Discover the Victus 16 Gaming Laptop, boldly asserting itself with a robust build, and a promise of versatile performance, all for about $1400 MSRP as labeled on HP’s website. As the market is saturated with many options, with limited differences, it is hard to assertively make a buying decision in this space.
Unveiling both its strengths and limitations of this nuanced laptop, we will help you make an informed decision, so let’s jump in.
Specification and Hardware List
Before we deep dive, lets list the specs and model being discussed so you can remain critical:
Victus 16 Gaming Laptop – 16-s0097nr
. Ryzen 7 7840HS w/Integrated Radeon 780M graphics
. Nvidia RTX 4060
. 16gb DDR5 RAM
. 1080P, IPS panel, 60hz, 1ms
. 1TB SSD
– See product page on HP for full spec list
Durability, Exterior, and More
The Victus 16 Gaming Laptop boasts a notably strong build, a departure from its predecessors in the Victus lineup. The laptop’s surface exudes a smooth texture, complemented by two substantial rubber feet on the bottom, ensuring stability and facilitating ample airflow through its full-length double fan intake—a crucial feature in today’s demanding gaming scenarios.
The laptop’s trackpad also feels very alike to the surrounding surfaces, with a slightly more grippy friction to it.
Adding a touch of branded aesthetics, the laptop frame exudes a space-military vibe. While slightly thicker compared to competitors, this design choice accommodates an efficient cooling system, extensive fan and heatsink space, and a range of I/O ports, including a conveniently placed Ethernet port on the left side. The rear of the device features an advanced exhaust system, contributing to the effective cooling of the Victus 16.
Despite its versatile appeal to gamers, students, designers, and creators, a notable omission is the absence of an SD card reader—a seemingly simple yet valuable feature for on-the-go video editing.
Weight and Screen Stability
Weighing in at a hefty 5.1 lbs., the Victus 16’s portability may be compromised for some users, especially during extended daily use. I was carrying it for 3 days to use for work, and not only did it not fit into my camera bag due to its extra size, it was heavy to carry around.
Addressing a previous concern, it appears that Victus has heeded the call, fortifying the screen to offer improved stability, and less prone to wobble.
However, it’s crucial to acknowledge the trade-off that comes with this improvement. Users must exercise precision when opening the device, as a more secure screen also demands a more deliberate approach during handling. This newfound stability may inadvertently introduce an element of torque when the screen is manipulated, requiring users to be mindful of their actions.
If I had to choose between a stiff screen, or a loose screen, I’ll choose the more rigid design every time.
Omen Gaming Hub Unlocks Features and User Experience
The keyboard offers a rigid construction with minimal flex, providing a consistent and solid typing experience across all keys. The inclusion of dedicated Omen Gaming hub and calculator keys enhances quick customization access, catering to gamers, students, and business users alike.
The Omen Gaming hub goes beyond typical RGB customization, offering a range of features such as system analytics, performance enhancements, and webcam control. Noteworthy is the ability to enable integrated CPU graphics for power efficiency when not engaged in heavy processing tasks.
The laptop features a 1080p, 30fps webcam with a privacy slipcover, although its performance may be slightly compromised in varying lighting conditions. Have no fear, because the Omen Gaming Hub, although not exclusive to this machine, allows the user to interact with the webcam, speakers, input and output audio tone, and more.
The webcam has Auto Frame features; the camera will track your movement and keep you centered, and it works pretty well. You can also use AI to reduce your webcam noise if in a poorly lit room, but there is a trade off in quality, and you can even remove the background and insert background effects.
The Omen Gaming Hub provides RGB customization features, which by the way, only consists of all or nothing brightness for this keyboard, whilst only having static color options. No extra RGB fun here.
The hub also shows you various pie or line graphics, system specs, vitals and more. It’s a more engaging, easily understood way to interact with your PC, rather than just going to the task manager, and Omen gaming hub has earned itself a seat as a vital tool. It does boot up slower than the task manager, so maybe keep OGH open.
The AI sound removal and echo tools built into the Omen gaming hub work extremely well with little knowledge or effort needed. I expected these features to be a bit useless and convoluted, but they rather surprised me in practicality, especially for a student or business user.
