Lenovo LOQ 2024 Review: A Solid RTX 4060 Mid-Range Gaming Laptop!
Feb. 22, 2024Beebom Score
The display lid sports the Lenovo LOQ logo with a shiny metal-like finish. Like its Legion series, the company has placed the laptop’s port at the back, making cable management super easy.
Opening up the lid, you are met with a180-degree display hingewith minimal flex and a sturdy feel. The added angle made it easier for me to share content with friends across from me. It also let me position the hinge to avoid our annoying office lights.
While a tiny part of you expected the keyboard to have lots of RGB, that isn’t the case. Too much color and pop aren’t components of the Lenovo LOQ laptops. However, the keyboard does have 4-zone backlighting and solid construction, which I loved. The power button is at the top of the keyboard, under the screen.
The machine weighs2.38 KG(5.24 lbs), which is in line with many 15.6-inch gaming laptops out there. While Lenovo offers a plastic body here, it feels robust and has a heft. The construction itself is solid. But the laptop did get a few scuffs here and there. However, they were barely visible because of the finish.
This display is advertised to have100% sRGBcolor space coverage. I again decided to verify this through the SpyderX and got a result of 98%, which is close enough to the company’s claims. The Lenvo LOQ’s display covers 84% of DCI P3 and 82% of Adobe RGB as well.
The contrastwas tested at1340:1, and it is an IPS panel. I found the black tonality deep across content with the backlight uniformity not too bad either.
Performance in day-to-day usage issmoothon this gaming laptop. Throughout my time using it, I experienced no slowdowns. This was while I ventured across opening multiple apps and generally power working. While I was able to overwhelm the 16GB DDR5 RAM at one point, it was only after an ungodly number of apps were open.
Do keep in mind that my “general usage” is heavy compared to most people, with an unfathomable number of Chrome tabs open during peak research hours. These tabs always included photo editing tools, YouTube videos, and resource-heavy websites.
Forza Motorsport
The graphics settings need to be toned down in Forza Motorsport as this game is quite demanding. With full ray-tracing at high settings and DLSS quality, the Lenovo LOQ 14th Gen gaming laptop gave an average of67.1 FPS. At worst, the FPS dipped to 61.6 and at its best, it reached up to 73.7. Since I got a consistent above 60FPS experience, it was good enough for me.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
Still, by enabling DLSS Quality, you can get a very good image, and the FPS increase is delightful. Now, we are getting112.6 FPSon average on our review unit. However, I still felt it could be pushed further.
Tekken 8
However, when I played this game at 4K, the FPS dropped below 40-50, and the game went in slow motion. This shows that when put above 1080p, theRTX 4060 can struggle a bit. Enabling DLSS Balanced and lowering the settings to Medium was enough for a smooth experience at 4K.
Cyberpunk 2077
It is no secret that Cyberpunk 2077 is a very demanding game. At the maximum possible settings, the game did not run well on the Lenovo LOQ. I got an averageFPS of 22.8, which was naturally not enjoyable. DLSS set to the Quality preset helped things a bit by putting us above the playable range at 34.2 FPS.
Hogwarts Legacy
Hogwarts Legacy is a game where things weren’t running very well on the RTX 4060, with sharp drops below 30 FPS on anything higher than the settings above. I observed an averageFPS of 74.3at high settings with no RT in a densely crowded section. The minimum FPS here was 42.3, and at max, it went to 93.1 FPS.
I decided to employ some DLSS 3 frame generation. At the same high settings and no ray-tracing enabled, we got126.4 FPSon average, reaching up to 158.8 FPS at max. At worst, the FPS on these settings dipped to 84.5, and overall, the experience was super satisfying.
Starfield
Starfield is yet another tough game to run, even with DLSS enabled. The laptop achieves42.5 FPSon average &56.8 FPSat most tested at native 1080p and maxed-out settings. With DLSS Quality enabled, we get a slight increase in performance, with 47.5 FPS on average. At worst, the FPS dipped to 34-40 FPS range.
Introducing DLSS 3 frame generation into the mix worked wonders. The average FPS jumped to 74, even at maximum settings. The minimum FPS came at 63.1, and the maximum at 93.9, with a smooth gameplay experience. It is also in the G-Sync range of the laptop display, so the variable refresh rate works to make the image look artifact-free.
Red Dead Redemption 2
It’s hardly a secret that RDR 2 eats machines for breakfast. As such I was happy to see Red Dead Redemption 2 get61.8 FPS on max settingsat 1080p. At worst, the FPS dips to 34.2, and at max, it reaches up to122.2 FPS, as tested with the in-game benchmark. With DLSS Quality enabled, the average FPS increases to 70.7 FPS. An overall satisfying score, I would say.
Valorant
My experience was great in these settings. However, some competitive gamers like to get all FPS they can, which can help with input latency.
At low settings in Valorant, we get 340.3 FPS on average, with an increased minimum FPS of 259.1 and a higher maximum FPS of 439.1. I experienced no stutters, and my overall ride through with Valorant was quite amazing.
