HP Victus 16 evaluate: A new gaming model makes its mark
MSRP $1,360.00
“The HP Victus 16 is a strong gaming laptop computer at an inexpensive value.”
Pros
Excellent productiveness efficiency
Solid 1080p gaming efficiency
Comfortable keyboard
Display is sweet for each productiveness and gaming
Reasonably priced
Cons
Build high quality is subpar
Keyboard backlighting is proscribed
Poor battery life
Gaming laptops have by no means been extra fashionable, and HP has a brand new line of gadgets to fulfill the surge in curiosity. Victus is the identify, and it sits underneath HP’s premium Omen gaming model and replaces the budget-level Pavilion gaming machines.
HP Victus brings a extra premium design, souped-up internals, and Windows 11. I used to be despatched a high-end configuration with a Core i7-11800H and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 that’s priced at $1,360.
That’s a good value for a reasonably geared up gaming laptop computer — the closest Omen 16 configuration I may put collectively prices $1,950 by comparability. Given the worth distinction and nice efficiency, the HP Victus 16 has already made its mark on the earth of inexpensive gaming laptops.
Design
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The very first thing you would possibly discover for those who’re accustomed to the Omen line is the Victus emblem. It’s a “V” primarily based on the identical core geometry because the Omen emblem, with the underside portion primarily remoted to face by itself. The emblem’s not solely on the skin lid and on the show chin, however it’s additionally embedded within the venting above the keyboard and descriptions the venting on the chassis backside. If nothing else, the Victus has its branding down.
The remainder of the Victus 16’s aesthetic is minimalist, with few nods to a extra flashy gaming design. In truth, the one actual gaming design ingredient is the row of vents alongside the again of the chassis. They lend some visible aptitude whereas additionally offering enhanced thermals (extra on that in a bit). My evaluate unit was within the Mica Silver (black) colour; Performance Blue and Ceramic White are the opposite choices.
Overall, the Victus 16 is a gaming laptop computer inside a extra conventional laptop computer design. We’ve seen that with a number of different gaming machines, such because the conservatively designed (and way more costly) Razer Blade 15 and the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, which, aside from its lid and rear venting, additionally sports activities a nongaming aesthetic. The Lenovo Legion 5 Pro lives in each worlds directly, with a businesslike design with some gaming parts like aggressive vents seemingly pasted on. Conversely, the Asus ROG Strix G15 and the Alienware laptops preserve a die-hard gaming aesthetic by and thru.
The Victus 16 has moderately small bezels for a gaming machine, at the very least on high and alongside the perimeters. Even with a large chin, the mix leads to an 84% screen-to-body ratio — not dangerous for a gaming laptop computer. That made it potential to suit the 16-inch show right into a chassis that’s nearer to a 15-inch gaming machine. The Legion 5 Pro has smaller bezels round its 16-inch, 16:10 facet ratio show and is nearly equivalent to the Victus 16, which sports activities an old-school 16:9 panel, in width and depth.
The Asus ROG Strix G15, with a 15.6-inch, 16:9 show, is fractions of an inch wider and deeper. The Victus 16 is 0.93 inches thick and weighs 5.5 kilos, in comparison with the Legion 5 Pro at 1.1 inches and 5.4 kilos and the ROG Strix G15 at about an inch and 5.7 kilos. That makes the Victus 16 a fairly sized gaming laptop computer given the show and elements. You can get thinner gaming laptops, just like the Razer Blade 15 at simply 0.67 inches and the HP Omen 16 at 0.89 inches, however you’ll pay for it.
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One space the place the Victus 16 doesn’t fairly dwell as much as its value is its construct high quality. It’s an all-plastic laptop computer, which is ok, however the lid is just too bendable and the keyboard deck has sufficient flex that you may really feel your fingers urgent towards no matter’s immediately beneath the keyboard and palm relaxation. The Legion 5 Pro and ROG Strix G15 felt sturdier to us, and people are about the identical value because the Victus 16. The hinge was extremely wobbly, straightforward to open with one hand however liable to shaking throughout gaming classes. Maybe the construct high quality carried over from the budget-oriented Pavilion Gaming line, however HP would possibly wish to enhance it in future generations.
One of the extra significant upgrades from the Pavilion Gaming 16 is the thermal design. HP integrated a brand new system with five-way airflow because of an extra outlet vent on the RTX 3060 mannequin, 4 warmth pipes, and bigger followers. The result’s a 30% enhance in airflow, based on HP, which makes the laptop computer relatively loud when working arduous however retains it cooler than its predecessor. As we’ll see within the efficiency part under, the Victus 16 makes essentially the most of its elements, and that’s partly as a result of wonderful thermal design.
