Verdict
You received’t be impressed by the design or the dim show, however the HP Victus 16 (2023) offers you nice gaming efficiency for the cash.
Execs
- Sturdy 1080p gaming capabilities
- Nice on a regular basis efficiency
- Stable worth for cash
Cons
- Underwhelming display
- Common audio
- Bland design
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Funds gaming graphicsThe RTX 4050 is the brand new go-to price range laptop computer providing 1080p efficiency plus a DLSS 3 body fee increase. -
Highly effective processorAMD’s mid-range cell CPU has multi-threaded energy for gaming, inventive apps and extra. -
Gaming-focused show16.1-inch 144Hz 1080p show presents balanced spec with the next refresh fee for aggressive gaming.
Introduction
The brand new Victus 16 is HP’s newest price range gaming laptop computer, able to go toe-to-toe with the extra inexpensive choices in Acer’s Nitro and Asus’s TUF entry-level traces. To this point, the Victus vary hasn’t been fairly as profitable as these fashions, failing to the necessities you want for a terrific gaming expertise at an inexpensive worth level.
Nonetheless, there’s a chance for the brand new mannequin to show that round, because of AMD’s Ryzen 5 7640HS CPU and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 graphics processor. The latter struggles on high-resolution shows however can work completely for 1080p gaming, with sufficient grunt to run trendy titles at medium to excessive element settings, and DLSS 3 help for if you want slightly additional assist.
That mentioned, that is an more and more aggressive market, and the HP Victus 16 isn’t the one gaming laptop computer with this sort of spec, with new fashions from Acer, Asus and Lenovo combining the RTX 4050 with beefy AMD or Intel CPUs. Once you’re up towards the likes of the current Acer Nitro 5 and Nitro 16, you want one thing additional to face out.
Design and Keyboard
- Enterprise-like, plastic-heavy styling
- Ample connectivity
- Common keyboard with restricted RGB lighting choices
The brand new HP Victus 16 doesn’t assist itself on this rely with its workmanlike design, which appears slightly extra price range enterprise laptop computer than a hardcore gaming powerhouse. It’s heavy on gray plastics, with a quite plain although RGB-backlit keyboard, and solely the vents on the left-hand-side, rear and backside trace on the laptop computer’s gaming focus, together with the shiny V emblem on the lid. With a 36.9 x 25.9cm desktop footprint and a 2.3kg weight, it’s neither significantly chunky nor surprisingly svelte. It’s precisely what you anticipate from a fundamental gaming laptop computer.
The construct high quality is respectable for essentially the most half. The bottom feels stable and the keyboard deck holds agency, with thick rubberized bars on the underside of the unit to maintain the vents free and cease any slippage whereas it’s sitting in your lap or desk. That mentioned, there’s various flex within the lid should you apply stress on the corners, which was one thing we complained about after we reviewed the 2021 model of the HP Victus 16.
The connectivity is sufficient however fundamental. You get three USB-A 3.2 ports and an HDMI 2.1 output, together with a Gigabit Ethernet port. Nonetheless, the only USB Sort-C is caught at 5Gbps USB-C 3.2 quite than the 10Gbps USB-C 3.2 Gen 2. It’s a disgrace if you wish to add an exterior SSD to host your rising video games library. We’re additionally speaking Wi-Fi 6 quite than the extra new-fangled Wi-Fi 6E, although that’s not such a trouble until you’ve invested in a 6E router.
As for the keyboard, it’s okay however nothing extra. The sq., flat-topped keys nonetheless have slightly of the price range enterprise laptop computer really feel, and the backlighting solely permits for one color or pulse sample throughout the entire keyboard, quite than the per-key results you’ll discover elsewhere. The structure is ok aside from the titchy Ctrl, Alt and FN keys, however there’s slightly horizontal wobble within the motion which spoils the crisp response. On the plus facet, the touchpad is huge at 13 x 8cm, and whereas it’s clearly plastic quite than glass, it’s clean and correct in use. You received’t wish to hassle with it whilst you’re gaming, however it’s effective for navigating Home windows or looking the Internet.
