When you talk about gaming laptops, the sky is the limit for the price tag because you can keep spending on the graphics card and processor. This is where the Lenovo LOQ 15IAX9I laptop comes in. It comes with Intel Arc A530M GPU to go with 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12450HX processor.
Design and typing experience
As a gaming laptop it’s a very interesting option to have. We begin with build and design, which is minimal and nothing over-the-top. The laptop has a no-nonsense grey plastic finish on the lid and interior. The build quality feels decent; there’s not much flex to the keyboard or lid even when pushing down fairly hard but if you are in the habit of thumping down on keys, there will be some screen wobble.
The front of the lid sticks out a little, making one finger opening easy. The hinges feel solid even when opening the lid quite fast. There is a slight bulge at the back to help with thermals and ports.
The LOQ is on the slimmer side even with its typical size for a mid-range gaming laptop. It’s not very small, but still portable. The laptop alone weighs 2.38kg but the weight increases when you include the relatively small 170W charger that’s included.
The typing experience is surprisingly good.
The keyboard is quite good, complete with excellent backlighting. Having a full-size keyboard helps and there is decent key travel. The touchpad works fine but being plastic the feel is just about right… could have been better.
Let’s talk about the ports, most of which are at the back. There are three USB-A ports (USB 5Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 1), one USB-C (USB 10Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 2) with PD 140W and DisplayPort 1.4, one HDMI 2.1 (up to 4K/60Hz), a headphone-microphone combo jack, ethernet and, of course, power connector. It’s a standard setup and most users will be fine with this. Having all the ports on the back will make the machine appear tidy on the desk as all the wires will be at the back.
Let’s get connectivity out of the way — Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2; I would have preferred something more up to date in this area but given the price point, this is more of a quibble. The speeds should be fine for most users.
The screen has a good set of hinges and there’s hardly any wobble.
The speakers are found down the front on the left and right sides. I think they sound good for a gaming laptop because gamers tend to use headphones to get going. There is just about enough bass and the overall sound profile is clean.
Smooth performance
When it comes to performance, there is good thermal control. There are air intake vents directly above the fans, as well as exhaust at the back. There is no hot air blowing on your hand from the sides. No, it doesn’t make the laptop get hotter. However much you push the laptop, performance is quite good.
The Intel Arc A530M GPU allows gamers to enjoy good frame rates. Across a range of popular mainstream games, it achieves comparable performance than an RTX 3050 at 1080p resolution with high image quality settings.
Further, Xe Super Sampling technology increases the native frames to achieve a playable and improved experience such as Hogwarts Legacy being raised from a native 49fps to a 72fps using XeSS.
Playing Valiant or Counter Strike 2 offered us more than decent frame rate per second. There was hardly any pixelation. But be realistic: don’t expect the laptop to match the performance of far costlier and powerful Nvidia options.
Having most of the ports at the back means a tidy desktop.
As important as performance is the display, which in this case is 15.6-inch (1,920x1,080) IPS, offering 100 per cent sRGB and 144Hz. The colours are decent for what’s meant to be a budget-friendly option. It’s a 300 nits panel, which is the minimum I want to see.
Should you buy it?
One area Lenovo could have worked on is the web camera. Even though it’s not an expensive laptop, I expected something more than 720p (with e-shutter).
Overall, LOQ 15IAX9I is a fantastic budget-friendly gaming laptop and we are talking about the Arc variant here. Don’t think of gaming on battery, which is the case with all gaming laptops but if you are using it for everyday work, it’s a decent experience. The given charger juices up fast but it’s not the lightest of options. It all comes down to how much gaming you will do. If you are someone for whom fps is very important across titles, obviously you can look for a high-end option from Lenovo but for those who want to restrict gaming to a couple of hours a day, this is one smooth operator.
At a glance
Device: Lenovo LOQ 15IAX9I with Intel Arc A530M
Pricing: Upwards of Rs 59,990
High notes
- Excellent thermal management
- Good graphics even with Intel Arc A530M
- Pleasant typing experience
Muffled note
Webcam could have been better
