’t have
this GPU overclock option available at all, meanwhile the Nvidia version does and automatically enables it in custom mode, but only with the new extreme option enabled. This is a new option this year which we’ll test too. You can also hold the function key and press the letter Q to cycle between all modes except custom, but this year they’ve also added a check box to give you the option to include custom in the rotation. The power button changes color to reflect the performance mode so you can quickly see what mode you’re on at any time, and
I think it looks better compared to last year’s version, which was just a little light up dot. Let’s start with the 13th gen and Nvidia laptop. The internal temps were cool at idle, but even with the stress tests running in the higher modes it’s nowhere near what I’d consider to be hot. Custom mode was actually a bit warmer with a cooling pad, the one I test with is linked below the video, and setting the fans to full speed was also warmer. We can see why when looking at the clock speeds, the CPU performance is significantly
higher, about 1GHz higher on the 6 P cores. Interestingly balance mode also had better CPU performance than the higher performance mode, and we can see why when looking at the power levels. Balance mode limits the RTX 3050 to 75 watts, but at the expense of better CPU performance. Then the GPU is able to max out in performance mode, but CPU power gets limited to 30 watts. The Nvidia control panel says this is a 95 watt 3050 with dynamic boost, so sustaining above 90 watts with the CPU loaded up at the same time confirms that this
is a full powered 3050. We can see why custom mode with the cooling pad or fans maxed out was warmer – the CPU gets boosted to 50 watts. I don’t have a problem with this, as the temps were still relatively cool, so might as well make the most of it and boost performance. Alright now for the 12th gen and Arc laptop. GPU temps were slightly warmer compared to the Nvidia one, but CPU temps were lower, and I mean realistically, if we’re under 80 degrees Celsius it’s ice cold as far as gaming laptop internals are concerned.
The CPU clock speeds are much higher with the 12th gen laptop, and that’s because it has 2 fewer P cores to power. GPU clocks of the Arc A530M are similar to the RTX 3050, but these likely aren’t directly comparable. The 12th gen CPU was still maxing out at around 50 watts in custom mode, but the Arc graphics don’t seem to go above 62 watts. This is the first time I’ve had an Arc laptop, but I don’t think it’s a full powered GPU. If I stop the CPU part of the stress test, performance mode in a
GPU only test increases 10 watts to 72 watts. Intel’s website notes that this is a 65 to 95 watt part, leading me to conclude the Arc LOQ doesn’t have a full powered GPU like the more expensive Nvidia version. Here’s how the different performance modes affect game performance. I’ve got the cheaper Arc laptop in purple and more expensive Nvidia laptop in red. For some reason custom mode performed really bad on the Arc laptop in this game. In most cases even the 1% lows from the 3050 were higher than the averages coming from Arc, meaning the Nvidia
laptop is more stable and consistent. We test from lowest mode to highest, so maybe it took a while for arcs 4 gigs of vram to run out. The CPU can use more power when the GPU is idle, like in Cinebench. We’re looking at a 41% higher multicore score in this workload on the more expensive 13th gen configuration thanks to the 50% extra P cores, while single core was 8% faster. I’ve never had either of these CPUs before for testing, but the 12450HX doesn’t look that great when Lenovo’s Legion 5 from 4 years ago comes out
on top in multicore performance. To be fair that was more expensive when it was new, and the single core score isn’t as good. The LOQs 12450HX has the same core and thread count as the non-X version just below in MSI’s cheaper GF63, but that chassis doesn’t have as good cooling, so the power limit can’t boost as high as the LOQ. The 13450HX on the other hand was fairly close to the 13700H that I tested in last year’s LOQ, those ones just have 4 extra E cores, giving them a little extra multicore performance. And hey, it’s
able to beat my MacBook Pro 14 which costs more than 5 times more. Performance lowers if we unplug the charger and instead run purely off of battery power, and we’re limited to balance mode without the charger. The 12450HX hardly changed, while the 13450HX dropped back, putting them fairly close together. I’m not sure why the single core score on the 12th gen laptop actually increased 2% on battery power, but that was consistent over a number of tests. Unlike last year’s 13700H LOQ laptops, we’ve got HX processors this year, and the X means the chip is unlocked.
