Looking for a powerful gaming laptop below P60k, with raytracing capabilities and the latest generation of CPUs from Intel? One that can keep up with the demanding performance of competitive gaming titles but also something that can handle day to day intensive productivity work. Here’s a detailed review of the Lenovo LOQ 15IRX9, a versatile and powerful AI-powered laptop designed to cater to serious gamers and professionals.
Performance
Using this laptop was really fun. Games run buttery smooth on this because of its pairing of an Intel Core i7-14700HX and an Nvidia RTX 4060.
It’s certainly suitable for competitive games like Esports titles such as Valorant and Overwatch, I comfortably played in high settings in both of those games without going below the 165hz refresh rate of the screen. It also supports DLSS so games ran even faster with this option on.
Because of its high-end processor it could also keep up with my editing workflow in Davinci Resolve. I normally don’t do high end work with crazy lossless codecs, so this laptop handled my normal workflow well without dropping frames like my normal day to day setup up would. It was refreshing to not have to keep pressing the save button every minute because of the fear of crashing.
This laptop is also really well suited for 3D work, the powerful graphics card gave me a near real-time preview of how the render was going to look like. I tried it on some blender sample scenes, paired with the AI denoising feature that blender offers, I was literally navigating a fully raytraced scene like it was just a normal viewport render. It’s crazy how fast this laptop was.
Display and Monitor Support
Playing on this laptop is incredible, with the 165 hz display, playing competitive titles was a very enjoyable experience. Coming from a 60 hz monitor myself, moving to this display was eye opening, it felt like the screen was moving before I was even making the inputs. Because of the naturally fast response time of the display, I could see my enemies before they could see me. No joke, I climbed 2 ranks from using this laptop.
Switching back to my original 60hz screen felt like a huge downgrade because it felt like my mouse was dragging behind. I would definitely consider this laptop just for the display itself, thanks to the powerful internals it could also consistently pump out the display’s maximum fps. The colors are also really beautiful and saturated, playing a colorful game like Overwatch was so satisfying, paired with the 1440p display, it felt like I was playing an animated film.
The laptop also supports up to three independent displays, including its native display and two external monitors via HDMI and USB-C. The HDMI port handles up to 8k resolution with 60hz, and the USB-C supports DisplayPort 1.4, that supports 1440p at 240hz all the way up to 8k at 30hz. This provides gamers with options to run high framerate games and gives professionals a way to hook up to more professional monitors.
Keyboard and Trackpad
The keyboard has 4 zones of RGB so you can customize the 4 zones of the keyboard with whatever color you want, it also has some preset animations. RGB on a keyboard is not something I normally search for in a laptop so these customizations are plenty enough for me, it’s nice to have both of my favorite colors on my keyboard, just adds a bit of personal touch to it. I also like Lenovo’s layout of the arrow keys, their actually fully sized instead of the squeezed arrow keys of other laptops. They’re comfortable enough to type on and good enough to game with, some people might need to get used to the short travel distance though.
The trackpad is nothing special, it’s a standard size so it’s good enough for everything that you’ll be doing.
Design and Ergonomics
Lenovo’s gaming laptops are probably my favorite out of all the different options, there’s just something so satisfying about the shapes and how the hinge is not on the edge of the laptop, it’s certainly iconic.
The outside material also feels pretty nice, it’s sturdy and feels premium enough for a laptop of this price point.
Memory and Storage
Rarely did the laptop lag when I was using it to edit in Davinci Resolve, because of its 16GB RAM, I could load it up with video clip after video clip and it would still run without chugging. Everything also runs and opens really quickly because of the 1TB SSD. Not only did I have a lot of space for all my media files and games, they also all loaded up really quickly since it could pull them all from an SSD.
It also supports up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM which you can insert into the two DDR5 So-dimm slots, dual-channel compatible. It also supports adding one more storage drive. This ensures that you have ample space for games and programs without compromising on load time speeds.
Connectivity and Ports
The laptop is well-equipped with various ports, including USB-C, multiple USB-A ports, HDMI, Ethernet (RJ-45), and a combo audio jack. This variety of ports makes sure that you won’t be scrambling to find a USB-C cable hub. I also really like how Lenovo handles cables, most of the ports are in the back so you don’t have unsightly wires coming out of the sides of the laptop. Everything can just be neatly positioned at the back, out of sight.
Battery Life
The integrated 60Wh battery supports Rapid Charge Pro, allowing the battery to charge up to 50% in just 30 minutes. There’s also Lenovo AI Chip tasked with AI assisted performance boosts so it can keep battery life efficiently. Although you might not want to necessarily game on it in performance mode since the powerful internals need a lot of power to run. Sure you can do productivity work on the battery and have it be reliable for a couple hours but if you’re planning on gaming, make sure to keep it plugged in.
Cooling
I normally don’t notice loud fans on laptops since I constantly put my headphones on, but for some people it might make or break their buying decision. Good news the laptop is actually pretty quiet for the most part, yes you do need to keep in mind that this is a gaming laptop and it will produce some fan noise, but compared to other gaming laptops I’ve tried, this is probably one of the quieter ones.
The bulk of the exhaust is also located at the back away from the laptop which is what I really like about Lenovo’s design on these laptops, it keeps the hot air away from the laptop rather than pumping it at the bottom or sides like other laptops. It keeps the keyboard and you cool.
Audio and Camera
The LOQ 15IRX9 features stereo speakers optimized with Nahimic Audio, providing a decent audio experience, it’s not as loud as I would like it to be but it does have decent bass so music and movies so pretty good on it. There’s also a camera switch on the side, which is really good for privacy since hackers can’t get through a physical switch.
Conclusion
For gamers on a budget, the Lenovo LOQ 15IRX9 really delivers when it comes to power and affordability. With its 14th-gen Intel core i7 processor and RTX 4060 GPU, you can enjoy smooth gameplay on competitive titles and easily handle tasks like video editing and 3D work. The 165Hz display makes gaming feel super immersive, and the bright, vibrant colors are a nice bonus. Plus, the cooling system is quiet, and the design is sleek and practical, making it comfortable for long sessions. Overall, whether you’re gaming or getting work done, the LOQ 15IRX9 gives you great value in one solid package.
