All language subtitles for Still Best Budget Gaming Laptop_ Lenovo LOQ 15 (2024) Review-en

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.
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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 a
little, making one finger opening easy,

and now this year the lid goes all the
way back. The hinges still feel solid,

even when ripping the lid open fast,
and despite the extra wobble noted.

The LOQ is slightly thinner this year
with a typical size for a mid-range

gaming laptop. It’s not small, but still portable.

The laptops alone weigh 5.3lb
or 2.4kg, similar to last year,

increasing to 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!