Strong performance at a competitive price

We liked the recent update to HP’s high-end Omen 16 gaming laptop, but the company also updated its entry-level Victus 16 at the same time. Designed to provide a less expensive gateway into gaming, the 16-inch Victus is actually available in two entirely separate models, using either Intel or AMD processors, with both models providing a number of additional customisation and upgrade options (at least for customers in the US, anyway).

The AMD model that we review here is certainly a lot more affordable than most of the gaming laptops we’ve seen recently, with a starting price of around $1200/£1100. It provides good value for money too, as most of the core hardware components are respectably mid-range and up-to-date, rather than simply being last year’s cast-offs. The one exception here is the rather modest 16.1-inch display, which only provides 1920×1080 resolution, and just 250nits brightness level.

Even so, it’s perfectly adequate for gaming and watching video, and also redeems itself somewhat by providing 144Hz refresh rate that displays smooth, fast motion for your gaming adventures. And, as we discovered, the modest display also eases some of the strain on the battery, allowing the Victus 16 to provide more respectable battery life than most of its 16-inch gaming rivals.

Price and options

• Display: 16.1-inch FHD (1920×1080), 250nits, 144Hz refresh rate; 16.1-inch QHD (2560×1440), 300nits, 240Hz refresh rate
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 7640HS, 6-cores @ 4.3GHz (max. boost to 5.0GHz); Ryzen 7 7840HS, 8-cores @ 3.1GHz (max. boost to 5.1GHz)
• Graphics: AMD Radeon 780M (integrated); Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050/4060/4070 (US only)
• Memory: 16GB or 32GB DDR5
• Storage: 512GB or 1TB NVMe solid-state

As mentioned, there are two entirely separate versions of the Victus currently available, with either Intel or AMD Ryzen processors, with the AMD model that I review here being slightly less expensive than its Intel counterpart.

Customers in the US have the widest range of options, with HP’s website offering both Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 processors, and a number of additional ‘build to order’ options for the GPU, display, and memory. You can even choose a variety of colours, such as ‘performance blue,’ ‘mica silver,’ or plain old white.

I reviewed an entry-level model, with an MSRP of $1329.99 with a Ryzen 5 7640HS processor running at 4.3GHz (with max boost to 5.0GHz), along with 16GB of memory and 1TB solid-state drive. That price includes a GeForce RTX 4050 graphics card, while the 16.1-inch display provides a modest 1920×1080 resolution, and 300 nits brightness.

That model costs £1149.00 in the UK although, somewhat oddly, the 2023 edition of the Victus isn’t currently available on HP’s website in the UK, so you’ll need to hunt around third-party specialist retailers such as Very.com or AO.com to find it. But, if you’re in the US, you can upgrade further, to an AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS and RTX 4060 graphics card that brings the price to $1589.99.

An extra $250 will nab you an RTX 4070, and you can also upgrade the display to 2560×1440 resolution and 240Hz refresh for $120. Just remember that HP’s website and third-party retailers are still selling older Victus models from 2022, so you should keep an eye on the various different models when you’re ordering.

Design

• Dimensions: 23.9 x 369 x 259mm
• Weight: 2.35kg
• Ports: 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x Gigabit Ethernet, 1x USB-C, 3x USB-A (3.2), 3.5mm audio in/out
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2

The Victus isn’t going to win any awards for its eye-catching design, and even the ‘mica silver’ of our review unit turns out to be, well, just plain old dark grey. The chunky borders around the display also look a little old-fashioned, compared to some of the Victus’ more streamlined rivals.

And while we’ve seen some very slim and light 16-inch laptops in recent months, the Victus measures a full 23.9mm thick along its rear edge, and weighs in at 2.35kg. It’s not the sort of laptop that you’ll be carrying around in your backpack every day, but it is sturdily built, with a firm keyboard and a large trackpad. And, as you’d expect from a 16-inch laptop, there’s room for a full-size numeric keypad so that you can do a spot of number-crunching between gaming sessions.

