Lenovo LOQ 15 Gen10 assessment

You understand what my greatest bugbear is for finances laptops? It is the display screen. It’s all the time the display screen. For some purpose, pocket book producers appear to have this virtually obsession with pairing massively underwhelming graphics playing cards with panels that will put most 4K TVs to disgrace. It is insanity. Sure, they could be these phenomenally pixel-dense, OLED, 240 Hz, crystal-clear color, uber mode shows, able to projecting probably the most stunning, beautiful image you’ve got ever seen in your life straight into your retinas. However as quickly as you load up a sport and that cellular GPU kicks into life, followers whirring at one million miles a minute, you may inevitably be graced with the sluggish chug of rising disappointment, because the approximation of a AAA power-point presentation begins juddering its method throughout your shiny new gadget.

It is pushed me mad for years. Which may sound ridiculous, I am going to admit that, however I’ve reviewed a whole lot of finances laptops in my time that do that, and it is irritating as a result of it would not must be the case. You achieve little or no by doing that. Thank the expensive and fluffy lord Gabe Newell then (he would not have something to do with this, I do not assume, I have not checked), that Lenovo’s LOQ 15 Gen10 ditches that seemingly age-old laptop computer producer mantra in favor of a extra sensible GPU and display screen pairing as an alternative.

At its core, the Gen10 comes full with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060, a Ryzen 7 250, and, extra importantly than that, a easy, elegant, fantastically crisp and punchy 15.6-inch, 1920×1080 IPS show, operating at round 144 Hz. And it does all of that with a sub $1400 value level.

Now, sure, I do know what you are pondering, technically, no, that graphics card is not actually a “true” RTX 5060. I imply, it kind of is, as far as the title’s the identical and the core RTX Blackwell structure matches it as effectively, but it surely’s misplaced about 15% of its CUDA cores, and a not-so-subtle 12% of all the pieces else, (ray tracing cores, ROPs, TMUs, Tensor cores, you recognize, all the good things that makes DLSS 4, kinda, work). Heck, I suppose we needs to be grateful it nonetheless touts that very same 8 GB of GDDR7 VRAM.

The excellent news, although, is that on the entire, that cellular RTX 5060 does really ship in terms of 1080p gaming. Most titles simply averaged effectively into the 60 fps mark and above, the one exception, after all, being Cyberpunk 2077 with none DLSS help (which nonetheless achieved a comparatively respectable 36 fps). Chuck on DLSS High quality and the attractive silky goodness that’s MFG, and that too climbs effectively into the 100s.

It is so refreshing to have the ability to simply sport at your native decision on a laptop computer at this value level, with out having to fret about dialling the graphics preset down, or swapping round resolutions and getting stretched pixels or worse. Plus, that 15.6-inch display screen is already delivering a pixel density higher than a 32-inch 4K panel does. Alrighty. Cease the press, cancel the assessment, clearly that is the most effective gaming laptop computer of 2025, proper? Is not that proper, tiny human? Properly, simply hold on one minute. It isn’t all sun-lit uplands and body charges. We have to discuss in regards to the storage and reminiscence setup on this factor. As a result of, to be blunt. It sucks.

In its default configuration, the one I am testing right here, the LOQ 15 comes with a single stick of 16 GB DDR5 at 5,600 MT/s. Are you aware what Ryzen loves greater than reminiscence frequency? Reminiscence bandwidth. There are occasions, notably when loading packages, operating a number of functions, or intense, high-load actions, while you virtually really feel this stuttering impact happen on the Gen10. There is a lag as you try to maneuver an software throughout the display screen or open up Job Supervisor. It is chilling to be blunt, giving Home windows Vista vibes, and I do not prefer it.

For a further $65, Lenovo will pop an additional 16 GB stick in there for you, however to be sincere, this could’ve been two 8GB dual-channel sticks to start with, retaining that finances value level. At the least so you are not left questioning if the entire system’s locking up since you simply opened Paint, or as a result of your reminiscence setup sucks.

Once more, on the SSD entrance, it is equally simply not adequate. The inventory mannequin is a SanDisk WD Blue SN5000S, QLC affair, not too dissimilar from the WD Blue SN5000 I reviewed late final 12 months. That is superb, nothing notably fallacious with that for a finances unit. At the least, that’s, till you see the capability. It is a 512 GB mannequin, which as soon as Home windows is put in, sits at round 370 GB of complete obtainable house. I could not even set up our total benchmarking suite in a single go; it was that small. I needed to check video games, then delete them and set up different video games after which check these… Once more, Lenovo will fortunately pop in a 1 TB variant, however for a further $60 added on to the value tag, which ought to’ve been included as customary, given it is a gaming laptop computer.

Picture 1 of three

My listing of gentle grievances continues with the battery life, which petered out at simply 89 minutes. Though that’s higher than among the extra premium, extra power-hungry models on the market, the LOQ is usually hampered by its comparatively small 60 WHr battery and AMD’s comparatively power-hungry Ryzen 7 250 CPU. Now, I have been harsh right here, I’ve. It is a finances pocket book, successfully. It may possibly’t all be sensible on the finish of all of it, and there may be nonetheless quite a bit to like about it, far past that of simply the display screen being the precise choose for that graphics card.

CPU efficiency is spectacular, even with that single-channel reminiscence, and it beats out different RTX 5060 notebooks like Gigabyte’s Gaming A16 in common fps too, that one particularly that includes an Intel Core i7-13620H (a damning indictment of Intel’s at the moment poor Extremely line gaming efficiency, it’d appear), which is nothing to smell at.

And the general construct high quality of this factor? Purely excellent. It’s a gaming pocket book; you possibly can inform that from the get-go, there is no hiding that. There are angles and edges, embossed logos, and a jutting webcam divot, amongst different issues, together with an entire host of I/O ports protruding out of its backside. But it surely’s not ostentatious.

There is a suaveness to it, from the “luna gray” metallic satin end to the heft and bulk of the factor. It feels stable, but stays smooth, prefer it’s designed for even probably the most aggro of esports streamers to wail on after they go 0-3 in aggressive. I’ve performed round with laptops 4 occasions the price of this factor that pale as compared in terms of the construct high quality on present right here, and that is not nothing.

Picture 1 of 5

Cooling is spectacular as effectively, and all through my time testing, temps not often obtained over 70 levels, even below intense hundreds. Sure, fan noise is a factor, notably when it is plugged in, but it surely’s all manageable in Lenovo’s Legion app, which, though comparatively barebones, does a adequate job of managing noise in alternate for warmth, which once more you’ve got obtained 20 levels to play with. There are, after all, your state-mandated AI apps built-in in right here as effectively, requiring Lenovo account sign-up and extra, together with the same old intrusive McAfee anti-virus pre-install to pay attention to, however from a software program perspective, that is about it for bloatware.

Elegant. Subtle. Properly paired. Dialled in to a T. But flawed. That’s what the LOQ 15 represents. With resplendent gaming efficiency and a smooth, sharp design that eschews the same old “gamer” nonsense in favor of refined model as an alternative, it is a laptop computer that checks a whole lot of bins. But, it is not with out fault, and though it entertains effectively sufficient, it may’ve been far, much better if solely Lenovo had tweaked that entry-level mannequin’s configuration first. Nonetheless, for the value, you would be laborious pressed to seek out an RTX 5060 pocket book that packs as a lot punch because the LOQ 15 does into that value, and for that, I doth my hat to you superb Lenovo, you’ve got executed effectively.