Lenovo LOQ 15IRH8 review: our full review -

From now on, when we associate Lenovo and gaming, we should no longer automatically think of the Legion brand. No: the Chinese manufacturer has decided to create a new range called LOQ. The principle is simple, and relative to other competitors such as the TUF range from Asus. Here, we seek above all to maintain performance while lowering costs, to succeed in grabbing players eager for good deals above all.

Lenovo LOQ 15IRH8 Technical sheet

Model	Lenovo LOQ 15IRH8
Screen size	15.6 inches
Definition	1920 x 1080 pixels
Display technology	LCD
Touch screen	No
Processor (CPU)	Core i5-13420H
Graphics chip (GPU)	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050
Memory (RAM)	16 GB
Internal memory	512 GB
Bluetooth Version	5.1
Operating system (OS)	Microsoft Windows 11
	Product sheet

The machine is on loan from Lenovo for this test.

Lenovo LOQ 15IRH8 Design

It will be difficult to draw a dithyrambic portrait of the design of the Lenovo LOQ 15 since the gaming PC is quite simply… functional. A gray plastic shell like we’ve seen everywhere, few distinctive signs from the LOQ logo on the side, and nothing particularly original for a chassis that wants to highlight the power of its config. At least the whole thing is well designed and exudes solidity.

There remains, however, a note that only belongs to the LOQ 15: those notes of sky blue found on the air openings on the back and on the sides. Is this enough to identify this computer at a glance? No. Is it rather pretty? Yes, for those who love sky blue. Otherwise, we are on classic dimensions (2.52 cm x 35.96 cm x 26.48 cm) for an equally classic weight for a gaming PC (2.4 kg). Basically, think of the cliché in this category, and that’s exactly what the Lenovo LOQ 15 is.

Keyboard and touchpad

The same goes for the built-in keyboard. So certainly, this one offers us a numeric keypad on the side which has the advantage of not being too tight on itself, but that’s about all. The keys are very ordinary, with a stroke of 1.5 mm as we do on all computers these days, and obviously a bit of RGB on 4 zones to sublimate the whole thing.

The same goes for the touchpad, whose diagonal will be described as “decent”. It’s not the most comfortable on the market, it’s not the worst, and its plastic finishes don’t prevent it from sliding well. We are not on the cheap, but simply on the mid-range.

connectors

The Lenovo LOQ 15 is organized like a PC that wants to stay plugged into a desk. So we have a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port on the left with a combo jack. We also have a simple USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port on the right. But it’s on the back that we find the proprietary power connector, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, an HDMI 2.0 port and a ethernet port.

Source: Chloé Pertuis – CssTricks

Why not an SD card reader for that matter? This is unfortunately not the case, just as the HDMI port does not support the 2.1 standard. But given the configuration, it’s really not shocking. We are not going to play in 4K, nor do advanced graphics on this configuration, so why bother.

webcam and audio

The same goes for the 720p webcam integrated on our model, which is just as disgusting as on all PC gamers looking to lower their bills. And the same for the loudspeakers, which have absolutely nothing transcendent and above all offer a very flat sound which focuses on the treble and completely forgets the bass. Again, it’s like everyone else, and it’s forgivable to reduce the final bill.

Lenovo LOQ 15IRH8 Screen

This is the most important point, since it is here that manufacturers generally make the biggest sacrifices. On the Lenovo LOQ 15, we find a 15.6-inch IPS LCD panel supporting maximum definition in Full HD at 16:9 ratio. This matte panel supports a maximum refresh rate of 144 Hz. The manufacturer makes no secret of it: it only promises 45% coverage of the NTSC standard. We have already been warned.

Under our probe and with the DisplayCal software, we therefore unsurprisingly find a coverage of only 60.3% of the sRGB space for 42.7% of the DCI-P3 space. The maximum brightness is measured at 338 cd / m², in the shackles of the 350 nits promised by the manufacturer, with a surprising and excellent contrast ratio of 1956:1 and a rather good average color temperature at 6217K. Unsurprisingly, compared to the sRGB space only, the average delta E00 found is 5.31, beyond the 3 maximum expected for the accuracy of the colors displayed.

