Lenovo’s latest budget gaming laptop struggles to deliver the performance expected from Intel’s powerful integrated Arc B390 graphics.
Budget gaming laptops are getting better, with manufacturers exploring more efficient hardware to balance performance, battery life, and price. Lenovo’s new LOQ Essential bucks the trend, swapping out a standard NVIDIA GPU with the Intel Core Ultra X7 358H processor and integrated Arc B390 graphics.
The laptop is expected to cost less than $1,000 and promises to be quieter, cooler, and more power-efficient. But its gaming benchmarks show disappointing limits that keep it from reaching its full potential.
Lenovo LOQ Essential Struggles in Gaming
The Core Ultra X7 358H usually appears in high-end thin-and-light laptops, like Lenovo’s ThinkPad X9-15p. The LOQ Essential, with its integrated Arc B390 graphics, offers an interesting option to low-end dedicated GPUs, but it can’t match their performance.
At 1920×1200, with upscaling on, the laptop gets around 65fps on Cyberpunk 2077 at high settings, with 1% lows in the mid-40fps range. Both the Acer Swift 16 and the ThinkPad X9-15p beat it while using the same processor.
Marvel Rivals reveals its limitations further. Even with upscaling on and on medium settings, the performance is underwhelming, and low settings seem more realistic. Forza Horizon 6 likewise shows comparable results, with the LOQ Essential falling behind competitive laptops and even computers with entry-level dedicated GPUs.
Limited Memory and Power Distribution
The major problem seems to be the laptop’s 16GB RAM configuration. Integrated GPUs don’t have dedicated VRAM, so they use system memory instead. This means demanding games have to split available re
Both the ThinkPad X9-15p and Acer Swift 16 pack 32GB of memory, giving their integrated graphics extra room to play. Synthetic benchmarks confirm this issue. In 3DMark Time Spy, when memory limitations are removed, the LOQ Essential matches the ThinkPad’s GPU score, suggesting the Arc B390 itself can deliver higher performance.
Another concern is power distribution. In use, the GPU consistently lacked the power of comparable laptops, while the CPU had too much. Even the advertised Custom Extreme performance mode, up to 80W, didn’t always deliver the promised GPU power.
A Disappointing 60Wh Battery
Lenovo also missed a trick by only providing a 60Wh battery. The Intel chip’s powerful processor should have delivered great battery life, but the LOQ Essential doesn’t take advantage of it. The Acer Swift 16 manages similar battery life with its higher-resolution OLED display. The ThinkPad X9-15p, however, shows what’s feasible with its larger 88Wh battery.
Strong CPU Performance and Quiet Cooling
The LOQ Essential doesn’t excel at gaming, but it handles CPU workloads well. The Core Ultra X7 358H can run at roughly 60W, an improvement over the power allocation in the competitive Swift and ThinkPad models.
The processor is also much faster than AMD’s Ryzen 7 350 and earlier designs such as Intel’s 13th-generation Raptor Lake chips. Thermal efficiency is another advantage. The laptop runs fairly cool during gaming, and the fans are almost silent. But the graphics performance is dismal, and these benefits can’t make up for it.
Solid Build Quality With a Budget Display
The Acer Swift 16 appears to be a stronger alternative, offering slightly better gaming performance, a superior OLED display, and a thinner, lighter design for around $1,000 with 16GB of memory. The 15.3-inch, 16:10 IPS screen is 1920×1200 and has brightness just under 400 nits. It has a matte coating that eliminates reflections and reduces ghosting.
However, its limited color gamut makes it unsuitable for professional color grading. The lack of a discrete NVIDIA GPU also means no MUX switch or G-Sync support.
Is the Lenovo LOQ Essential Worth Buying?
For about $1,000, the Acer Swift 16 is a better alternative, with 16GB of RAM, slightly better gaming performance, a better OLED display, and a slimmer, lighter build. Alternatively, conventional budget gaming laptops equipped with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 graphics can deliver substantially better gaming performance when properly powered.
Lenovo’s LOQ Essential ultimately squanders the potential of Intel’s powerful Core Ultra X7 358H and Arc B390 graphics. It’s hard to recommend as a gaming laptop because of its restricted RAM, dubious power distribution, and short battery life.
Q. What GPU does the Lenovo LOQ Essential use?
A.The Lenovo LOQ Essential uses Intel’s integrated Arc B390 GPU, built into the Core Ultra X7 358H processor instead of a dedicated NVIDIA graphics card.
Q. Why does the Lenovo LOQ Essential underperform in gaming?
A.Its 16GB system memory and limited GPU power allocation restrict gaming performance, preventing the integrated Arc B390 from reaching its full potential.
Q. How much RAM does the Lenovo LOQ Essential need for gaming?
A.At least 24GB of system memory is recommended for demanding integrated GPU workloads, while 32GB provides more room for modern gaming and multitasking.
Q. Is the Lenovo LOQ Essential worth buying?
A.It offers solid build quality, quiet cooling, and strong CPU performance, but competing laptops such as the Acer Swift 16 and RTX 4050 gaming laptops provide better gaming value.
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