Lenovo LOQ 15i Gen 10 Review: RTX 5070 Powerful but CPU Bottleneck

June 12, 2026

Tech

The LOQ range lets Lenovo target the competition with machines that are typically well-equipped for a modest price. Yet in the balancing act of compromises, does the LOQ 15i Gen 10 sacrifice too many important elements in order to fit a powerful RTX 5070? That is exactly what we aimed to determine in this test.

Lenovo LOQ 15i Gen 10

6 / 10

Les plus

Serious build, fairly compact
The absolute performance
Basic Full HD display but well calibrated
Good upgradability, good webcam

Les moins

Tendency to heat up, RTX 5070 is not fully utilized
Keyboard heavily biased toward office use, not RGB
Old and poorly distributed connectors
The dated 16:9 format

Positioned at Lenovo’s entry and mid-range, alongside the Legion lineup with its more powerful and refined models, the LOQ range lets the Chinese manufacturer compete with Acer’s Nitro, Gigabyte’s Gaming, or MSI’s Cyborg. The Lenovo LOQ devices are therefore primarily aimed at delivering a good equipment/price ratio by making tough trade-offs.

Tough trade-offs, the LOQ 15i Gen 10 (15IRX10, its full name), which we borrowed on loan, actually makes several. We’ll see whether they are wise and not merely regrettable, but first, here is an overview of the configuration Lenovo sent us:

Depending on the chosen configuration (many options range from Full HD / i5 / RTX 5060 to a QHD / i7 / RTX 5070), the Lenovo LOQ 15i Gen 10 is priced roughly between 1,200 and 1,700 euros.

L'appareil, de dos // © Nathan Le Gohlisse for Clubic

As we’re talking about the keyboard, let’s continue. Not terrible, the keyboard actually feels much more pleasant for office work than for gaming. The key travel is short, the rebound a bit soft. In short, it’s comfortable for daily typing and work, but not very pleasant for a nerve-wracking FPS. The numeric keypad and the office/multimedia shortcuts seem to confirm this approach—deliberate, it seems, on Lenovo’s part. We have a white backlight only… Quite unusual for a gaming model. Even for entry level.

Similarly, the touchpad is perfectly ordinary. Not good, not bad, it does the job as a fallback, but it will never replace an external mouse. It’s not there for that. As for the speakers installed under the chassis, they simply deliver a minimalist audio experience as well. Their purpose is only to let you play a YouTube video without headphones from time to time.

Esthétiquement, l'appareil est plutôt sobre © Clubic

Puisque nous parlons du clavier, continuons. Sans être mauvais, ce dernier s’avère à vrai dire bien plus agréable en utilisation bureautique qu’il n’est appréciable en gaming. La course des touches est courte, le rebond un peu mou. Bref, c’est confortable pour écrire et travailler au quotidien, mais pas très plaisant à utiliser sur un FPS nerveux. Le pavé numérique et les raccourcis orientés bureautique / multimédia semblent d’ailleurs attester de cette approche — volontaire de la part de Lenovo, semble-t-il. Nous en voulons pour preuve le rétroéclairage blanc uniquement… Assez inhabituel pour un modèle gaming. Même d’entrée de gamme.

Dans la même veine, le pavé tactile est parfaitement commun. Ni bon, ni mauvais, il remplit son office en dépannage, mais ne remplacera jamais avantageusement une souris externe. Il n’est pas là pour ça. Quant aux haut-parleurs installés sous le châssis, ils se contentent de délivrer une expérience audio minimaliste là aussi. Leur but est uniquement de vous permettre de lancer une vidéo YouTube sans écouteurs, de temps à autre.

Le clavier est bon, mais plus adapté à la bureautique qu'aux jeux. © Nathan Le Gohlisse for Clubic

Fortunately, the webcam isn’t treated the same way. Lenovo opts for a 1440p-quality sensor, delivering a fairly natural image with good sharpness. Perfect for video calls, though it will still be a bit tight for aspiring streamers. This module also lacks the facial recognition sensors. Too bad, because with no fingerprint reader, there is no biometric identification system on the device. In 2025 (the product’s launch year) and now 2026, that looks out of place—even for an entry-level model.

Another disappointment: the connectivity. While sufficiently numerous and varied, the ports are rather old (no USB 4 or Thunderbolt 4, for instance) and poorly distributed. You’ll find no ports on the left flank; everything is placed (at rather uneven intervals) on the right side and the rear of the chassis.

The 1440p webcam is convincing. © Clubic

The display is aged but effective. © Nathan Le Gohlisse for Clubic

Then again, speaking of the keyboard, let’s continue. While not terrible, it is actually much more comfortable for office work than for gaming. The key travel is short, the rebound is a bit soft. In short, it’s comfortable for everyday writing and work, but not very pleasant to use in a high-strung FPS. The numeric keypad and the shortcuts oriented toward office/multimedia seem to confirm this approach—deliberate on Lenovo’s part, it seems. We prove this with the white backlighting only… Quite unusual for a gaming model. Even at entry level.

