HP Victus 15 review: A mediocre gaming laptop at a great price

Value When Reviewed

$549.99

Greatest Costs Right now: HP Victus 15

$549.99

Finances gaming laptops are in a troublesome spot. The shortage of recent entry-level discrete graphics from AMD, Nvidia, or Intel (which has repeatedly delayed its new Arc graphics merchandise) has led to stagnation. Value is commonly a funds gaming laptop computer’s most necessary trait and that’s the place the HP Victus 15 excels. This laptop computer delivers dependable processor efficiency at an affordable value. Nonetheless, the construct high quality leaves little to be desired and the show is dimmer than we like. That stated, when you’re actually strapped for money, the HP Victus 15 could also be value contemplating.

HP Victus 15 specs and options

The Victus 15 I obtained for evaluation is an entry-level mannequin that at the moment seems solely out there from Greatest Purchase. It equips Intel’s Core i5-12450H processor, an entry-level chip in Intel’s higher-TDP line of cellular {hardware}. The processor has eight cores, half of that are Efficiency cores. It’s paired with Nvidia’s growing old GTX 1650 discrete graphics. 

• CPU: Intel Core i5-12450H
• Reminiscence: 8GB DDR4-3200
• Graphics/GPU: Nvidia GTX 1650
• Show: 1920×1080 144Hz IPS LCD
• Storage: 512GB stable state drive
• Webcam: 720p
• Connectivity: 1x USB-C with DisplayPort 1.4, 2x USB-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm combo audio
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, Gigabit Ethernet
• Biometrics: None
• Battery capability: 80 watt-hours
• Dimensions: 14.09 x 10.04 x 0.93 inches
• Weight: 5.06
• MSRP: $799.99 (at the moment $549.99)

The Victus 15 affords a number of extra highly effective variants by each retailers and HP’s web site. These provide as much as an Intel Core i7-12700H processor and as much as Nvidia RTX 3050 graphics, together with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. Most pre-configured fashions skew in direction of entry-level gaming, nevertheless.

Design and construct high quality

IDG / Matthew Smith

The HP Victus is a barebones funds gaming laptop computer and, as such, it retains the design so simple as attainable. It makes use of primary, darkish grey plastics alongside each inside and exterior (white and blue are additionally out there by HP.com and, surprisingly, add 5 bucks to the value). Most supplies haven’t any distinctive really feel, texture, or sample. The show bezel, which is black and has a grippy texture, is the only exception. 

You received’t discover any seen HP branding on the laptop computer, which I discover puzzling. HP has used the Omen sub-brand, which it acquired throughout its buy of Voodoo in 2006, for a lot of of its gaming units. The corporate additionally owns HyperX. Utilizing one other, unknown sub-brand with its personal emblem additional cheapens the laptop computer’s look. 

It is a beefy laptop computer with a weight simply above 5 kilos and a thickness of almost one inch, however these figures look worse on paper than they really feel in actuality. The Victus 15 is giant, certain, however no extra so than dozens of different mid-range 15-inch laptops, similar to the Acer Nitro and Asus TUF collection. It’s too giant for simple use on an airplane, and would possibly really feel cramped on a tiny resort desk, but stays moveable sufficient for journeys throughout city or to class. 

Sadly, the laptop computer’s heft doesn’t translate to construct high quality. Lifting the laptop computer from one facet causes the chassis to flex. Seize it from a nook and also you’ll hear the internals thunk towards exterior panels. The show lid additionally permits apparent flex when opening or closing the laptop computer. With that stated, I can’t recall any funds gaming laptop computer that doesn’t have the identical points. 

Keyboard and trackpad

IDG / Matthew Smith

HP packs a big keyboard with numpad within the Victus 15. Its edge-to-edge design makes most use of the laptop computer’s inside. Which means most keys are giant regardless of the numpad shoved into the left facet. Even the numpad keys are of respectable measurement, although barely extra slender. Just a few right-side keys, similar to Shift and Backspace, are a bit small. 

The keyboard feels stable in day-to-day use. Key journey is lengthy, due to the laptop computer’s deep chassis, and the big structure affords house to stretch out. The numpad does imply the keyboard is barely offset from the touchpad, nevertheless, which is annoying. It encourages customers to hunch or lean barely in direction of their left. 

