Lenovo is making a play at the PC gaming market with a new line of budget-conscience machines under the brand “LOQ” (pronounced “lock”). The first devices in the lineup include a 15-inch laptop, a 16-inch laptop, and a desktop PC, all of which offer the latest processors, Nvidia RTX 40-Series graphics, plenty of ports, and designs that perfectly fit their target audience.
The stars of the show are the LOQ laptops, which offer two slightly different displays with 165Hz refresh rates, 350 nits of brightness, and Quad HD+ resolutions. (It’s also worth mentioning that the 15-inch model has a 16:9 aspect ratio, while the 16-inch model gets 16:10.) Their designs are very gamer-esque with RGB lights under the keyboards, a swath of IO on the back, and sharp angles along the sides. I messed around with them a bit during a briefing this week, and they seemed like solid machines with their aluminum enclosures and hefty weight.
Under the hood, you get either Intel’s latest 13th-generation processors or AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4060 graphics, up to 1TB of expandable storage, and up to 16GB of expandable DDR5 RAM. To help games run smoother, Lenovo includes a MUX switch to flip from the integrated GPU using Nvidia Advanced Optimus to the dedicated GPU while you’re gaming. They also come with up to four heat pipes, dual 85mm 12V fans, and “extra-large” air intakes for improved cooling. In addition, Lenovo includes its LA AI Chip and AI Engine+ to further tune wattage and thermal performance.
The 15-inch LOQ has a 60WHr battery while the 16-inch model gets an 80WHr cell. Both offer fast charging at 230W using the included Slim Adapter, or up to 140W via USB-C. The webcams come with e-shutter buttons to block them for privacy, and you get Wi-Fi 6E.
The LOQ Tower has similarly powerful specs with 13th-generation Intel processors (up to an i7-13700), GeForce rTX 40-Series graphics, 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and up to 3TB of hybrid storage (one 1TB SSD and two 1TB hard drives at 7200 RPM). The tower comes with six USB-A ports, a USB-C port, a headphone jack, HDMI, VGA, and an Ethernet jack. It’s also equipped with Wi-Fi 6E. All of this is packed into a blue-accented 17L chassis with 3D stripe patterns.
Lenovo has sold affordable gaming laptops for a while, all of which have primarily lived in its Legion line. The new LOQ series is an evolution of that concept with a stronger differentiation between machines that are completely specced-out and others that try their best to save you money while still being powerful enough for gaming. On paper, the new machines seem capable enough to take on other great gaming laptops like MSI’s GL66 Pulse and Acer’s Predator Helios 300 given their price points.
The LOQ laptops will start at $899.99 while the LOQ Tower starts at $979.99. They’ll each be released over the next few months, with the first to enter the market being the Intel-powered 15-inch laptop in April.
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