Similarly, the touchpad is perfectly ordinary. Neither good nor bad, it does the job in a pinch, but will never replace an external mouse advantageously. It isn’t there for that. As for the speakers installed under the chassis, they merely deliver a minimal audio experience too. Their purpose is solely to let you play a YouTube video without headphones from time to time.

L’ouverture maximale du capot // © Clubic

Le ratio de contraste est élevé et l’écran reste lisible. © Nathan Le Gohlisse for Clubic

Le ratio de contraste est par ailleurs estimé à 1722:1 par nos outils, soit dans le haut du panier de ce que permet la technologie LCD IPS. Sans égaler une dalle OLED ou Mini-LED, bien sûr, cet écran affiche donc des noirs relativement profonds. Quant à la fidélité des couleurs, elle est elle aussi au rendez-vous, avec un DeltaE donné à 0,8 (ce qui est parfait puisque cette valeur doit idéalement être égale ou inférieure à 3) et une température s’élevant à 6386 kelvins (proche des 6500 kelvins du standard vidéo). En clair, l’écran a été calibré avec soin.

This LCD panel finally covers 100% the sRGB spectrum and 71% the DCI-P3 gamut. We’re therefore dealing with an older-generation panel, tailored for everyday use and gaming, but not at all for creative work. A pity, but logical given this model’s positioning.

Performances: the RTX 5070 to deliver the show?

To keep the price attractive, the LOQ 15i ships with an older Intel Core i7 13th generation “Raptor Lake-HX,” released early 2023. This aging CPU is nevertheless offset by the presence on our loan unit of a powerful and fairly recent graphics card: the venerable RTX 5070. From this unbalanced—or even clearly mismatched—pairing, you can expect solid 1080p performance… although the high-end NVIDIA chip here feels somewhat superfluous and, above all, underutilized.

First of all, here is a quick recap of the tested configuration:

Intel Core i7 13650HX (14 cores / 20 threads, up to 4.9 GHz, 24 MB cache, 55 W default TDP)
16 GB DDR5 RAM
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (8 GB GDDR7 memory, 115 W TGP)
512 GB M.2 SSD

Lenovo presents here a CPU/GPU pairing that is out of sync. © Nathan Le Gohlisse for Clubic

Commençons par faire un point sur le système de refroidissement. Il privilégie le confort et le silence. En charge intensive, nous n’avons pas mesuré plus de 49 dB à une distance de 40 cm de l’écran. Comprenez que le souffle des ventilateurs reste plutôt discret pour un modèle gaming. Les températures, elles, peuvent facilement atteindre les 50 degrés sur le châssis, et parfois davantage. Heureusement, la zone la plus chaude se situe à l’arrière de l’appareil.

Cette tendance à la surchauffe se traduit par un bridage des performances CPU en calcul multi-core, où notre Core i7 13650HX n’exploite qu’une partie de son potentiel. Avec 111 points en single-core et 1007 points en multi-core obtenus sur Cinebench R24, le processeur d’Intel fait nettement moins bien ici que sur le Gigabyte Aorus 16X 2024 — du moins en ce qui concerne les calculs multi-core. Dommage.

Le processeur s’en sort tout de même mieux sur le LOQ 15i que l’AMD Ryzen 7 260 testé par nos soins sur l’ASUS TUF Gaming A18 il y a quelques mois, sans toutefois parvenir à rivaliser avec un AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, par exemple.

CPU results on Geekbench 6. © Studio Clubic

GPU results on Geekbench 6. © Studio Clubic

NPU results on Geekbench AI. © Studio Clubic

The gaming experience on this configuration is oddly lackluster.

The webcam 1440p is convincing. © Clubic

On retrouve cela dit un port USB-A (5 Gbps), un port USB-C (10 Gbps with display and power support) and a headset jack on the right; accompanied by two USB-A (5 Gbps), an RJ-45 jack, and an HDMI 2.1 output at the rear. The connectivity revolves around a Wi‑Fi 6 modem and Bluetooth 5.3. No Wi‑Fi 7 or Bluetooth 6 on the horizon, so, is that really important on an entry-level product? Not really, in our view. In terms of upgradability, the LOQ 15 is interesting. It allows replacing its SSD (M.2 2242), adding another SSD (M.2 2280 slot left vacant), changing its memory (SO-DIMM), its Wi‑Fi module, and its battery, all with a few screws. Cross-head screws, too. Screen: old-fashioned, but effective! The LOQ 15i’s display isn’t cutting-edge. To cut costs, Lenovo sticks to a basic LCD IPS Full HD (1920×1080) 15.6-inch panel, in a 16:9 format, very plain.

The 16:9 format is dated, but this IPS screen is perfectly calibrated. © Nathan Le Gohlisse for Clubic

This ratio therefore puts us up against a large bottom bezel and a display frame that is quite conspicuous overall. This particularity heavily contributes to the model’s “dated” look. That said, the panel chosen by the Chinese manufacturer still goes up to 144 Hz, and this screen, though modest, is not at all unpleasant to use.