A keyboard backlight comes commonplace. That’s good to see, as a backlight stays a little bit of a luxurious amongst funds laptops. The backlight affords only one degree of brightness, nevertheless, so don’t anticipate any customization. What you see is what you get. 

The touchpad may hardly be extra generic. It’s giant, however not large, and has a easy but responsive floor that feels just like the encircling plastic. There’s sufficient room to make use of multi-touch gestures and, in my expertise, they labored properly. It’s not a premium expertise, to make sure, however good for an entry-level Home windows laptop computer.

Importantly, the HP Victus 15 avoids flaws or issues which may spoil on a regular basis use. The keyboard and touchpad are unremarkable, however effective, and on par with some costlier gaming laptops just like the Acer Predator Helios 300 or Asus TUF Sprint 15. 

Show, audio

IDG / Matthew Smith

HP ships the Victus 15 with a number of show choices, all of which supply 1080p decision. The barebones mannequin I examined promised a most brightness of 250 nits with a most refresh fee of 144Hz. 

Picture high quality isn’t nice. 1080p decision seems to be sharp on a 15.6-inch show, however the show’s colour accuracy and gamut go away lots to be desired. The Victus 15 I examined can’t deal with your complete sRGB colour gamut, nevermind DCI-P3 or AdobeRGB. Colour accuracy can also be lackluster. Distinction fee got here in at 1050:1, which is respectable however not distinctive. 

Most brightness is quoted at 250 nits, as talked about, and was measured at 253 nits. That’s a low degree of brightness simply overwhelmed by shiny overhead lighting or a sunlit window. You’ll want some extent of sunshine management for comfy viewing. 

The 144Hz panel can present easy gameplay, however avid gamers shouldn’t get too excited: it’s extra of a advertising tactic than a giant benefit. The 144Hz panel used right here doesn’t perform with Nvidia G-Sync, so body pacing might be a problem. It’s not particularly crisp in movement, both, although higher than a 60Hz panel.

Audio is offered by a pair of upward-facing audio system with Bang & Olufsen branding. They supply respectable audio and cheap crisp audio at low to medium quantity. Bass is missing, nevertheless, and the sound turns into muddy at increased volumes. A headset or headphones will likely be much better, however the built-in audio system are okay for informal use. 

Webcam, microphone, biometrics

The HP Victus 15 sticks to a 720p webcam with a dual-array microphone. It performs about as properly (or as poorly) as anticipated. Video high quality is fuzzy and audio high quality is hole. Nonetheless, the Victus 15 doesn’t carry out any worse than different laptops with the same webcam and microphone association, and most mid-range gaming laptops received’t present an improve in these areas. 

Biometrics are absent. That’s to be anticipated at this value. 

Connectivity

The HP Victus 15 is thick, however that doesn’t imply it has numerous connectivity. As an alternative, the Victus 15 sticks to a fairly slim choice of ports. 

This contains two USB-A ports and one USB-C port. The USB-C port has DisplayPort alternate mode for reference to an exterior show however sadly lacks USB Power Delivery, that means a USB-C energy brick received’t cost the laptop computer. You’ll have to make use of the included 200 watt energy adapter. An HDMI 2.1 port gives the laptop computer’s solely devoted video-out.

Community connectivity is stable, with Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5.2 supported. It might be good to see Wi-Fi 6E (and a few upgraded fashions of Victus 15 have it), however its absence is straightforward to excuse at this value. Wi-Fi 6E routers stay costly, so it’s uncertain that avid gamers contemplating the Victus 15 have a Wi-Fi 6E router.

Efficiency

The HP Victus 15 has an Intel Core i5-12450H processor with a complete of eight cores, cut up eveningly between Efficiency and Environment friendly cores. The Efficiency cores help hyper-threading (for a complete of 12 threads). It’s paired with Nvidia’s GTX 1650 graphics, 8GB of DDR4 3200MHz RAM, and a 512GB PCIe stable state drive. 

IDG / Matthew Smith

PCMark 10 turns in a decent rating of 5,551. That is the fourth lowest of the laptops used for comparability, but in addition not far behind the Acer Nitro 5 and Asus Vivobook X16 OLED, a pair of laptops that every had an as-tested MSRP above $1,000. The Victus 15 is punching above its weight right here. 