Show and Sound
- 1080p decision fits the entry-level spec
- Disappointing brightness ranges and color replica
- Audio hampered by light-weight tone and boxy sound stage
The display was the weakest hyperlink on the 2021 Victus 16, with lower-than-average brightness ranges and poor color efficiency. The show on the 2023 mannequin is an enchancment, however nonetheless removed from preferrred. We measured the utmost brightness degree at an underwhelming 250.8nits, which goes to be workable indoors or at evening if you’re gaming, however onerous to see close to a vivid window or open air. It will possibly nonetheless solely show 64% of the colors within the sRGB color gamut – and beneath 56% of the more difficult DCI-P3, and color accuracy is simply simply on the proper facet of acceptable.
This isn’t as dangerous because it sounds should you’re watching streaming video or enjoying video games after darkish in subdued lighting, and we had comparable complaints in regards to the display on Acer’s current Nitro 5. Nonetheless, it’s positively not what you would possibly name punchy. This can be a disgrace, as whereas the total HD decision can look slightly grainy on a 16.1-inch show, it nonetheless is sensible on a price range gaming laptop computer the place there’s not sufficient 3D horsepower for QHD gaming. What’s extra, the 144Hz refresh fee is a plus for much less demanding video games and eSports titles.
Don’t get too excited by the Bang & Olufsen branding on the chassis. The inner audio system go fairly loud, however the output doesn’t fairly have the low-end power or high-end readability you really need from a gaming laptop computer, and the stereo soundstage is boxy quite than huge open. The audio is sweet sufficient for informal gaming and streaming, however not significantly immersive.
Efficiency
- Wonderful efficiency in workplace and artistic apps
- Good body charges in video games at 1080p
- DLSS 3 offers you extra scope for ray-tracing or increased element settings
Fortunately, the outlook will get brighter on the subject of efficiency. With six cores pushing twelve threads at speeds of as much as 5GHz, the Ryzen 5 7640HS appears to be a really succesful mid-range CPU, significantly when paired with 16GB of DDR5 RAM. The HP Victus 16 is considerably quicker than the Nitro 5 in each Geekbench 6 and PCMark 10, and even delivered credible ends in the Cinebench R23 benchmark. Larger-end laptops with Intel’s thirteenth gen Core i7 and i9 processors or AMD’s Ryzen 7 CPUs provides you with even higher scores, however the Victus might positively deal with inventive purposes in addition to gaming should you wanted a machine that would do each.
Nonetheless, it’s the gaming efficiency that basically issues, and right here the Victus 16 comes out barely in entrance of the Nitro 5. It pulls forward in our Returnal benchmark, delivering common body charges of 77 fps on the native display decision on the Epic preset with ray tracing turned off, however there are only some frames per second in it in Cyberpunk 2077, additionally with ray tracing disabled. RT Extremely settings are nonetheless an excessive amount of of a push for the RTX 4050, although DLSS 3 body era can nonetheless assist you to get in attain of 60fps. You continue to must drop the RT settings right down to hit a gentle body fee with none glitches or momentary breaks.
At this worth level, that shouldn’t be an issue. Even with NVIDIA’s DLSS magic, you may not anticipate to run the most recent video games at 60fps with every thing maxed out, and new titles like Starfield and Immortals of Aveum are solely making that extra apparent. What you may anticipate is a good expertise at 1080p and medium to excessive settings, with reasonable RTX results. Consider me: that also appears lots adequate on a 16-inch, 1080p show.
Battery Life
- With roughly 4 hours of battery life in on a regular basis apps, that you must preserve the charger useful
- Anticipate round 5 hours of streaming
Gaming laptops aren’t recognized for his or her epic battery life, and the extra inexpensive they’re, the more serious it appears to get. In consequence, it’s onerous to be too upset by the Victus’s depressing 4 hours and 4 minutes working PCMark 10’s Fashionable Workplace benchmark, however should you’re searching for a laptop computer you too can use for workplace work unplugged, you would possibly wish to look elsewhere. The information is slightly higher for streaming video, the place I noticed the cost degree drop by 19% over an hour of watching Netflix. You must get by means of 4 to 5 hours should you’re pushing by means of a collection whilst you’re on the couch.
Newest offers
Must you purchase it?
You need most gaming efficiency on a price range, and you’ll survive with out a
sensible show
The Victus 16 doesn’t have the brightest display, one of the best sound or essentially the most elegant design, however it’s bought what it takes on the subject of 1080p gaming efficiency. It’s slightly forward of different RTX 4050 laptops on the subject of benchmarks, and can fortunately run most video games at medium to excessive element settings, particularly with assistance from DLSS 3.
