Lenovo LOQ 15.6" 83GS001CUS Luna Grey 2024

The RTX 3050 with 6GB of VRAM is the highlight, putting this laptop's gaming chops well above average. Owner satisfaction is sky-high, but the 12GB of RAM is a serious bottleneck that holds the whole system back. Find it at a low price, budget for a RAM upgrade, and you've got a winner.

The RTX 3050 with 6GB of VRAM is the star here, and it's what makes this a real gaming laptop instead of just a laptop that can play games. It's well above average for this class, and you can expect smooth frame rates in esports titles at 1080p, especially with that 144Hz display. The i5-12450HX is a capable 8-core chip that handles everyday multitasking and schoolwork without breaking a sweat, though its 60th percentile ranking means it's more of a reliable workhorse than a speed demon.

The 12GB of DDR5 RAM is the bottleneck you'll run into first. It's single-channel in many configurations, and that holds back the whole system. You'll be fine in lighter games and basic productivity, but don't expect to have a dozen Chrome tabs open while you're gaming without hitting a wall. The 512GB SSD is quick enough for boot times, but you'll be playing storage Tetris after installing a couple of modern AAA titles.

Stacked against something like the ASUS Zenbook UX3405CA or the Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro, the Lenovo LOQ is a completely different animal. Those ultrabooks will run circles around it in portability, battery life, and screen quality, but they'll choke on any serious gaming. The LOQ's RTX 3050 gives it a clear reason to exist. Even against other budget gaming laptops, the 6GB of VRAM is a key advantage over older 4GB 3050 variants. The real trade-off is that you're giving up the premium build and all-day battery of those competitors for a machine that's heavier, clunkier, and needs to be plugged in to perform its best.

Pricing on this model is all over the map. We've seen it listed from $310 to a frankly absurd $22,184, so you absolutely need to shop around. At the low end, this is a steal for a laptop with a 6GB RTX 3050 and a 144Hz screen. At the high end, you're being robbed. The sweet spot is finding it closer to that $600-$700 range, where the price-to-performance ratio makes sense. Just know that a chunk of your future budget should probably go toward a RAM upgrade kit and maybe an external drive.

The Lenovo LOQ 83GS001CUS lands in a weird spot. Its social proof is a standout, sitting in the 89th percentile, which tells us owners are genuinely happy with what they got for the money. But the raw performance numbers tell a more complicated story. You're getting an Intel Core i5-12450HX and an RTX 3050 with 6GB of VRAM, which puts the GPU in the 74th percentile. That's solid for an entry-level machine, but the 12GB of DDR5 RAM is a real head-scratcher, landing in the 26th percentile. It's enough to get you started, but you'll feel that ceiling sooner rather than later.

For the price, which we've seen swing wildly from $310 to over $22,000 across vendors, this thing is a budget gaming machine that doesn't always look like one on the spec sheet. The 144Hz 1080p display is exactly average for the category, and the 512GB SSD is a bit cramped, falling into the 40th percentile. It's a laptop that makes a strong first impression but asks you to manage your expectations, especially if you're planning to keep it for a few years.

If you need a laptop that can last a full day on battery or you don't want to mess with internal upgrades, look elsewhere. The 12GB of RAM is a deal-breaker for heavy multitaskers, and the 512GB SSD will frustrate anyone with a large game library. Ultrabooks like the Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro or a MacBook Pro will be a much better fit if gaming isn't your primary goal, as they absolutely crush this LOQ in portability, screen quality, and battery life.

The Lenovo LOQ 83GS001CUS is a budget gaming laptop that gets the most important thing right: gaming performance for the price. The RTX 3050 6GB and 144Hz display are a great combo for entry-level gamers, and the high owner satisfaction scores back that up. But the 12GB of RAM and small SSD are compromises you'll feel immediately. If you can snag it at a good price and don't mind cracking it open to add another stick of RAM, it's a solid foundation. If you want something that's great out of the box with no tinkering, this isn't it.