Yes, but. In this almost “entry-level gaming PC” segment, we have seen much worse screens. To the eye, although it is a little dull, the Lenovo LOQ 15 does not fall into the abuse that we have seen on HP machines for example. The screen isn’t yellow, it’s not hard to look at, it’s just a little dull. This is a sacrifice that we can accept to take advantage of 144 Hz in 1080p while remaining under the 1000 euro mark.

Lenovo LOQ 15IRH8 Software

Lenovo is not a bad student on the software aspect, but it is not the best either. What we remember the most is that if it puts forward the same advertising campaigns as its colleagues, it forces the hand of its users much less by having them integrate a sort of panel of recommendations that we can quickly forget.

The Lenovo Vantage management software is a bit too simplistic for our taste, but has the merit of offering all the information and settings we are looking for for this type of configuration. Not to mention the software monitoring of the machine. In short, it’s “good”, without real criticism or real wonder.

Lenovo LOQ 15IRH8 Performance

In our test configuration, we find an Intel Core i7-13620H, a 10-core SoC – 6 performance and 4 efficient – that can turbo up to 4.90 GHz. It is coupled with 16 GB of DDR5 RAM at 5200 MHz in SODIMM format (therefore interchangeable), and above all an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU at 115W TGP. Storage, 512 GB on our configuration, is PCIe 4.0.

Benchmarks

To be perfectly transparent, finding a score of 14744 points in multi-core and 1831 points in single-core under Cinebench R23 is not particularly impressive in 2023. That being said, and particularly for this CPU which is not widely used on the current market, these are very good scores which reassure you of the computer’s ability to handle the latest games and demanding applications.

The only real disappointment here, or rather once again an element that suffers from the rational and pragmatic side of this configuration, is to be seen on the storage side. With a sequential read rate of 3492 MB/s and a sequential write rate of 1647 MB/s, we are clearly not in the shackles of PCIe 4.0 storage, but rather 3.0. That being said, the random rates are very good for gaming, and those speeds are good enough for games like Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart that make full use of NVMe SSD storage.

Stake

In gaming, the RTX 4060 integrated into the Lenovo LOQ 15 does not disappoint. Admittedly, without any help, most modern games run around 30 FPS, but our tests push the graphics to the maximum possible and all use ray-tracing. It is therefore rather a good thing to see that in 2023, games using ray-tracing are still playable even on an RTX 4060 without any help. And with DLSS 3 in performance mode, 100 FPS is easily found.

However, DLSS 3 is also an argument against the RTX 4060. If you have already planned to use this technology, in this more accessible segment, the RTX 4050 will be more than suitable for you. Think about it if you still want to save a few euros.

Cooling and noise

The Lenovo LOQ 15’s thermal management isn’t perfect. The front panel, and particularly the area of the keyboard where the playing hands naturally rest, tends to be a little warmer than the average 40°C. It’s not disturbing, but it will be felt over long sessions. The PC itself reaches a maximum of 56°C on the back, which is not shocking for a PC with a plastic chassis which has more difficulty dissipating heat.

The most important thing is that the fans of the Lenovo LOQ 15 become noisy very easily. Again, we are on a common experience for all PC gamers in this category, and this computer simply does not stand out. Play with headphones.

Lenovo LOQ 15IRH8 Autonomy

The Lenovo LOQ 15 incorporates a 60 Wh battery, which is rather common for this 15-inch format. It recharges via a proprietary 170W format power supply. Note that the USB-C port is compatible with the Power Delivery standard, which will allow you to use any charger of this standard to find some juice in this configuration.

And without surprise… We find between 4 and 5 hours of office use on this configuration. Clearly not enough to last an afternoon of work, especially considering how you would have to push the screen brightness of the Lenovo LOQ 15 to be in comfortable conditions.