Fashion and display high quality matter as a lot or greater than gaming body charges
Even should you can dwell with the Victus 16’s boring appears and mediocre keyboard, you would possibly discover the uninteresting show and poor color depth a dealbreaker. Sadly, that’s a typical situation with extra inexpensive gaming laptops, and also you’ll both must pay extra or compromise elsewhere.
Last Ideas
It’s a disgrace to see that HP hasn’t addressed the failings of earlier Victus fashions. The display is huge and the decision is just not an issue, however low brightness ranges and poor color replica shouldn’t be a difficulty on a gaming laptop computer costing greater than £1,000.
The keyboard doesn’t have the standard or RGB expertise of the keyboards on Acer’s newest Nitro laptops, and the design, connectivity and construct high quality aren’t fairly the place they must be. At across the similar worth level, the Nitro 5 is a stronger all-rounder, whereas Gigabyte’s G5 offers you comparable efficiency for beneath £1,000. The Asus TUF Gaming A15 (2023) is one other robust contender, with a Ryzen 7 CPU and an RTX 4060 GPU for less than £30 to £50 extra.
The Victus 16 makes up for these shortcomings by providing you with nice efficiency for the cash, each in workplace and artistic purposes and within the newest video games. It even retains up with the Asus in some exams, regardless of having a much less succesful GPU. You continue to must be lifelike about settings and ray-tracking, however you’ve bought sufficient energy to make the most recent blockbuster video games look nice at 1080p, plus DLSS 3.0 for added tweaking and future-proofing. In case you can dwell with the show’s disappointments, the bang on your buck would possibly nonetheless be sufficient to swing issues the HP Victus 16’s method.
How we take a look at
Each laptop computer we overview goes by means of a collection of uniform checks designed to gauge key issues, together with construct high quality, efficiency, display high quality and battery life.
These embody formal artificial benchmarks and scripted exams, plus a collection of real-world checks, similar to how effectively it runs common apps.
We use overview machines as our primary laptop computer for not less than every week.
We take a look at the efficiency through each benchmark exams and real-world use.
We take a look at the display with a colorimeter and real-world use.
We take a look at the battery with a benchmark take a look at and real-world use.
FAQs
At 2.3 kilograms, the Victus 16 is much from an ultra-portable. However, it isn’t so huge that it’s a desktop substitute both. It’ll rely on the person however it’s attainable to lug this round, however it could be a wrestle for some.
We haven’t examined each mannequin of each of those collection of units however, in our experiences with the HP Victus 16 and Asus TUF Gaming A15, we’ve discovered the latter to achieve extra areas.
Trusted Critiques take a look at information
PCMark 10
Cinebench R23 multi core
Cinebench R23 single core
Geekbench 5 single core
Geekbench 5 multi core
Geekbench 6 single core
Geekbench 6 multi core
3DMark Time Spy
CrystalDiskMark Learn velocity
CrystalDiskMark Write Velocity
Brightness (SDR)
Black degree
Distinction ratio
White Visible Color Temperature
sRGB
Adobe RGB
DCI-P3
PCMark Battery (workplace)
Battery Life
Battery discharge after 60 minutes of on-line Netflix playback
Borderlands 3 body fee (Full HD)
Horizon Zero Daybreak body fee (Quad HD)
Horizon Zero Daybreak body fee (Full HD)
Grime Rally (Full HD)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Quad HD)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Full HD)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Full HD + RT)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Full HD + Supersampling)
Returnal (Quad HD)
Returnal (Full HD)
F1 22 (Full HD)
Fan noise beneath stress
Temperature beneath stress
UK RRP
USA RRP
EU RRP
CA RRP
CPU
Producer
Quiet Mark Accredited
Display Dimension
Storage Capability
Entrance Digital camera
Battery
Battery Hours
Dimension (Dimensions)
Weight
ASIN
Working System
Launch Date
First Reviewed Date
Mannequin Quantity
Mannequin Variants
Decision
HDR
Refresh Charge
Ports
Audio (Energy output)
GPU
RAM
Connectivity
Colors
Show Expertise
Display Expertise
Contact Display
Convertible?