The laptop’s IPS display, while delivering vibrant colors at 100% SRGB, is marred by a matte texture that may appear gritty upon close inspection. The 60Hz refresh rate and lack of higher-end RGB output may deter users seeking a more visually immersive experience.
How Power Effects Battery Life
In terms of software, the Victus 16 Gaming Laptop impresses with a clean initial boot, devoid of HP bloatware, catering to the preferences of gamers and performance enthusiasts.
The laptop offers a versatile all-in-one solution for both console and PC gaming, with ample CPU and GPU power for everyday use, content creation, and gaming. Its HDMI and USB-C ports facilitate external monitor connections, accommodating refresh rates up to 144Hz and beyond externally.
The cooling system proves effective, keeping the keyboard cool even during demanding gaming sessions. Battery life, while reasonable during non-gaming activities, falls short of the claimed 9 hours, with a real-world test yielding approximately 5 hours of continuous YouTube playback. The manufacturer asserts up to 12 hours for video playback. However, these figures appear somewhat inflated, likely achievable only under optimal conditions such as eco mode at a sarcastic 0 brightness.
Battery life, if not gaming, proves to be reasonably decent. While it may not endure an entire day comfortably without charging, the occasional plug-in suffices to keep the laptop operational.
In general, while the Victus 16 Gaming Laptop showcases commendable battery life for non-gaming tasks, its performance takes a notable hit during gaming sessions, thus making the charger your best friend. Unplugged gameplay results in a considerable drop to 30fps, accompanied by highly unstable performance, pushing the machine into overdrive to compensate for the lack of consistent power.
A firsthand test involved playing Honkai Star Rail for as long as possible while unplugged, resulting in a mere 1 hour and 36 minutes before a complete battery drain. This real-world gaming experience highlights a substantial limitation in the laptop’s endurance under graphics-intensive applications.
Similarly, when running Adobe Lightroom for an extended period without external power, the battery exhibited comparable limitations. These findings underscore the importance of considering the Victus 16’s battery life in a gaming context, where the need for a consistent power source becomes crucial for uninterrupted play. Not to mention, you must be plugged in to reach peak operational stability.
This power-hungry behavior aligns with the characteristics common to many gaming laptops in the current market. Attempting to sustain gaming performance without the support of the hefty 230W charger becomes a challenging task, emphasizing the laptop’s dependency on external power.
Users should take into account this limitation when considering prolonged gaming sessions on the go, where access to the charger becomes imperative.
Audio “Not-So” Quality
It’s worth noting that the speakers may not meet the expectations set by other HP and Omen models. In comparison, the audio quality is considered subpar, lacking depth and clarity. While usable for basic needs, the speakers fall short of delivering a truly immersive audio experience. Users who prioritize audio quality might find it worthwhile to invest in external speakers or headphones for an enhanced experience.
Display Discussion
Shifting our focus to the display, the screen performance is acceptable, falling short of delivering a truly exceptional visual experience. The 60Hz monitor proves adequate for fulfilling various tasks, demonstrating versatility without severely hindering the device’s overall performance.
With a decent brightness level of 300 nits, the screen handles well in most scenarios. However, challenges arise in daylight conditions, where the screen may become straining to view.
Night time use can also be very bright, but in a more favorable, controlled way.
Feisty Fans
It’s crucial to note that the fans on the Victus 16 Gaming Laptop can be quite loud, particularly under demanding conditions. Without the use of headphones, the fan noise, characterized by a loud whine, becomes too much to bear, especially bystanders forced to listen. On the positive side, during regular usage scenarios, the computer remains pleasantly silent. However, it’s essential to acknowledge that engaging in high-performance gaming activities triggers an increase in fan noise, a clear indication of the laptop’s active cooling mechanism, so be prepared for this trade-off.
Gaming Performance, Putting the Victus 16 To The Test, Test Results
Gaming performance on the Victus 16 Gaming Laptop impresses, reaching peak frames of 100-140 on high settings for AAA titles. However, ultra settings may result in occasional frame drops and stutters, but still runs around 45-60fps.
