Lenovo releases new budget gaming laptop a month early with cheaper pricing and 165 Hz display

Previously, the LOQ Essential 15IRH11 was available in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand. Now, the same laptop has arrived in Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the UK. At the time of publication, the LOQ Essential 15IRH11 starts at £1,050 and €1,159-€1,209 with the following hardware:

• Intel Core 5 205H processor
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 (4 GB VRAM)
• 8 GB DDR5-5200 RAM
• 512 GB M.2 2242 (PCIe 4.0)
• 15.3-inch, 165 Hz, 300 nits, 1,920 x 1200 pixels, 16:10 aspect ratio
• 60 Wh batttery & 135 W charging
• Wi-Fi 6/Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity
  

Alternatively, Lenovo sells a pre-configured unit with the Core 7 230H, 16 GB of DDR5-5200 RAM and a 1 TB SSD. This higher configuration contains the same 4 GB laptop GPU though, as well as the same display, modem, battery, purple backlit keyboard and Luna Grey finish as its cheaper sibling.

It is worth noting that one can add 32 GB of RAM as needed. Unfortunately, Lenovo charges €600 or £520 compared to entry-level 8 GB of RAM configurations. Similarly, upgrading from the GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB to its 6 GB VRAM sibling costs €100/£100.

By contrast, one can save €20 or £20 by opting against a bundled power supply. While the LOQ Essential 15IRH11 is not yet in North America, the similar LOQ Essential 15IRX11 can be purchased with a more powerful GeForce RTX 5050 laptop GPU (curr. $1,349 on Amazon).