Counter-Strike 2
It is now time to get to some synthetic numbers. While I believe day-to-day real performance speaks better, I know some of you love these numbers more. As such, I ran the benches I considered the best. Have a look at them below.
Comparing this to the desktop14th Gen i5-14600K, that processor (PL1/PL2 set to 180W) gets22,955 pts. So yes, the i7-14700HX here on board on the Lenovo LOQ is quite performant and has a comparable score to the 14th Gen Core i5 desktop CPU.
Speaking of a comparison to the Intel 13th Gen Core i7-13700H (non-HX, reaching up to 115W power), that processor from a different Lenovo Legion gaming laptop gets17,507 pts. As you can see, the 14th Gen i7 is much better than the 13th Gen i7.
PCMark 10 tests the laptop in various scenarios, such as work, video conferencing, browsing, and more. The Lenovo LOQ gaming laptop scored7,470 pts,which is pretty good and suggests the laptop has no problem handling everyday tasks.
The 14th Gen Core i7-14700HX on the Lenovo LOQ gaming laptop has a PL2 limit of 167W. This is quite high, but unfortunately, the laptop could not consistently run the CPU at high wattages. Instead, in long gaming sessions (combined CPU+GPU loads), the i7 goes to 65-80 watts.
Thankfully, the laptop could deliver short bursts of CPU performance thanks to the high power limit and HX-class CPU being used instead of the H series. When the CPU does this short boost, one of the cores of the i7-14700HX goes near100 degrees Cfor a brief moment. This is how these high-performance Intel chips are designed to run, but you can use the Lenovo Vantage software to control the power consumption and temperature limits as preferred. That’s the Intel HX series chip advantage, so consider utilizing it!
I did not observe much throttlingwhen it came to the RTX 4060. The GPU ran at an average of 80W in many games. The dedicated graphics here can also goup to 108.4Win the right title, such as Red Dead Redemption 2.
In the Cinebench R23 synthetic benchmark a 10-minute extended CPU benchmark run yields lower numbers and the extended stress results in a drop of below 19,000 pts (also if Cinebench is run repeatedly).
Overall, the i7-14700HX on the laptop could be running better and at less constrained power limits. Still, the 14th Gen CPU provides plenty of performance (better than the Core i7-13700H) under the available thermal headroom of the Lenovo LOQ gaming laptop.
As always, Lenovo has paired the LOQ with its famousLenovo Vantagesoftware. To its credit,Vantage on the laptop is quite featureful. The highlights here are the differentthermal modes. I testedall the above benchmarkswith thePerformancemode to give you a consistent reference point.
But, if you get the Lenovo LOQ, several customizability options are available for the CPU and GPU under theCustom sectionof Thermal modes. I experimented with these and was able to get the desired results.
Do note that Lenovo warns users that some of these options are also considered risky, so you should be careful. You can use the Vantage to customize the max temperature limitof the Intel Core i7-14700HX CPU at 100 degrees Cor as low as85 degrees C. The max CPU and GPU wattage can also be customized.
The Lenovo LOQ also comes with aMUX Switch. When not gaming, users can configure the MUX switch toHybrid-iGPUmode that turns off the RTX 4060, and uses the CPU instead. This gave me a ton of versatility.
There is also aHybrid-Auto mode. If you game and also have on-the-go work regularly on the laptop, this is perfect. The Lenovo LOQ laptop will go into anintegrated graphics-onlymode when it is not plugged in. Otherwise, both the Nvidia GPU and Intel GPU will stay active when the charger is plugged in.
However, for optimal performance, the best configuration for MUX is dGPU. With this, the integrated Intel GPU is disabled, and the RTX 4060 is used for all applications and games. The benchmarks contained in this review are taken on the dGPU MUX Switch mode.
Another option of the Thermal mode is Balanced. Here, Lenovo also offers a feature where theL1 AI chipis used to dynamically adjust CPU & GPU settings with what you are currently doing. I still experienced throttling with this mode enabled and did not find ituseful. Instead, setting lower max CPU & GPU temperatures (85 degrees C for both) in the Custom mode of Lenovo LOQ profiles yielded the most favorable results.
You can also turn on theAdaptive Refresh Ratefor the 144Hz display through the Lenovo Vantage software. The software also has a Network boost feature, which lets you prioritize the network traffic of your selected games. This can help with lag, which is every gamer’s nightmare.
Lastly, this Vantage software also lets you customize the microphone with various noise-canceling effects along with the customizability of the keyboard’s 4-zone RGB. All in all, I found the Lenovo Vantage very useful for me.
It wasdisappointingthat the LOQ does not have a per-key RGB keyboard. At least we get a 4-zone RGG setup. But speaking of how much I like this keyboard, the Thinkpad-esque implementation can be felt here, and I greatly appreciate Lenovo’s keyboard design.