We did a variety of game and processing tests, so here are the real results we are looking for.
In Rainbow Six Siege, the laptop excels, delivering an impressive average frame rate of 200 fps on high settings, showcasing its prowess in handling this game with ease.
Moving on to Cyberpunk, a notoriously demanding title, the Victus 16 Gaming Laptop proves itself by providing the ability to play the game on high settings with an average of 100fps. Even with a low of 80fps, the gameplay remains smooth and enjoyable.
However, opting for Ultra High settings does result in a drop to 55 fps, with stutters down to about 40 fps. While playable, users must consider the trade-off between enhanced detail and fidelity offered by Ultra settings and the stability, suggesting that this configuration might be better suited for offline or single-player games.
Side note: regardless of High or Ultra settings, the Victus 16 Gaming Laptop operated at an average of 77 degrees Celsius, a normal high load temperature.
F1 Racing sees the Victus 16 Gaming Laptop performing admirably, achieving an average fps of 180 on high settings, further demonstrating its capability to handle demanding racing simulations.
For Forza Motorsport, a large AAA title, the laptop manages to maintain an average of 100fps. However, it experiences occasional large dips in frames down to 50 fps, attributed to the nature of the game. This nuanced performance allows users to gauge the laptop’s competence in handling graphically demanding titles, understanding that occasional frame dips may occur in certain scenarios.
Cinebench Results
We can close out these specific tests with a run on Cinebench, a free tool to max out the CPU and computer’s hardware to get a relative score, ranked next to other machines on the market.
Here are our results:
Multi-core: 820, w/average temp of 50 degrees Celsius, with a max of 80 degrees.
Single Core: 92
GPU: 10227
These results, although not amazing, showcase a middle of the road processing power, with normal temperatures and cooling under high load. The Victus 16 Gaming Laptop does a great job at maintaining high temps with its well designed airflow, but does create quite the noise pollution. You can analyze these results within your own selfish parameters to see if they align with your needs.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Victus 16 Gaming Laptop emerges as an ideal companion for college students seeking a seamless blend of gaming prowess and productivity. With its versatile features, including HDMI and USB-C outputs, this laptop caters to the multifaceted needs of students juggling academics while entertaining their gaming hobby. While its home experience excels, thanks to these connectivity options and the lackluster battery performance, the Victus 16 remains portable for on-the-go work or gaming sessions at a friend’s house. Impressively, it extends its capabilities to entry-level and intermediate content creation and streaming.
Priced at $1400, I wholeheartedly recommend the Victus 16 Gaming Laptop for individuals seeking a solution that encompasses both work and play. However, for those exclusively focused on gaming (especially with the attached display), and content creation, there may be more stellar options at this price point, considering the screen’s limited 60Hz maximum and limited color space to SRGB. The almost-necessity of an external display for the best experience somewhat challenges the laptop’s proclaimed portability, but this is only if you can’t stomach playing at 60fps.
As the Victus 16 Gaming Laptop caters predominantly to young adults and teenagers, the 60hz design, this cost reducing choice aligns with the laptop’s one-stop-shop nature, basically making running software, games, and other programs operate more smoothly, and with less battery (how much less battery can we really get though).
To enhance the overall experience, investing in a mouse, headphones, and if you can fit it into the budget, an external display greater than 60hz, becomes essential. The headphones are certainly necessary, countering the speakers’ limitations and muting your ears from hearing that annoying exhaust whine.
Noisy Pixel is giving the 2023-24 Victus 16 Gaming Laptop, Ryzen 7 7840HS, Nvidia RTX 4060, a C+
Is it a good product? Of course, but I find it a challenging sell due to the disappointing display performance when put up against other machines in this price point. People will judge a book by its cover, and a machine with 60hz in 2024 is tough to hear.
The configuration of this Victus 16 Gaming Laptop does make a lot of sense after analysis, covering all needs of the intended demographic, but stops its practicality there. An avid gamer, professional creator, someone looking for unplugged reliability, or someone willing to catch a sale, might look elsewhere.