You can use this by enabling Legion Optimization in the BIOS, then this enables the CPU overclock option in Vantage. I haven’t bothered testing overclocking, as the default max clock speeds weren’t a limit, but you can also undervolt through here too. Most laptops I test are in the low 30 degrees Celsius range on the keyboard at idle, and both of my LOQs were below this and cool. The Intel Arc version was notably warmer with the stress tests running in the lowest quiet mode, but I wouldn’t classify it as hot. It’s a similar deal in the higher
balance mode too, but again, neither are hot to the touch. Performance mode was a little warmer on the Arc version too. The Arc laptop is using more CPU power, but less GPU power. There’s not much of a difference with both laptops running in custom mode with all available power sliders set to maximum. Setting the fans to maximum is a little cooler, more so for the Arc model, but it gets louder too, let’s have a listen. The fans were audible on both when just sitting there doing nothing at idle. The fan noise was the same on
both regardless of Arc or GeForce graphics, and I also found performance mode was about 2 decibels quieter compared to last year’s LOQ, while setting the fans to max speed was 4 decibels quieter. I think that’s a good result, not only does the LOQ run a bit quieter this year, but the internal temps are still excellent despite the removal of the left and right air exhaust vents. At least with this lower powered hardware. It might be a bit of a different story with i7 processors or RTX 4050 or 4060 GPUs. Now both of these LOQs have
15.6” 1080p 144Hz screens, but the higher tier 1440p 165Hz screens that I covered in last year’s LOQ review are still available with this LOQ for extra money. So if you’re considering the more expensive 1440p screen then you can check out my 2023 LOQ review which will have all of the details on it. There were some slight differences in color gamut, despite both laptops having the exact same panel, so it just goes to show you that the panel lottery is real and each screen is a little different. In any case, colors are decent for what’s meant
to be a budget friendly option. I’ve definitely seen far worse. The panel with the better color gamut was also slightly brighter too, but not much, and again it’s random luck. It’s a 300 nit panel, which is the minimum I want to see. This puts it in line with other cheaper gaming laptops from last year that it’s competing with, like Acer’s Nitro 5, ASUS’s TUF A16, or Gigabyte’s G5. There was a little backlight bleed from the top corners on both laptops, but it wasn’t bright enough to ever notice it during normal use. There’s an overdrive option
in the Vantage software, but I’m guessing it’s meant to be for the higher tier 1440p 165Hz screen, because turning it on and off didn’t make a difference. I measured an average grey to grey response time of 14ms, which Lenovo says is in spec for this 1080p 144Hz panel. It’s not an amazing result when you consider that a 144Hz screen needs half that response time at just under 7ms for all transitions to occur within the refresh window, but at the same time it’s also faster when compared to other similarly priced laptops I’ve tested with 144Hz screens.
That said, the similarly priced TUF A16 was a fair bit faster. The total system latency is the amount of time between a mouse click and when a gunshot fire appears on the screen in CS:GO. The more expensive config with newer 13th gen CPU and Nvidia graphics was faster, but both had a higher standard deviation compared to most other laptops tested, which just means less consistent results. More shots were higher or lower than the reported average. I’ve actually started sharing the full results on my jarrods.tech website, you can click a result to see more details, I’ll
leave a link to this page below the video. Both laptops have a MUX switch, so you can disable optimus by setting dGPU mode in Vantage, but that needs a reboot to apply. You can avoid rebooting with the Nvidia laptop because it has Advanced Optimus, so you can instead change through the Nvidia control panel. Unfortunately Intel doesn’t currently have an equivalent to this, so rebooting is the only way to change with the Arc version. The Nvidia version has G-Sync, but the Intel one has a variable refresh rate option too. Mine has a 1080p camera above the
screen, but there’s a 720p option in some regions. There’s no Windows Hello face unlock, but it has a privacy shutter with the switch on the right. Here’s how the camera and microphones look and sound, and this is what it sounds like while typing on the keyboard. Now let’s find out how well both LOQs perform in games! We’ve tested both the Intel Arc A530M with 4 gigs of VRAM, and the Nvidia RTX 3050 with 6 gigs of VRAM. And don’t forget the Nvidia version is also paired with a slightly newer CPU too. Cyberpunk 2077 was tested
