Why You Can Trust CNET Lenovo's New Loq Laptops Offer Better Gaming on a Budget
Pronounced "lock," the 15- and 16-inch laptops borrow from the higher-end Legion line while keeping the starting price under $1,000.
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Although it's the high-end gaming laptops most people crave, many of us don't have the cash to quench that thirst. The good news is that PC makers, including Dell, HP, Acer and Asus, stepped up the designs and features of their more budget-friendly gaming laptops. And now Lenovo is doing the same with its new Loq line.
Available in 15- and 16-inch sizes, the Loq (pronounced "lock") models follow the design touches of Lenovo's premium Legion gaming laptops. They also don't look too different from Lenovo's IdeaPad Gaming 3, its current sub-$1,000 gaming laptop.
Both sizes are available with AMD and Intel processors and up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics chip. Other specs include:
- Up to a 13th-gen Intel Core i7-13700H or AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS
- Up to 16GB dual-channel 5,600Mhz DDR5 memory
- 512 or 1TB Gen4 PCIe NVMe SSD
- Up to a 165Hz 2,560x1,440-resolution display (15-inch)
- Up to a 165Hz 2,560x1,600-resolution display (16-inch)
Also, if you decide you need more RAM or storage later on, both can be upgraded; there are two PCIe slots and two memory slots. Up to 32GB of memory is supported.
There is a lot of overlap between the two sizes. In fact, it looks like the main difference between the two is the display, and it's less about the size and more about ratio; the 15-inch is a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio, while the 16-inch is a taller 16:10 panel. The larger laptop also gets a bigger battery -- 80 watt-hours to the 15's 60Whr.
Other premium touches include their keyboard with 100% anti-ghosting, 1.5mm key travel and an optional four-zone RGB backlight (white is standard); a MUX switch to change from power-efficient integrated graphics to full-time discrete graphics for peak performance; and a 1080p webcam with an electronic privacy shutter.
The 15-inch Lenovo Loq with Intel or AMD processors starts at $900, which converts to approximately £730 and AU$1,340. The AMD-powered 16-inch Loq starts at $960, while the Intel version starts at $1,150. Models start arriving in April and continue to roll out through June.
Lenovo also announced a Loq Tower desktop. It's expected to start at $980 this fall and can be configured with up to a 13th-gen Intel Core i7-13700 processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series desktop graphics, up to 32GB 3,200MHz DDR4 RAM and up to a 2TB 7,200rpm hard drive and a 1TB PCIe NVMe solid-state drive.