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just a few months ago lenovo announced updates to its high-end Legion gaming PCs. But now the company is back to introduce budget-friendly fresh fares as part of its new “value-oriented” LOQ line. After all, we love how these new devices don’t feel cheap despite their low prices.
At launch, the LOQ family (pronounced “rock”) will consist of 15- or 16-inch laptops and 17L desktop PCs. LOQ 15 and 15i are the cheapest with either AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS or Intel Core i7-13700 chips starting at $900 while LOQ 16 and 16i (where the ‘i’ indicates an Intel-based configuration) At $960 and $1,150 respectively, they’re a bit more of a bargain. Finally, for those who don’t need to move their gaming rig, the LOQ Tower is reasonably priced at $980.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
But more importantly, while Lenovo is trying to keep costs down, it doesn’t feel like they’re cutting too many corners with the new machines. Not only does it have similar styling to the Legion line, but it also has solid specs that allow the laptop to support up to NVIDIA RTX 4060 GPUs. Also like the premium Legion line, rear IO is available for less wire clutter.
The main difference between Lenovo’s LOQ and Legion gaming notebooks is that the LOQ line features a plastic body instead of an aluminum chassis and features a white or four-zone RGB backlit keyboard (rather than per-key). The new machine also has a slightly smaller battery (60 Whr or 80 Whr depending on model). The LOQ line doesn’t support the ultra-fast 240Hz refresh rate, but you can get a 165Hz display up to 2,560 x 1,600 with variable refresh rate support (both G-Sync and FreeSync) and 350 nits of brightness. That’s not too bad, especially considering Lenovo’s cheapest Legion Pro laptop currently starts at just over $1,600.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Now, personally, the smaller LOQ 15 was a little chunky. It felt heavier than Lenovo’s listed weight of 5.3 pounds, but the LOQ 16 weighs even more at 5.7 pounds. I appreciate that it has an electronic shutter switch that works.
Or if you’re looking for something easy to carry and a little more powerful, today Lenovo announced two additions to the Legion family, the Slim 7/7i and Slim 5/5i.
At just 0.78 inches thick and weighing 4.4 pounds, the Legion Slim 7 and 7i are more portable than the other two. It also features an Intel Core i9-13900H or Ryzen 9 79040HS chip, up to NVIDIA RTX 4070 graphics, and up to a 3.2K 165Hz display or 2,560 x 1,600 240Hz screen. It also comes with optional per-key RGB lighting and a high-capacity 99.9 WHr battery, and a Storm Gray or Glacier White aluminum frame. So while I like the price of the new LOQ line, the Legion 7 Slim laptop makes me think long and hard about shelling out the extra cash for a sleeker design.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
The Legion 5 Slim models, on the other hand, still feature solid specs, including the same CPU and a slightly wider range of graphics options (ranging from RTX 4050 to RTX 4070 depending on specific configuration). And unlike the 7 Slim, which is only available as a 16-inch model, the 5 Slim comes in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes.
The new LOQ 15i will be available first in April, followed by the LOQ 15 and the larger LOQ 16i in May. AMD based LOQ 16 will arrive in June. Meanwhile, the Legion Slim 5i and 7i will be available in April starting at $1,350 and $1,770, while the Slim 5 and Slim 7 will be available later in May, starting at $1,200 and $1,770 respectively.
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