There’s a mixture of connections out there on the Victus 16, with a concentrate on with the ability to join quite a few gaming peripherals. There’s an Ethernet port, a full-size HDMI port, a USB-A 3.2 port, a USB-C 3.2 port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a full-size SD card reader alongside the left-hand aspect, and two extra USB-A 3.2 ports alongside the right-hand aspect. Juice is offered by a large 200-watt energy brick and a proprietary barrel connector.
There’s no Thunderbolt 4 help, although, which is disappointing. Wi-Fi 6 and (*16*) 5.1 present wi-fi connectivity.
Performance
The Victus 16 is provided with a 45-watt, eight-core/16-thread Intel Core i7-11800H — a workhorse amongst Intel’s lineup that gives a few of the finest artistic utility efficiency you’ll discover outdoors of AMD’s Ryzen 5000 collection. That’s to not point out its productiveness efficiency, which is overkill for even demanding workplace staff.
There’s nothing that claims a gaming laptop computer can’t be used to get work carried out, and so it’s value how effectively the Victus 16 performs on non-gaming duties. Consider my spouse, an inside designer: She was handed an Alienware gaming laptop computer as her work machine as a result of it sports activities each a quick CPU and a discrete GPU for dashing up functions like AutoCAD, Revit, CET, and the Adobe suite. The HP Victus 16 would slot in an workplace setting extra discretely than an Alienware machine, that’s for positive.
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In any occasion, the Victus 16 is undoubtedly a quick laptop computer even in comparison with comparably geared up mainstream laptops. It led the pack in Geekbench 5 with impressively excessive scores, tied for third place in Cinebench R23 (with the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro and its Ryzen 7 5800H being the quickest machine), took first place in our Handbrake take a look at that encodes a 420MB video as H.265, and even achieved the excessive rating in PCMark 10, a primarily productivity-oriented benchmark.
In PugetBench, which makes use of Premiere Pro to crunch by a collection of demanding duties and that may make the most of a discrete GPU, the Victus 16 once more achieved the best rating amongst its closest opponents.
If you’re in search of a quick laptop computer for productiveness and inventive duties, then you’ll be able to’t go flawed with the HP Victus 16. It pushes its elements to the intense, thanks primarily to its wonderful thermal design, and it’s actually sooner than your typical mainstream — and infrequently skinny and light-weight — laptop computer. Note that you may additionally buy the Victus 16 with an AMD Ryzen 7 4800H for those who’d like even sooner CPU efficiency.
Laptop
Geekbench 5
Cinebench R23
PugetBench(Premiere Pro)
Handbrake(seconds)
PCMark 10
HP Victus 16 (Core i7-11800H)
1594 / 9141
1510 / 10145
765
91
6808
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 (Core i7-11800H)
1520 / 7353
1519 / 10497
388
99
6251
Dell XPS 15 OLED 2021 (Core i7-11800H)
1544 / 7692
1513 / 9979
509
101
6024
MSI Creator Z16 (Core i7-11800H)
1540 / 7625
1444 / 9615
738
103
6486
Dell XPS 17 (Core i7-11800H)
1568 / 8801
1525 / 10145
692
n/a
6209
LG Gram 16 (Core i7-1165G7)
1573 / 5454
1394 / 4137
N/A
213
4827
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (Ryzen 7 5800H)
1460 / 7227
1430 / 11195
622
99
n/a
Gaming
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends
But after all, the Victus 16 is a gaming laptop computer, and so it must be measured towards different gaming laptops. Here, it additionally impressed, performing fairly effectively provided that it has one of many slower GPUs in our comparability group. Note that HP contains its Omen Gaming Hub app with the Victus 16, which allows undervolting and three energy modes: Quiet, default, and efficiency.
I ran all of the benchmarks — together with these within the part above — in each default and efficiency modes and noticed little or no distinction in efficiency. In most video games, efficiency mode squeezed out just a few additional body charges.
Its 3DMark Time Spy rating was consistent with our comparability group, coming in next-to-last place, with solely the MSI Creator Z16 — a nongaming machine with the identical GPU that I added for comparability functions — posting a decrease rating.
