I’m always on the hunt for cheap gaming laptops that don’t suck, but let’s be real—many of them do. The Nvidia RTX 5060 graphics card at least guarantees you’ll get decent performance at 1080p resolution, as long as the system receives the full 115 watts of power, and that’s exactly what Lenovo’s LOQ 15 laptop delivers.
It’s not the prettiest laptop in the world, nor is it the most powerful. But for a gaming laptop under $1,000, it doesn’t get better than this.
It’s Not Flashy
Photograph: Luke Larsen
The Lenovo LOQ 15 looks generic, but I appreciate that it’s fairly mellow. Nothing overly striking or ambitious, without a hint of flashing RGB lighting. That gives a modern, if plain, aesthetic. Naturally, it’s awfully thick and heavy at 0.96 inches at its thickest point and weighing just over 5 pounds. You’ll pay an extra $1,000 for a thin and light gaming laptop with similar components, such as the Razer Blade 14. Like many laptops of this size, though, it feels well-built and sturdy.
Touch pads and keyboards are often compromised on cheaper machines, but not here. The 1.5-mm keyboard switches feel like they have a low actuation point, which is combined with rigid keycaps, giving it a very precise feel. It might take some getting used to, but I prefer this over the mushy keys found in lots of cheap gaming laptops. The layout is spacious, offering a 10-key number pad, media control, and full-size arrow keys. The only thing it’s missing is a fingerprint reader or an IR camera. The LOQ 15 doesn’t support Windows Hello, so you’ll have to rely on a password. It has a surprisingly responsive, large touch pad, the surface of which feels nice and smooth to drag your finger across. The click is too loud, though.
The LOQ 15 has several ports, none of which are on the left side. On the right, you get a USB-A port (5 Gbps), a headphone jack, a USB-C port (10 Gbps), and a webcam shutter switch. Most of the ports are on the back, in between the large vents. That’s where you get the power jack, which looks similar to a USB-A, an Ethernet port, HDMI 2.1, and a USB-A (5 Gbps). These are convenient locations for these ports, especially if you don’t plan on moving your laptop around too much.
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