The size of the laptop also means that there’s plenty of room for a selection of ports and connectors, including both HDMI for an external display and Gigabit Ethernet for a wired connection. There are four USB ports although, rather oddly, just one is USB-C while the others are all USB-A. We’d definitely like to see another USB-C port, and perhaps mains charging via USB-C as well, rather than the spindle-shaped power connector that juts prominently out from the side of the laptop.

Display, speakers and webcam

• Display: 16.1-inch FHD (1920×1080), 250nits, 144Hz refresh rate, 100 per cent sRGB
• Webcam: 1920×1080
• Audio: stereo speakers (by Bang & Olufsen)

The Victus’ 16.1-inch display is certainly something of a mixed bag. Its 250nits brightness is disappointing, even for a low-cost gaming laptop such as this, and the viewing angles are quite limited as well. It’s still bright and colourful enough for playing games and watching video, although the 1920×1080 resolution does lack crispness on such a large display, so upgrading to the QHD display (2560×1440) would be a worthwhile option if that’s available in your region.

But, to compensate, the display does provide 144Hz refresh rate, which results in clear, smooth motion for gaming graphics, and we like the anti-glare finish on the screen as well. The display also supports the sRGB colour standard used for web graphics and basic photo editing, so it can do a bit of creative work if it needs to.

We were expecting a low-cost 720p webcam, but were pleased to find that the Victus includes a 1080p webcam that produces a clear, sharp image even on a gloomy day in the middle of Storm Babet recently. The stereo speakers, designed by Bang & Olufsen, are pretty respectable too, with a decent amount of volume, and you can even hear the bass on dance tracks like Bad Guy by Billie Eilish.

Performance and battery

• Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 7640HS, 6-cores @ 4.3GHz (max. boost to 5.0GHz)
• Graphics: AMD Radeon 780M (integrated); Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 (6GB VRAM)
• Power: 230W power adapter, 6-cell 83Whr Li-ion battery

The display may leave room for improvement, but the Victus delivers the goods when it comes to performance and value for money. Its Ryzen 5 processor certainly isn’t top of the range, but it scores 2,360 for single-core performance when running Geekbench 6, and 9,887 for multi-core performance. Those scores are only fractionally lower than the Ryzen 7 used in Acer’s Swift Edge 16, at 2,388 and 10,215 respectively, so the Victus isn’t short on raw processor power. And while the Swift Edge relies entirely on its integrated Radeon 780M for graphics performance, the Victus include both Radeon 760M and a discrete GeForce RTX 4050 for graphics duties.

The RTX 4050 scores a very solid 75+fps when running the Wildlife Extreme test in 3DMark, which is more than twice the score of the Swift Edge with its integrated graphics. And, when running Rise Of The Tomb Raider at 1920×1080 resolution with the game’s highest graphics settings, it romps ahead with 139fps, compared to just 33.5fps for the Swift Edge. The ‘Tempest’ cooling system also works well, rarely making enough noise to be noticeable or distracting, and HP’s Omen app provides a number of options for fine-tuning the performance of the processor, graphics and fans.

That sort of performance again leaves us wishing that the Victus could provide a 2560×1440 display as standard, as it’s clearly got the horsepower to cope with higher resolutions as well. The modest display does help with battery life, though. Switching to integrated graphics allowed the Victus to last for a full seven hours and forty-five minutes when streaming video via Wi-Fi. If you’re not using Wi-Fi all day long then you should certainly be able to get a full day’s use out of the Victus when you need to leave home.

Verdict

The Victus 16 does have its rough edges, most notably the 1920×1080 display, which cries out for an upgrade at the time of purchase – or a decent external display if you have one available. However, the AMD processor and RTX 4050 graphics provide plenty of muscle, enabling the Victus to deliver strong gaming performance at a competitive price. Battery life is also better than that of most 16-inch laptops, so it can cope with the occasional trip to school or the office for reports and presentations too.