In precise video games, the Victus 16 did effectively. It managed to come back inside a few frames of the Razer Blade 14 and Lenovo Legion 5 Pro in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla — and each of these are geared up with RTX 3070s. It nearly matched the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro in Battlefield V, and it beat out the Razer Blade 14 in Fortnite. Finally, it beat each the RTX 3070-equipped machines in Civilization VI.
Best but, these are very playable body charges throughout the board, making the Victus 16 a extremely succesful 1080p gaming machine. These outcomes are all at excessive graphical settings, that means you don’t want to show issues down to keep up excessive body charges. For a gaming laptop computer geared up with an RTX 3060, the Victus 16 is aggressive. If you choose the AMD model of the laptop computer, you’ll be able to go for a slower AMD Radeon RX5500M GPU to avoid wasting money.
Laptop
3DMark Time Spy
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla(1080p Ultra High)
Battlefield V(1080p Ultra)
Fortnite(1080p Epic)
Civilization VI (1080p Ultra)
HP Victus 16 (RTX 3060)
7341
59 fps
72 fps
99 fps
118 fps
Razer Blade 14 (RTX 3070)
8605
60 fps
96 fps
96 fps
111 fps
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (RTX 3070)
9175
61 fps
73 fps
101 fps
114 fps
Asus ROG Strix G15 (RX 6800M)
10504
77 fps
109 fps
108 fps
150 fps
MSI GS66 Stealth (RTX 3080)
9097
70 fps
117 fps
140 fps
149 fps
Razer Blade 15 (RTX 2080 Super)
7637
58 fps
98 fps
110 fps
134 fps
MSI Creator Z16 (RTX 3060)
6322
50 fps
57 fps
56 fps (1600p)
92 fps
The Victus 16 strikes a whole lot of air when it’s working arduous, and so fan noise was fairly audble. It’s not sufficient to drive you to put on headphones always, however you would possibly select to take action nonetheless. The floor of the laptop computer remained cheap, hitting 101 levels Fahrenheit on the suitable aspect of the keyboard deck throughout benchmarking. The backside of the chassis didn’t exceed 115 levels F throughout my testing. During nongaming use, the laptop computer remained cool and quiet.
According to 3DMark, GPU temperatures ran between about 75 levels C and 100 levels C on the most, which is the best potential secure temperature. We don’t usually prefer to see temperatures get that top, and also you’ll discover higher thermals in laptops just like the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro.
Configurations
While our $1,360 evaluate configuration was on the excessive finish — with the Core i7-11800H, RTX 3060, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and the 144Hz Full HD show — you will get the Victus 16 for a lot much less cash. For instance, for simply $730, you will get a Core i5-11400H, GTX 1650, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and the entry-level 60Hz Full HD panel. But this, fairly frankly, isn’t a configuration that most individuals are going to take pleasure in between the outdated graphics card and the 60Hz display.
The most you’ll be able to spend is $1,640 by upgrading our configuration to 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a QHD (2,560 x 1,440) 165Hz show.
If you wish to lower your expenses however not compromise a lot on efficiency, then you’ll be able to nonetheless maintain your buy value underneath $1,000. For $920, you will get the Core i5, an RTX 3050 Ti, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 144Hz Full HD show — a strong entry-level gaming laptop computer for a really enticing value, particularly for those who’re making an attempt to purchase a gaming laptop computer underneath $1,000.
Display
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Gaming laptops don’t at all times boast shows with huge and correct colours and excessive distinction, and as an alternative concentrate on issues like refresh charges. The show put in on my evaluate Victus 16 prevented these limitations. It’s a 15.6-inch Full HD IPS show operating at a 144Hz refresh fee, with its one weak point being its old-school 16:9 facet ratio.
But as I used the show, it appeared like the same panel to what I would discover on a premium skinny and light-weight laptop computer geared toward productiveness work. It was vivid, with dynamic colours that weren’t oversaturated and sufficient distinction that blacks stood out from whites.
I used to be very happy with the Victus 16’s show.
My colorimeter confirmed my impressions. The show is certainly vivid at 375 nits, effectively above our 300-nit threshold, and the distinction got here in at 1120:1, exceeding our most popular 1000:1. Colors had been wider than common at 79% of AdobeRGB (the place round 72% is the norm) and 100% of sRGB, they usually had been pretty correct at a DeltaE of 1.85 (1.0 or much less is taken into account wonderful).