the same on all laptops, and I’ve got both configurations of LOQ 15 shown by the red highlights. The Nvidia configuration was reaching a 55% higher average frame rate compared to the Arc configuration. Not bad at all, considering its MSRP is just 7% higher. The dips in performance were quite bad in this test on the Arc laptop, as per the 1% lows which were a third of the Nvidia laptop, which I suspect is due to the 4 gigs of VRAM struggling in modern games. Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested with the game’s benchmark, and the Nvidia
config was 40% higher in average FPS compared to Arc this time. Again, definitely seems worth it for 7% extra money. That said, the Nvidia LOQ still couldn’t match an RTX 2060 from 4 years ago, and even MSI’s GF63 with RTX 4050 was ahead while also being more than $200 cheaper than the LOQ. Though that said, the GF63 is a worse laptop in every other possible way. The Nvidia version was 44% faster than Arc in Control, and the Arc laptop didn’t have the same dips in performance that we saw in Cyberpunk. In Fact the 1% lows
with Arc were slightly ahead of the Nvidia LOQ. Intel’s Arc graphics drivers get frequent performance improvements though, so results may have more variance depending on the specific game. The 3050 LOQ was also much closer to that 4050 now, but the GF63 has a low GPU power limit. The LOQ is also available with Intel’s 14th gen processors and RTX 4050 and 4060 graphics, so with that more expensive configuration I’d expect it to be similar to other higher powered results. Here are the 3DMark results for those that find them useful. Lenovo’s BIOS has a lot of extra
options that many other laptops like ASUS, Razer and Acer simply do not have. It’s only really beaten by Dell/Alienware and MSI’s advanced BIOS, which has an insane amount of customization available. Linux support was tested with an Ubuntu 23.10 live CD. By default the keyboard, touchpad, camera, speakers, ethernet and Wi-Fi all worked fine. All keyboard shortcuts for adjusting screen brightness, changing keyboard lighting profile, volume control, and performance modes worked too, an excellent result. Pricing and availability will change over time, so check the link below the video for updates and current sales. And if these are anything
like last year’s LOQ, I would expect some really good sales. So make sure you check out our gaminglaptop.deals website with the link below. We update that every day to include all of the latest sales, so check it out regularly to save money on your next gaming laptop. Now I’m making this video before these laptops officially launch, so I can’t check websites for prices just yet. But Lenovo have told me that the Arc configuration will start from $749 USD while the Nvidia configuration will start from $799, so $50 extra for the Nvidia laptop. But I would
definitely expect them to get cheaper with sales, considering that last year’s LOQ with faster RTX 4050 graphics went on sale for just $600. And if they don’t, then just look out for the 2023 versions and see if they’re better value, because at the end of the day there just aren’t really a whole lot of major differences between them. Overall, Lenovo’s LOQ 15 is still a great budget friendly gaming laptop compared to what alternatives offer at this price point. Like the Nvidia config having both G-Sync and Advanced Optimus. But I mean this is the first laptop
review I’m doing in 2024, so it’s completely possible that the competition will catch up, we’ll have to wait and see. Make sure you’re subscribed for my future laptop reviews to find out. The visual design changes are only small, but are welcome improvements. I think the black keyboard is a bit easier to see, the new power button design is brighter, and not having hot air blowing on your mouse hand is always welcome, especially when thermals were otherwise fine. The extra upgradeability by now supporting two double sided SSDs is nice too. But the changes aren’t all good.
Why have the left side blank and move its ports to the right, when you could have instead left the right blank for the majority of right handed mouse users? The battery drain due to the smaller 170 watt charger isn’t ideal, but it’s possible that that may not be a new issue. But the biggest problem to me was the Arc laptop. It’s got worse performance in games, worse battery life while running a game, less VRAM on the GPU, no advanced optimus so you have to reboot, and Intel’s driver support is still playing catch up compared to
Nvidia. Look, it’s not terrible for a basic entry level gaming experience, but you’d be crazy not to spend $50 more to get the Nvidia version, making the cheaper Arc version just feel a bit pointless. But there are plenty of other new gaming laptops coming out this year, so check out this video next to see what’s coming in 2024. I was recently at CES and got to see what all the brands have coming. Well… Technically I haven’t actually left for CES yet, I’m making this video before I go, but I’m scheduling it after that video. Anyway,
I’ll see you in that one next!