For gaming, my counter-strafing was on point when playing Valorant or Counter-Strike 2. Efficiently navigating the complex sections of the map when playing ‘The Finals’ requires precise feedback, and I could use the gaming laptop’s keyboard to do this without issues.
I found the touchpad plenty spacious and loved that it supported Windows gestures without issues. I could multitask, switch to a different Windows desktop, and scroll when browsing the web without any consistency issues. The texture is also grippy enough, and your fingers will feel a smooth glide when using the touchpad of the Lenovo LOQ gaming laptop.
The Lenovo LOQ 15IRX9 comes with Intel Wi-Fi 6. I had no issues connecting to WiFi access points throughout my home. The main access point of my residence goes down at times, butAirtel AirFiber, based on a 5G SIM-based network, is mostly always up. I’m on the ground floor, and that AirFiber (WiFi 6 enabled) access point is several floors up. I still got relatively good signal strength with stable speeds.
Bluetooth v5.1 connectivity is also present here, and multiple devices (Two Dualsense controllers and one Bluetooth speaker) work fine when connected to the gaming laptop for multiplayer split-screen PC gaming in games likeRoad RedemptionorTekken 8.
Speaking of theport selection, there are three onboard USB-A ports, which are USB 3.2 Gen 1. This allows for plenty of peripherals to be connected, even if you have an individual plug-in for your external keyboard, mouse, and headphones. There is also a Type-C port on-board with USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps speeds) support. This Type-C port can also be used to charge the laptop on the go with a compatible 140W power-delivery adapter.
Apart from this, there is anHDMI 2.1port, which supports 8K @ 60Hz or 4K @ 120Hz, along with an Ethernet port onboard. The laptop comes with a 3.5mm jack and the proprietary power connector from Lenovo.
Most ports are at the back, with one Type-A and the single Type-C on the right. The laptop’s left side has no ports, giving it a clean look. Plugging things in is a slight hassle because of the location, but I still prefer this because it makes managing cables easier. A wired gaming mouse plugged behind will still give you fewer interruptions because of thedarned wirewhen gaming.
This laptop features a1080p webcamon board. The starter variants get a 720p webcam, and you have to spend extra money when configuring the laptop or get the more expensive variant to ensure you get this 1080p one. I found the webcam quality quite decent and a welcome improvement over most of the laptops out there right now. The added resolution helps.
You can check out the webcam quality below. The various text at the back of Beebom’s video team’s monitors can be seen well enough, but the ‘ProArt’ text on the monitor on the left side is quite smudgy.
There is also asoftware-based privacy switchon the right side of the laptop. In my opinion, this is not as good as a hardware switch when you consider the user’s peace of mind. But yes, no apps can access the webcam, and you get a notification through Windows when your e-shutter Webcam switch is off.
The microphone on the Lenovo LOQ wasokayishat best. No one in my Discord channel gave me any positive feedback regarding the audio quality and asked me to wear my headphones as quickly as possible.
AI noise reduction features toggle through the Lenovo Vantage app and Discord Krisp noise suppression to assist in outputting clean microphone audio. Still, the laptop’s onboard microphone is only passable for gaming sessions. For meetings, the quality is fine.
The laptop supports Nahimic audio, which also lets you customize the sound. I found theMusic profilewith Dynamic EQ to be the best across various genres such as pop, instrumental, and rock. I also enjoyed switching to the Heavy Bass EQ profile when listening to rap, techno, and phonk. There is also 3D audio support, which works fine to emphasize the positional audio when the feature is active.
The speakers getdecently loudand are quite enjoyable for content consumption. I watched Lupin on Netflix while using this laptop earlier this week and found the sound stage ample. Overall, don’t expect anything crazy from these speakers. They do deliver an enjoyable experience, but the overall speaker quality is average or above average at best.
For a laptop that isn’t aimed towards portability, a 4-hour life is decent but sadly still disappointing for me.
It is good to see that theRAM is not soldered. You can easily upgrade the memory with higher capacity at a later date. Thermal pads are also present to provide cooling for the DDR5 memory.
This is Lenovo’s foray into releasing the latest gaming laptops with Intel 14th Generation processors. Sadly,not all manufacturershave followed suit with their releases of new laptops in India.
While you would think the i7 in MSI would be better, that’s not the case. Both the chips are quite close in performance and feature thesamecore count, 10 cores & 16 threads. The Lenovo LOQ is better with a newer CPU paired with its 100% sRGB display (IPS). Meanwhile, the MSI has a more average IPS-level display, having 45% NTSC color space coverage.
Overall, I’m quite happy to see this RTX 4060 laptop being offered for the price it’s being offered at. All the aspects are impressive enough, especially if you upgrade the display to a QHD variant, as can be configured on the company website. It’s exciting to see that the RTX 4060 laptop market in India swelling up, and I am hoping for competition to get even more fierce in the coming weeks.
Highly passionate about technology. Major expertise in PC hardware, the VR industry, esports-centric gear, and other gadgets. In my spare time, I’m usually researching exciting hardware breakthroughs or playing competitive games.