The Asus ROG Strix G15 wasn’t practically pretty much as good, coming in at 278 nits, a 1,090:1 distinction ratio (an excellent outcome), and simply 48% of AdobeRGB and 64% of sRGB with a colour accuracy of two.19. The Legion 5 Pro’s show was additionally good at 515 nits, a 1,380:1 distinction ratio, 74% of AdobeRGB and 97% of sRGB, and a colour accuracy of 1.36.
I used to be very happy with the Victus 16’s show. Not solely is it quick for gaming, however it could actually carry out effectively for productiveness work. It may even do some artistic work in a pinch because of its quick efficiency.
The audio wasn’t fairly as spectacular. The two downward-firing audio system had been very quiet even when turned up all the best way, though there was no distortion. Mids and highs had been clear sufficient, however the bass was missing. You’ll need a pair of headphones if you’re gaming at full power as a result of the sound gained’t be loud sufficient to beat the fan noise comfortably. The identical goes for bingeing Netflix and listening to music — headphones are a should.
Keyboard and touchpad
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Here’s one factor the Victus 16 didn’t inherit from the Omen line: Per-key RGB lighting on the keyboard. In truth, though the Victus 16’s keyboard is certainly backlit with white lighting, it’s solely on or off with no ranges in between. So, HP has very fastidiously ensured that the Omen retains its benefit right here. The keyboard feels nice, although, with deep journey and really snappy switches that present wonderful responsiveness for each avid gamers and productiveness customers. It’s not a mechanical keyboard, however it shouldn’t maintain again aggressive avid gamers.
The touchpad is elevated in measurement over the Pavilion Gaming 16, and it takes up a lot of the out there house on the palm relaxation. It has a cushty floor for swiping, however I discovered the buttons somewhat free, they usually vibrated only a contact when pressed. It’s nothing egregious, and as a Microsoft Precision touchpad, it helps the complete complement of Windows 11 multitouch gestures. Overall, I’d fee the touchpad as competent however nothing to put in writing residence about.
There’s no Windows 11 Hello password-less help, and the show isn’t touch-enabled. So, these are two lacking options that may have been welcome however are generally lacking in midrange gaming laptops.
Battery life
The Victus 16 is a gaming laptop computer with comparatively high-end elements and a 70 watt-hour battery. I didn’t count on nice battery life from the machine, and I didn’t get it.
In our web-browsing take a look at that cycles by a collection of advanced web sites, the Victus 16 managed simply 4.5 hours — a horrible rating. The Lenovo Legion 5 Pro labored for over seven hours, which nonetheless isn’t nice, however it’s much better than the HP managed, whereas the Asus ROG Strix G15 did even worse at simply 3.8 hours.
In our video take a look at that loops by an area 1080p film trailer, the Victus 16 hit 6.5 hours, one other horrible rating. The ROG Strix G15 managed eight hours, and we didn’t submit the Legion 5 Pro to this take a look at.
I additionally ran the PCMark 10 Applications battery take a look at, the place the Victus 16 made it to only over 5 hours. We haven’t examined another gaming laptops with this benchmark, however most laptops get 10 hours or higher. In the PCMark 10 Gaming battery take a look at, the Victus 16 managed 92 minutes, which implies it retains working whereas unplugged.
The Victus 16 isn’t meant to be a conveyable productiveness machine, so these battery outcomes are forgivable. Just know that you simply’ll wish to maintain your relatively massive energy adapter with you if you’re switching gaming environments.
Our take
The HP Victus 16 is a authentic contender within the medium-priced gaming market. It’s well-equipped and performs admirably. Its chassis, though a bit too bendable, isn’t too massive to hold round.
HP struck a pleasant stability with the Victus 16. And now, the corporate has a real gaming model sitting beneath the Omen lineup that ought to higher entice avid gamers with much less cash to spend.
Are there any alternate options?
The Lenovo Legion 5 Pro is probably going the very best different to the Victus 16. It’s about the identical measurement, though its show is within the superior 16:10 facet ratio, and its gaming efficiency is analogous. You’ll additionally spend across the identical cash.
You may additionally contemplate the AMD-equipped Asus ROG Strix G15 as an excellent worth different, and the ROG Zephyrus G15 affords a extra streamlined chassis and better specs for anybody who desires to step up their gaming a notch.
How lengthy will it final?
Despite a free hinge and a barely bendable lid and chassis, the Victus 16 ought to nonetheless final for years of arduous gaming. The one-year guarantee stays as disappointing as ever.
Should you purchase it?
Yes. The HP Victus 16 is a reliable gaming performer for the worth in a cushty chassis.
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