Lenovo's LOQ Tower is a sleek looking mid-tower desktop that will look great at any desk.
Specs:
Intel Core i5-14400F
1 x 16gb of DDR5-4800 RAM
2 DDR5 UDIMM Dual Channel DDR5-5600 slots
NVidia RTX 3050
512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4 x4 used in one of the two M.2 slots
PCIe 3 x1 slot
Wi-Fi 6E and BT 5.3 used in one of the M.2 slots
USB keyboard and mouse
500W power supply
Front ports: 1 USB-C 3.2 gen 1 with 15W charging, 2 USB-A ports 3.2 gen 1, and 3.5mm headphone jack
Back ports: 4 USB-A 2.0, 1 HDMI 2.1, 1 VGA, 1 1Gb RJ-45, and 1 3.5mm headphone jack
Desktop Use:
The desktop runs office applications without a problem. In an office setting, this desktop won't disappoint as it has plenty of CPU and RAM to run office applications. In my use of it, office type applications were snappy when loading and ran just fine. I have no complaints in it's performance in this scenario. At some point, I may want to upgrade the RAM to 32GB. Since the LOQ came with 1 stick of RAM, I can simply add a second 16GB stick which can help when I have many office applications and browser tabs open at once. Lenovo must have considered this with this model, so it's good to see that they thought ahead on that. The LOQ has a Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 card in it which is really good to see in this system , but it is unfortunate that it is occupying one of the two M.2 slots. The other M.2 slot is in use by the 512GB M.2 SSD. That brings up the issue some may run into with the SSD being only 512GB. The SSD can have games installed on it, but it will depend on the number and size of games as to whether or not that fills up quickly. I would like to have seen a 1TB SSD or the 512GB SSD and a 2TB spindled drive. There is cabling in the case that supports adding in a SATA drive and a single 3.5" drive bay. Lenovo left a SATA data cable and power cable in the case, so it comes ready for adding in additional storage. I can will add a 2TB spindled drive or SSD in the future if I want to do that. Regarding the ports, it is good to see HDMI 2.1 supported by the RTX 3050, but the USB ports on the back of the case are USB-A 2.0 ports. Only the USB ports on the front of the case are 3.2 gen 1. It would have been good for all of the ports to support the 3.2 speeds.
Gaming:
With those specs, this is an entry level gaming system, but I didn't expect to be running an FPS at high frame rates with this. The RTX 3050 will run games, but the CPU being an i5 and the GPU being a generation behind, expect to run mid to low level graphics games such as strategy and a few other genres that typically don't require a higher level GPU or CPU. The RAM is also not the highest speed RAM than the motherboard supports. It came with DDR5-4800 RAM instead of DDR5-5600. Given the price point for this version of the LOQ 17IRR9, I feel you should be getting a better CPU or a better GPU. One or the other in a $1K desktop.
The LOQ 17IRR9 with these specs will be good for me running office apps and can run a few of my games. I would consider it a really good office system, but regarding gaming, it is an entry level gaming system. The case looks good and it has lighting on the front. The light strip runs down the center of the front and there is lighting around the power button both of which can be disabled in Lenovo's app. If you are looking for an entry level gaming system that you won't be upgrading, then this may fill that need. If you need an office desktop, then this will fit the bill. I'm using it for office applications and have little complaints during my use, however, most of my games will need more CPU and GPU than what is in this in order to run at high frame rates, so I'll run a few of my games on it that don't need a higher end GPU and CPU.