Faster, higher, further thanks to OC: Lenovo LOQ 17 RTX 5070 gaming laptop review

Although just under $1,500 for the review version with a Full HD display, Core i7-14700HX, 16 GB of RAM, 1 TB SSD, and Windows 11 Home is certainly a lot of money, the LOQ 17IRX10 is still one of the more affordable RTX 5070-based laptops. 

Accordingly, expectations can't be set quite as high as some competitors, but Lenovo – with one or two criticisms – still manages to do a decent job. It deserves particular credit for the graphics card's good performance. Thanks to the built-in GPU overclocking, the RTX 5070 delivers above-average performance. On the positive side, we also have the two RAM and SSD slots for future upgrades, the relatively good input devices, and dirt-resistant surfaces.

Apart from that, the case could been better. The plastic materials don't feel particularly high-quality and tend to rattle here and there. Lenovo could also improve the display brightness, port distribution, and battery capacity. As with most gaming laptops, the LOQ 17 also gets quite loud during 3D mode (at least in performance mode).

The Lenovo LOQ 17IRX10 with a Core i7-14700HX and GeForce RTX 5070 is available for around $1,500.

The competitors include other current gaming laptops with Nvidia’s Blackwell chip, such as the HP Omen 16 (RTX 5060), the Gigabyte Gaming A16, as well as the MSI Crosshair A17 HX (both RTX 5070) or the Schenker XMG Focus 17 (RTX 5070 Ti), which all appear in the tables as comparison devices.

Thanks to the relatively light color (Luna Gray), the chassis makes an inviting impression, and gamers will also appreciate the keyboard's RGB lighting. The build quality and stability leave little room for complaint, and the surfaces generally only give way under forceful pressure. One highlight is the generous 180° display opening angle, which isn't something you see every day of the week.

At 2.9 kg, the LOQ 17 is comparable to its 17-inch counterparts. However, the 16-inch devices tend toward the 2 kg range, which makes them noticeably lighter. In terms of height, the 17-inch model sits comfortably in the middle of the pack (approximately 2.5 cm without the feet).

Ports

We were somewhat confused by the port layout. While the back panel offers more than enough ports (e.g., three USB-A ports), the left side remains empty. Of the five USB ports, only one is type-C. Furthermore, buyers will have to make do without a card reader.

A further weakness is the Wi-Fi performance. Despite a fairly modern chip (Wi-Fi 6), the LOQ17 achieved only mediocre results in the range test (especially when transmitting). We also encountered frequent connection drops throughout the entire test, although this may have been a general issue with the review sample.

Although the 5 MP webcam does significantly better, you shouldn't expect it to perform miracles. The image sharpness is at least better than that of most competitors.

The laptop comes with a few information leaflets and a medium-sized 245-watt power supply.

You can only access the internal components by first removing 10 small Phillips screws from the case bottom. Despite the fact that the installed SSD is only an M.2 2242 model, both slots can accommodate regular 2280 SSDs if necessary.

While the in-parallel reviewed Legion 9 18IAX10 is packaged exclusively with cardboard, Lenovo uses a lot of plastic material in its LOQ 17.

In Germany, the 17-inch model comes with a two-year warranty.

The touchpad is located quite far to the left, and at 12 x 7.5 cm, it's a decent size. Its functionality (gliding characteristics, precision, gestures) is mostly unobtrusive, meaning it's neither bad nor particularly good. In practice, the only thing that bothered us was the somewhat flimsy feel and sound of the click surfaces.

As is normally the case in this price range, the screen is a matte IPS panel, but its 1,920 x 1,080 pixels means it doesn't have a very crisp resolution for a 17-inch device.

The performance chapter begins with a series of system screenshots.

If you ignore the not entirely consistent Cinebench loop performance, the Core i7-14700HX cuts a very decent figure. However, compared to the Ryzen 9 8940HX in the MSI Crosshair A17 HX, the LOQ 17 doesn't stand a chance (the latter CPU is on average about 14% faster).

The system performance on offer meets expectations, and the 17-inch model once again lands in the upper mid-range among the comparison devices.

The review configuration features a Western Digital 1 TB SSD, which delivers acceptable performance from an NVMe perspective, but in the loop test, speed drops and fluctuations occurred after a while (see table).