The new HP Victus gaming laptop series joins the market as a more affordable alternative to the well-known Omen range. With various options available for less than $1,000, it’s bound to be on the wish list of many potential purchasers. Let’s have a look and see how it compares. The HP Victus 15 serves as a sort of restart for HP’s ultrabook ambitions. The previous HP Pavilion series had done well, but the Devs went back to the design board this year. A completely revamped exterior chassis works in tandem with beefed-up internals to create a laptop that emphasizes the ‘ultra’ without compromising too much of the clean look of netbooks. The HP Victus 15 is a fantastic piece of hardware that is definitely worth a look at an affordable price.
Some gaming laptops have eye-catching aesthetics. However, the HP Victus 15 is unmistakably conservative. Because of its lack of highlights and general thin form, it might nearly be mistaken for a business laptop. If you’re self-conscious about these things, you may rest confident that if you use the Victus 15 in public, you won’t stand out.
The HP Victus 15 begins at an exceptionally cheap price of $599 in the United States with the most basic specifications. Additional improvements, such as an AMD Ryzen 7 or Intel Core i7 processor, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, 16GB RAM, or a 512 GB SSD, up the price to almost $1,200.
This laptop looks to have extremely limited availability in the UK & Australia at the moment, and we don’t know whether or when it will get available in those locations.
The laptop has a matte grey plastic surface. The sole notable design feature is an inlaid glossy “V” on the back of the 15.6-inch display. The laptop has dimensions of 14.5 x 10.2 x 0.93 inches & weighs 5.4 pounds. This puts it on the bulkier side among computers in its class, while several rivals weigh 5.06 lb. The rear exhaust vents for the twin internal cooling fans can be seen below the screen hinge.
However, the refurbished parts do not appear to have an effect on the overall quality of the laptop’s construction. The paint job is well-done and of high quality, which is somewhat disappointing given the three colour options.
The majority of the I/O is located on the Victus’s left edge. The charging port is at the top, followed by a fold-out RJ45 connector, an HDMI port, a USB 3.0 Type C port, a USB 3.0 Type-A port, a headset combo jack, and an Sd card slot.
The Victus’ Bang and Olufsen loudspeakers are extremely amazing. They are rather loud and offer excellent stereo imaging. However, they lack bass nearly entirely, as do all built-in laptop audio systems. The EQ is set to somewhat decrease the highs, which makes them sound less tinny. But it also makes the low to mid-range sound extremely muddy. The top-mounted camera is merely 720p and gets blurry in low light. Most online calls are acceptable throughout the day, but the quality drastically declines at night. It’s amazing how current phones can cram such powerful cameras into such a compact package, while laptop webcams haven’t evolved much in a decade.
The Victus offers an eye-catching full-HD display with sharp images, and the 144Hz refresh rate provides a fluid appearance and feels to onscreen activity. The colours are bright, and it supports the whole sRGB colour gamut. At 300 nits, the screen was suitably bright, and you will occasionally find yourself decreasing the brightness as games look too bright, though this is unusual in some experiences.
The hinge, though, is the display’s most serious flaw. It’s rather fragile and loose, which contrasts with the substantial chassis of the 16-inch laptop. Even minor bumps or movements while typing caused the screen to shake. If you’re thinking about using this during your commute, keep in mind that it might be rather distracting when attempting to focus. HP Victus users will have to put up with this because there are no alternatives to secure or tighten the hinge.
Calman by Portrait Displays and an X-Rite i1Display Pro meter were used to test colour accuracy. The display’s initial readings reveal an average DeltaE value of 4.7 and a maximum value of 8.7. That’s not good, and it’s clearly above the 1.0 threshold for being called “correct.”
Despite being a low-cost gaming laptop, the HP Victus 15 prioritizes air circulation, featuring a dual-fan configuration and a substantially wider air vent at the bottom of the notebook than previous generations. Even during more intense gameplay parts, it scarcely produced any significant heat.
In terms of gaming efficiency, this is a budget laptop, and as such, certain compromises must be made while dealing with lesser specifications. For example, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Laptop GPU included in the lowest-spec HP Victus 15 notebooks only has 4GB VRAM.
Low VRAM was not an issue in titles such as Cyberpunk 2077, Total War: Warhammer III, and Hitman 3. Cyberpunk can run at up to 48 FPS on the lowest level, which may seem low. However, the game still looks and performs well. However, you won’t be maxing out your settings on this game.
When it comes to online gaming, the HP Victus 15 has a dedicated ethernet connector, albeit its wireless card is more than adequate for Destiny and Halo Infinite. Even with High graphics settings, the frame rate fluctuated but never fell below 40 FPS. Holding up under the hectic circumstances of online co-op or PvP was no problem. The system ramps confidently rather than roaring to life. The large intake vents do a fantastic job of reducing system fan noise, especially when the laptop is placed on a table. When it comes to intensive gaming devices, the HP Victus 15 more than carries its own in terms of performance.
The Victus has a much longer battery life than the HP Pavillion 15. It can easily manage a day’s worth of productive work. Even if the screen isn’t at full brightness. The battery is more than adequate for a cross-country flight’s worth of movie viewing. It can last more than 5 hours when watching the local videos.
However, charging time isn’t too awful when using the included charger, taking around an hour to get a little more than 60% charge. That time would be reduced if you used a USB Type-C charger.
HP Victus is the latest addition to HP’s Omen gaming line. The new gaming laptop has a 15.6-inch Full HD display. It has a backlit gaming keyboard and Bang & Olufsen speakers.
Budget gaming laptops include the HP Victus 15 and also the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15. In terms of user experience, Victus wins because its keyboard is more responsive, its trackpad is more responsive, and its loudspeakers sound better.
Basically, the HP Victus is a good laptop, but nothing particularly outstanding. It looks nice and has some decent hardware within, but the build quality as well as other flaws keep it from standing out.
In comparison, Acer’s Nitro 5 has the same CPU/GPU combination but adds 16GB of RAM as well as a 512GB SSD for the same cost. In addition, the Gigabyte G5 costs somewhat less than the Victus with the same setup as the Nitro 5. The Gigabyte’s battery is slightly smaller, however, this does drastically lower the weight. To HP’s credit, the Victus appears more professional and much less “gamery” than the Gigabyte and Acer.
Apart from the typical Windows bloatware and the subpar trackpad, there’s nothing really wrong with the Victus. The catch is that HP markets the Victus as a more affordable line of gaming laptops, and although you do get some great technology for the price, you may be able to find a better deal elsewhere.
However, with supply chain concerns afflicting the electronics sector, it is impossible to predict when equipment will go out of stock. If you can get beyond the bloatware and shoddy design, the Victus will do the job on the cheap.
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