Gaming laptops are expensive. There’s no question about that especially if you compare them to a standard laptop you use for everyday work. But unlike a conventional laptop, you do get a lot more punch. Whether for gaming or doing content work, you can get stuff done faster and more efficiently with a capable gaming laptop.
However, not all gaming laptops are the same. Some offer a great balance between performance and affordability, especially for those who are more budget-conscious. One such laptop is the new HP Victus 16.
As part of HP’s lineup of gaming laptops, the Victus 16 aims to deliver a solid gaming experience without breaking the bank. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what this laptop is capable of and how versatile it is for both gaming and productivity.
Table of Contents
Design and Build Quality
Unlike most gaming laptops that give off a loud gamer vibe, the HP Victus 16 breaks away from this traditional look. Its all-aluminum body in a stylish Mica Silver color features a rather minimalist design, making it look quite sleek. Meanwhile, the black chromed-out V logo on the lid adds a touch of contrast instead of an all-matte finish.
No overly accentuated vents or styling cues here. Aside from the chrome V logo on the lid, one of the few eye-catching features of the Victus 16 are the rear vents. They don’t stand out too much though, and blend well with the rest of the body. More importantly, these are functional and help keep the laptop cool.
Despite its powerful internals, the Victus 16 maintains a relatively slim and lightweight profile, making it easy to carry around, especially for a gaming laptop of this size. It only weighs 2.3kg and is just 2.39cm thick.
Meanwhile, the backlit keyboard offers a comfortable typing experience but is also more than adequate for gaming. You can even change the color of the backlit keys to your liking in the setting. The touchpad is responsive and accurate for navigation and is also positioned well making it easy to use.
Overall, you will enjoy using the HP Victus 16 wherever you go.
Display and Audio
While the HP Victus 16 may look great on the outside, most of the time you will be looking at the screen. The HP Victus 16 boasts a 16.1-inch FHD (1920 x 1080 resolution) IPS display with a 144Hz refresh rate. It also comes with slim borders all around, giving you more screen to work with.
Since you have a 144Hz refresh rate, playing games is very enjoyable. Even when you’re not playing games, you will enjoy the smooth animation when scrolling through various programs and even watching videos.
It might not be an OLED panel, but the display’s color accuracy and contrast levels are great out of the box. They provide an immersive viewing experience whether it’s for gaming, watching music videos, or even content creation.
Audio is another strong suit of the Victus 16. The speakers are tuned by Bang & Olufsen (B&O) delivering a rich and immersive sound. This will not only enhance your gaming experience but also give you better audio quality when you want to sit back and catch up on the latest series or movies.
Performance
Under the hood, the Intel Core i5 14th gen processor powers the HP Victus 16. This 10-core, 16-thread CPU with up to 4.8 GHz with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology and 20 MB L3 cache delivers strong performance for gaming and productivity. It can easily handle demanding tasks like video and photo editing; work and play do come hand in hand after all.
The performance hybrid architecture of the Intel® Core™ i5 processor matches the right core to the right workload, ensuring that background tasks won’t interrupt your game. The Performance-cores (P-cores) are engineered to maximize frame rates in the most competitive and graphically demanding games.
Meanwhile, the Efficient-cores (E-cores) are tailored to enhance multitasking capabilities by smoothly managing background operations. Intel’s Thread Director orchestrates the P-cores and E-cores to work together, achieving a balance of power and efficiency.
Matched with the Intel i5 14th gen processor is an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU to ensure smooth gameplay and high frame rates when you’re gaming. After all, it would be a waste not to play games on this very capable laptop.
Together with Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0, which intelligently amplifies the frequency of the most capable cores, it can fully optimize both power and thermal efficiency to ensure consistent performance.
The Victus 16 comes with 16GB of DDR5 RAM and up to 2TB SSD storage, ensuring fast performance and more than enough storage space for your games and files.
The result? You can pretty much do anything and everything you can think of with the HP Victus 16. It’s even great for multitaskers since it can run multiple apps simultaneously, and you won’t feel the laptop slowing down. Play some ZZZ or Genshin while editing a 4K video in Adobe Premiere? It’s doable.
Connectivity and Cooling
The HP Victus 16 is equipped with a diverse array of ports, including a USB-C (Thunderbolt) 3x USB-A, an HDMI, a 3.5mm audio port, and even an ethernet port, ensuring you have all the options you need for various peripherals. Additionally, Intel® Wi-Fi 6E enables nearly up to 3x faster WiFi speed than WiFi 5 for home and consumer use3.
While Wi-Fi 6E can offer blazing-fast speeds on less crowded channels, keep in mind that factors like your network environment can affect performance. So, while you can expect significant improvements, be mindful of your setup for the best results.
The laptop features an upgraded cooling system that keeps the internals cool even during extended gaming sessions. Just know that the fans can get a bit loud under heavy load, but they are doing their job to maintain optimal performance no matter what game or app you may be running.
Battery Life
One of the weaknesses of all gaming laptops is the battery; they don’t usually last that long, especially when compared to non-gaming laptops. However, the HP Victus 16 does do better than most in this aspect with its 83wH battery pack that lasts 7 hours.
With a relatively long-lasting battery, the HP Victus 16 provides gamers, content creators, and various users the flexibility they need to work and play on the go. It also ensures that even during the most demanding tasks, you can stay unplugged and productive.
If you do need to charge, it does come with a 230W smart AC power adapter. Alternatively, you can also charge the laptop via the USB-C port with your powerbank if you don’t want to bring the heavy charger with you.
Conclusion
All-in-all, the HP Victus 16 is a great entry-level gaming laptop that offers a nice mix of performance and features at an affordable price point. Its sleek design, impressive display, and relatively long battery life make it a compelling choice for gamers, content creators, or users who want to work and play but not break the bank.
If you’re looking for a gaming laptop that delivers a good balance of performance and affordability, the HP Victus 16 is definitely worth considering. You can check out or purchase your own unit of the Victus 16 from authorized HP Stores, Shopee, or Lazada to get the best deals and offers
