Lenovo reveals wonderfully affordable LOQ gaming laptops at CES

Lenovo recently unveiled the latest LOQ (pronounced “lock”) gaming laptops at CES 2024. These machines serve as an affordable alternative to Lenovo’s pricier Legion series of gaming laptops, offering good graphics power at a more affordable price. In addition to the various CPU and GPU options, of which there are many (variety is the spice of life), the “hyperchamber” thermal design keeps the hardware nice and cool under more demanding loads.

While the aesthetics are fairly standard, the hardware is solid, and they all have a starting price of under $800 — which is absurdly good.

Looking to pick up a new gaming laptop? Check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best gaming laptops available right now.

Lenovo LOQ laptops

Lenovo

As far as aesthetics go, the Lenovo’s LOQ laptops are a bit of a snooze fest. In fact, they seem to follow much of the same design cues as other Legion laptops: square and gray with the option of an RGB keyboard. It’s a far cry from harsh red accents and a neon green serpentine creature. That said, some folks may prefer the more subdued design. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of garish embellishments and other things that scream “I’m a gamer.” The LOQ machines are more utilitarian-looking, sure, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Speaking of the guts, let’s dive right in!

Lenovo’s releasing three different U.S. models: the Lenovo LOQ 15IRX9, the Lenovo LOQ 15IAX9I, and the Lenovo LOQ 15IAX9. (A Lenovo LOQ 15AHP9 model will not be available to purchase in North America.) They’ve all got a starting weight of over five pounds, which is about average for a gaming laptop, and they’re all rocking 60 watt-hour batteries.

You can get up to an Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7 CPU, up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, up to 16GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of SSD storage. You can also choose between a 15.6-inch 1440p WQHD display with a 165Hz refresh rate and a 5ms response time or a 1080p one with a 144Hz refresh rate. The keyboard even has a key travel of 1.5mm and optional four-zone RGB lighting.

Finally, the LOQ laptops will come with Lenovo’s LA AI chip, which was first introduced last year at CES. This chip monitors your system and fine tunes it so it performs better, which it does by using algorithms. In other words, it increases frame rates, power efficiency, and so on intelligently.