Enter Lenovo LOQ with the new Tower desktop PC I’ve been reviewing here.
Here’s my full review.
Disclaimer:This review was made possible by a review unit provided by Lenovo.
The Lenovo LOQ Tower is tiny, and this blue LED strip is its only standout design feature.
The company did not see the contents of the review before publishing.
Each configuration also runs a PCIe Gen 4x4 SSD with 512GB of storage.
When buying from Lenovo, though, I suggest waiting for the frequent sales I’ve already seen.
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In addition to its diminutive stature, the Lenovo LOQ Tower also lacks a bevy of gaming flair.
This aspect actually reminds me a little of theDell XPS Desktop (8960).
This front ventilation grille actually grew on me over time, and the rest of the PC is pretty clean.
The LOQ Tower is still built very well, with no egregious gaps, flexing, or protrusions.
Everything fits together and feels solid and reliable.
Additional front ventilation to cool the internals is hidden behind a unique 3D pattern and blue LED light strip.
Rear ports are a little lacking, and two of these ports don’t even do anything.
All in all, this is a smart-looking gaming desktop with reassuring build quality.
For example, why does a 2023 gaming PC need a VGA port?
So why are they here!?
There’s room in here for upgrades, but it’s cramped and you’ll be a little limited.
There are six USB bang out-A ports and one USB bang out-C port on board here.
More baffling, though, is the fact thatall fourrear USB ports are the slow and aging 2.0 standard.
Additionally, the only USB 3.2 Gen 2 port here is a jot down-A port.
This fan is crooked to save space, which I thought was a little amusing.
Wireless connectivity, at least, is perfectly acceptable.
Let’s start with the upgrade potential, though.
Speeds being limited to 3,200MHz is understandable at this price point.
This PCIe Gen 4x4 SSD is hardly the most impressive, but it gets the job done.(Image credit: Windows Central)
It’s basically what I expected from the LOQ Tower.
Using the Lenovo LOQ Tower as my daily driver has been surprisingly… Fine!
I have very few complaints here, honestly.
Cinebench pits the LOQ Tower against recent, premium ultrabooks running current and last-gen Core i7 CPUs.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Have I used faster PCs?
Did this PC fail to keep up with my average daily workload?
No, not at all.
The LOQ Tower’s CrossMark scores may be affected by the slower RAM, putting it behind even gaming handhelds like the ROG Ally.(Image credit: Windows Central)
As far as budget computers are concerned, this one is shockingly not frustrating to use.
Alright, on to the hard statistics.
During normal usage, the fans are whisper quiet almost nonexistent.
In Geekbench 6, the LOQ Tower once again goes toe-to-toe with current and last-gen Intel Core i7 laptop processors.(Image credit: Windows Central)
In every game I tested, this held true.
There arethreeapps for managing audio, for some reason.
Spotify is the only oddball preinstalled app.
PCMark 10 is a general productivity benchmark that tests every aspect of a system, and the LOQ Tower did alright here.(Image credit: Windows Central)
That’s enough for a lot of people, but is it enough for you?
Your budget is around $1,000 or less for a solid gaming desktop.
You should not buy this if …
You want a very upgradeable, future-proofed desktop.
The RTX 3050 isn’t the most impressive GPU, but it gets the job done here.
You want the most possible power for your money.
The Lenovo LOQ Tower is well-balanced and a quality product.
All I’ve had to sacrifice are some visual options and a decent bit of resolution.
In 3DMark Time Spy (set to the default 1440p), the RTX 3050 performed about where I expected — on par with older GTX 1660 Super and RTX 2060 GPUs.
At full price, at least from Lenovo, the LOQ Tower is slightly harder to recommend.
If you end up wanting to spend more money, well, Lenovo has you covered there, too.
Lenovo succeeds with few caveats, especially when the LOQ Tower is discounted even further.
Windows 11 runs great on the LOQ Tower.
Among tiny, pre-built gaming desktops, the LOQ Tower makes a strong argument for itself.
The Lenovo LOQ Tower does what it says it does on the box, and its compromises are reasonable at this price.