IDG / Matthew Smith

The Victus 15 seems to be much less spectacular in Cinebench R15, as its restricted core depend places the laptop computer at a significant drawback in comparison with different Intel Twelfth-gen Core laptops, in addition to AMD’s high {hardware}. Nonetheless, this rating is a good distance from unhealthy and spectacular for a funds laptop computer. Older funds laptops with Intel Eleventh-gen Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 3000/4000 collection processors fall behind the Core i5-12450H. 

IDG / Matthew Smith

Handbrake turns in outcome for the Victus 15, which scores higher than each the AMD Ryzen 5900HX and Core i7-11800H in older laptops. This benchmark has confirmed favorable to Intel’s Twelfth-gen Core, because it seems to make wonderful use of many cores, and that offers the Victus 15 a win right here.

Now, let’s dig into the laptop computer’s graphics.

IDG / Matthew Smith

The 3DMark Time Spy turns in a results of 3,392, which is to be anticipated. In contrast to the Core i5-12450H, which is new, the GTX 1650 is a tried-and-true GPU utilized in entry-level notebooks for the previous few years. It’s a lot much less succesful than most up-to-date RTX 3050 {hardware}.

IDG / Matthew Smith

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a superb choose of how a gaming laptop computer will carry out in cross platform video games launched throughout PlayStation 4/Xbox One console technology. At 1080p and Highest settings, it achieves a mean of 43 frames per second, which is sufficient for satisfying gameplay however not near the 60 frames per second most PC avid gamers choose. Those that desire a smoother expertise might want to flip down the small print.

IDG / Matthew Smith

Metro Exodus is much more demanding, notably on the Excessive settings PC World makes use of for this take a look at, and it hurts the Victus 15’s efficiency. The laptop computer achieved a mere 14 frames per second at 1080p and Excessive element, which isn’t playable. This isn’t a shocking outcome, nevertheless, as even the RTX 3050 Ti struggles on this benchmark. 

The HP Victus 15’s recreation efficiency highlights the restrictions of funds gaming laptops bought in 2022. Nvidia, which continues to dominate the marketplace for discrete GPUs in Home windows laptops, didn’t launch an entry-tier discrete choice for the RTX 30 or 20 collection, leaving the GTX 1650/1660 to battle on. And battle it does. 60 FPS gameplay will not be attainable if you would like a excessive degree of graphical constancy, even in video games that are actually a number of years previous.

Given this actuality, nevertheless, the Victus 15 performs in addition to might be hoped. Avid gamers can purchase this laptop computer figuring out it’s going to play any PC recreation out there at the moment (except for these with obligatory ray tracing), although those that wish to play at 60 FPS should persist with medium or low settings in most new titles. 

Battery life

The HP Victus 15 I reviewed had a 52 watt-hour battery. Customers ought to word that high-end configurations lists a bigger, 70 watt-hour battery. That may, in fact, present higher outcomes than the entry-level machine.

IDG / Matthew Smith

Battery life is available in at roughly 4 and a half hours. That may not sound like a lot, and it isn’t—however it’s additionally not unhealthy for a funds gaming laptop computer, as some fashions do worse. The HP Victus 15 wants frequent top-offs and isn’t companion for frequent fliers, however college students who simply want a laptop computer to final by a lecture ought to be okay. 

Conclusion

The HP Victus 15 will not be a terrific gaming laptop computer. It’s unattractive, flimsy, and has a lackluster show. And, most necessary of all, recreation efficiency is merely enough. Most titles are playable at 30 FPS, however reaching 60 FPS will usually require vital cuts to visible constancy. 

It’s saved by the value. The Victus 15 I reviewed carries an MSRP of $799, which is already cheap, and is at the moment lowered to $549.99. That’s an absolute all-time low value for a laptop computer with discrete graphics. And, regardless of its flaws, the Victus 15 affords keyboard, nice touchpad, and stable processor efficiency. 

That makes the HP Victus 15 a straightforward suggestion for funds PC gaming. It’s not perfect, however it’s a deal at this value. Simply remember the fact that it’s worth, not options, that offers the Victus 15 its edge—and that edge will likely be dulled the second a competitor drops its personal value to compete.