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| The RTX 560-equipped Lenovo LOQ Essential gaming laptop is now $650 off on Best Buy. |
If you've been keeping an eye on budget-friendly gaming laptops, you might remember that sweet Labor Day deal we covered a couple of weeks back. Lenovo's LOQ Essential 15.6-inch gaming rig was going for a whopping $700 off, and plenty of folks jumped on it. Well, the holiday sale came and went, and the price crept back up—but here's the good news: it's now sitting at just under $1,200 again.
That's a pretty solid turn of events, especially considering how DRAM and NAND chip prices have been climbing steadily. According to recent price tracking data, this is actually one of the lowest prices we've seen for this particular Lenovo LOQ model in over a year.
What's Under the Hood?
This configuration packs some respectable hardware for the money. You're getting a 14-core Intel Core i7-13650HX processor from the Raptor Lake-HX family, paired with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Laptop GPU. There's also 16 GB of DDR5 RAM and 512 GB of storage on board.
Now, you might be thinking—Raptor Lake-HX in 2026? Isn't that a bit dated? Well, our in-depth review of the Lenovo LOQ Essential showed that this chip still holds its own. The Core i7 delivers multi-threaded performance that's roughly on par with an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS, which you'll find in plenty of premium gaming mini PCs these days.
Compared to Intel's newer Core Ultra 7 255H, expect the LOQ to be about 10% slower in multi-threaded tasks. That said, for most everyday workloads and moderately demanding applications, this laptop has more than enough muscle.
The Lenovo LOQ Essential gaming laptop features a very minimal, no-frills design.
GPU Performance: Good Enough for Casual Gaming
Here's where things get a little more nuanced. The RTX 5060 Laptop GPU in this machine runs at 55 W, and in synthetic benchmarks, it trails behind some of its competitors. In fact, it even falls short of last-gen laptops equipped with the RTX 4060 in games like Cyberpunk 2077.
That said, if you're mainly into casual 1080p gaming at medium to high settings, this laptop will serve you just fine. The 8 GB of GDDR7 VRAM might not be ideal for future-proofing, but at this price point, it's a reasonable trade-off. Our testing also showed that sustained gaming performance remains consistent—no thermal throttling surprises here.
Display and Upgradeability
The 15.6-inch panel on the LOQ Essential checks some important boxes. You're getting a 144 Hz refresh rate and 99.7% sRGB color coverage. Brightness tops out around 322 nits, and while that's not going to blow anyone away, the color accuracy is excellent once calibrated—and perfectly acceptable right out of the box.
For those who like to tinker, there's an empty SODIMM slot waiting for another 16 GB DDR5 stick. If you want to max out your memory, you can grab a Corsair Vengeance 16 GB module on Amazon for around $230. Storage and the WLAN module are also upgradeable, which is always nice to see in a laptop at this price.
Port selection is healthy too: dual USB-A 5 Gbps ports, HDMI 2.1, a single USB-C 10 Gbps, and gigabit Ethernet. Not bad at all.
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| The gaming laptop's RAM, storage, and dual LAN modules are upgradable. |
At just under $1,200, the Lenovo LOQ Essential offers a compelling package for gamers who want solid 1080p performance without breaking the bank. It's not going to win any benchmark crowns, but it handles everyday tasks and casual gaming with ease. And with upgrade options available down the line, it's got some staying power.
If you're interested, you can check out the current deal at Best Buy. And as always, we recommend reading through our full review before pulling the trigger. For those looking to expand storage right away, there's also a compatible SSD option on Amazon worth considering.
At this price, it's hard to go wrong—especially when chip prices keep creeping upward.