Under our instrument, this fairly solid overall impression is confirmed. If the viewing experience is a bit dated, you have to admit we’ve seen worse in the entry level. Specifically, peak brightness reaches 363 cd/m2. It’s honest, enough for indoor use targeted by this PC, especially since an anti-reflective treatment is also relevant.

Sur le plan graphique, notre LOQ 15i s’en sort évidemment bien mieux grâce à sa puissante RTX 5070, ici configurée à 115 W de TGP. Cela dit, la puce de NVIDIA paraît tout de même « gâchée » sur notre machine de prêt, limitée à un simple écran 1080p.

En jeu, il est évidemment possible de faire de belles choses, comme activer le Path tracing (diffusion photoréaliste de la lumière) et le pousser à son plus haut niveau sur Black Myth Wukong, pourtant très gourmand.

Cela dit, force est d’admettre qu’avec seulement 35 FPS moyens en 1080p / Ultra sur le titre chinois (réglages « Cinématiques » + Path tracing minimal, avec DLSS mais sans génération d’image), notre RTX 5070 fait moins bien en 1080p sur le LOQ 15i qu’en 1600p sur le Framework Laptop 16 avec des réglages graphiques pourtant comparables (et où elle était pourtant limitée à 100 W de TGP « seulement »). Un écart de performances en jeu que l’on doit vraisemblablement au CPU, plus récent sur le Framework Laptop.

Sur le plan graphique, notre LOQ 15i s’en sort évidemment mieux grâce à sa RTX 5070 puissante, configurée ici à 115 W de TGP. Cela dit, la puce NVIDIA paraît tout de même « gâchée » sur notre machine de prêt, limitée à un simple écran 1080p.

En jeu, il est évidemment possible de réaliser de belles performances, comme activer le Path tracing et le pousser à son maximum sur Black Myth Wukong, titre particulièrement gourmand.

Cependant, il faut admettre qu’avec seulement 35 FPS moyens en 1080p / Ultra sur ce titre chinois (réglages « Cinématiques » + Path tracing minimal, avec DLSS mais sans génération d’image), notre RTX 5070 se montre moins performante en 1080p sur le LOQ 15i que sur 1600p sur le Framework Laptop 16 avec des réglages graphiques pourtant comparables (et où elle était limitée à 100 W de TGP « seulement »). Un écart de performances en jeu probablement imputable au CPU, plus récent sur le Framework Laptop.

Lenovo LOQ 15i Gen 10 results on 3D Mark. © Clubic

Autonomie : c’est compliqué sur batterie, pas de surprise : 2 heures et 40 minutes. C’est le temps nécessaire à la batterie pour se vider complètement lors de la lecture vidéo selon notre protocole habituel. Ce dernier consiste à laisser des vidéos YouTube 1080p tournant en boucle sur Edge, avec la luminosité de l’écran au maximum, le rétroéclairage du clavier éteint, un casque branché et les paramètres d’alimentation les plus favorables à l’économie d’énergie

The 230 W power adapter. © Nathan Le Gohlisse for Clubic

The verdict is not glorious for the LOQ 15i. To be frank, the device sticks to a small 60 Wh battery, the same capacity as some 14-inch ultraportables. This helps explain why we could never push beyond the 3-hour mark.

We are at the level of an older-generation gamer, nothing more. Hard to be surprised.

On charging and power, Lenovo sticks with a large 230 W brick. It is also possible to recharge the device via its side USB-C port.

Lenovo LOQ 15i Gen 10: Clubic’s verdict

Conclusion

Overall score

6 / 10

To be frank, we didn’t have very high expectations when we received the LOQ 15i Gen 10. Fortunately, because while not fundamentally bad, the device provides only the bare minimum in many areas and wastes its powerful RTX 5070. Its 1080p 16:9 display, its large bezels, its underwhelming cooling, its old CPU, and its poorly distributed connectivity drag this device down, leaving it to give a hot and cold experience throughout our test period.

That doesn’t mean everything is to be thrown out. We did appreciate the compact form factor, the solid build quality, its upgradability, its pleasant keyboard (unfortunately mostly for office tasks), and its well-contrasted, perfectly calibrated IPS sRGB display.

In our view, the configuration tested here is clearly not the one to buy. If despite its flaws the LOQ 15i interests you, or you found it on sale, steer toward its RTX 5060 variant, which is more balanced.

Pros

Solid build, fairly compact
The absolute performance
Display calibrated, basic Full HD but well calibrated
Flexible upgrade path, good webcam

Cons

Tendency to overheating, RTX 5070 poorly utilized
Keyboard very office-like, not RGB
Old and poorly distributed connectors
The dated 16:9 format

Competition: what alternatives to the LOQ 15i Gen 10?

MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI

The RTX 5070 powerful and more energy-efficient (though with early teething issues)
Relative equipment/price ratio
Build quality at its peak

8 / 10

Daniel Brooks

I cover everyday products with a practical eye, from kitchen tools and home essentials to smart gadgets and consumer trends. My goal is to help readers understand what is genuinely useful, what is worth the price, and what deserves a second look before buying.