The same chassis was used by HP last year so there aren’t many changes. The Mica Silver finish is dark grey, while the Intel version has a subtle hint of blue the company calls "Performance Blue". It looks very much like a 16-inch notebook, but at 2.48kgs it is heavy. The notebook does not have any bright lights or coloured accents. There is a simple embossed logo of the 'V' on the lid, and branding at the hinge. While I appreciate the clean, non-flashy aesthetics, the build quality is not impressive.The whole laptop is covered with a matte plastic that feels great to the touch. HP claims that the speaker cover and housing were made from post-consumer recycled plastics. Although this may make you feel better about sustainability, it doesn't really improve the build quality. The screen wobbles more than it should because of the way the hinge mechanism is implemented. Even if the laptop was on a flat surface, it would shake the lid with a ceiling fan. This was an issue with the older-generation model, and HP clearly hasn't fixed.The bottom contains a large section that allows for air intake. By removing the panel, you can access the internals. The cooling system, which includes two fans as well as two heat pipes for the CPU or GPU, can be seen on the inside. Access to the two DIMM slots for memory, one of which was empty on our unit, is also available, giving you the ability to upgrade the device in the future. Two M.2 storage slots are included on the laptop. The existing SSD also has a copper heat sink to maintain temperature control. This is a great sign and HP deserves to be commended.The Victus 16's display measures 16.1 inches and has full HD resolution (1.920 x 1.080 pixels) and support for a refresh rate of up to 144Hz. The panel is very basic in appearance with a brightness rating of 250 nits. However, it does not look dull. Although HP lists only 45 percent coverage for NTSC, it's the same panel that was last year. However, you can expect colour gamut coverage of about 65 percent sRGB, and approximately 50 percent Adobe RGB. It isn't very bright, but it looks good. This display is not recommended for photo and video editing, where accuracy in colour is critical.The keyboard is spread nicely across the deck, and includes a dedicated number pad. Similar to last year, the layout features five rows of regular-sized keys and a slim row at the top for function keys. Although the keys have white backlighting with sharp and clear letters, I wish it could be adjusted. The typing experience was pleasant with a good travel distance. Overall, the keys are not too loud. The sharp edges of this laptop can cause wrist strain, but it all depends on how you position your hands.
Windows 11 is preloaded on the laptop, along with a lot of bloatware. The laptop comes with multiple utilities and tools from HP. It also includes McAfee antivirus and Bang and Olufsen sound control. And, strangely, ExpressVPN. The OMEN Gaming hub is also included on the laptop. This allows you to switch between performance modes, monitor your core hardware, and more. You can also find a section for rewards, a junk file remover, and many other features that have no real purpose. The software also feels like a placeholder to HP's branding. I didn't find it very appealing.Let's get down to core performance. The review unit I received included the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H mobile processor. It has eight cores and 16 threads and clocks up to 4.7GHz. It also includes an integrated AMD Radeon 680M GPU as well as a discrete Nvidia GeForce RTX3050 Ti discrete GPU with four gigabytes of GDDR6 RAM. The system ships with 8GB DDR5 4800 memory. However, it can also support up to 32GB. The laptop comes pre-installed with a 512GB PCIe Gen4 NVMe 4x4 SSD. This is a good deal, especially if you intend to install a lot of games. It was a second-generation PCIe4.0 drive, which I found to be very impressive with 6,913Mbps peak reading and 4,513Mbps peak writing speeds on CrystalDiskMark. It is amazing that some high-end gaming laptops still ship with first-generation PCIe4.0 drives, which aren't slow at all. The hardware in general is quite good. It is a powerful processor, and the Ryzen 7 6800H clearly shows it. Cinebench R23 scored the CPU 9875 in multi-core tests and 1307 single-core tests. This performance is comparable to that of the Core i7-11800H Intel model last year, but it was almost Rs 20,000 cheaper than the model. If you want to multitask more consistently, I recommend upgrading to 16GB RAM. This is especially important if you use a lot Chrome tabs. The laptop was fast and responsive for my day-to-day tasks. Windows starts up fast, software and apps load quickly, and the laptop has enough power for simple computing tasks.However, I noticed a slight bug when trying to turn the laptop on from sleep/standby mode. The display wouldn't turn on. After clearing the CMOS with the power + F6 combo, the laptop would then boot normally. This is most likely a BIOS problem and HP will hopefully fix it soon . The Nvidia GeForce GTX 3050 Ti handles graphics duties, which is quite good for 1080p gaming. It isn't as powerful as a GPU that can do ray tracing, but it does have the necessary muscle and brawn. For AAA titles, you will need to lower the graphics settings to medium/low to reach 60fps. However, competitive shooters can use the hardware to their advantage. I was able achieve over 60fps with Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order at high settings and 53fps with Rise of the Tomb Raider.Some games had lower frame rates on medium settings than high. This was likely due to the 8GB RAM running in a single channel. You can either add more RAM or choose the 16GB RAM option to resolve this issue. The Ryzen 7 6800H comes with Radeon 680M integrated graphic, which delivers excellent performance even when the discrete GPU's not in use. The laptop doesn't have a built in MUX switch so you can't manually turn off the integrated GPU. Although it isn't an issue, HP should consider adding one to their gaming laptop line.The thermals should be maintained because the laptop's outer surface, including the keyboard, is more likely to remain cool when it is under heavy loads. The fans draw air from the bottom, and the area above the keyboard, while exhausting all hot air from its rear vents. The CPU reached a temperature peak of 99.5 degrees celsius, while the maximum sustained temperatures were at 94 degrees. Although the CPU's maximum power rating is 45W, HWInfo states that it can run up to 54W with no throttling. This is quite impressive.The speakers did not deliver the best audio performance. They sound thin and have a low volume. To enjoy multimedia or gaming, it is best to use headphones. HP uses a MediaTek chipset, just like ASUS. It offers Wi-Fi 6E as well as Bluetooth 5.2. Both provide stable connectivity without dropouts or latency. The webcam supports HD video at 720p and has noise reduction and integrated dual array microphones. The image quality is good and acceptable. It works best when there is good lighting. The laptop does not have biometric security options (fingerprint, face unlock), so you will need to use a Windows Hello PIN.The new Victus 16 has a 70Whr battery, just like last year's model. The efficient AMD CPU enabled it to provide good battery life, which is a marked improvement over the Intel model that we reviewed. I was able get about 5-6 hours battery life while doing regular tasks such as browsing the internet, writing articles and editing photos in Photoshop. The screen brightness was set at 50%. Gaming will last for about two hours before the battery needs to be recharged again.
The HP Victus 16 with AMD has the same feel as old wine in a new container. It's actually the opposite. The hardware has been slightly upgraded, but the outer shell is unchanged. Although I can forgive HP for recycling the old chassis, the sharp edges and fragile hinge leave me wanting more. The core hardware actually works quite well.Although it isn't a major upgrade to last year's model, the Victus 16 gaming laptop is an excellent choice if you want a gaming laptop with a sleek design and the latest AMD Ryzen 6600-series CPUs. The CPU performance is excellent and it can handle almost all tasks. The RTX3050 Ti's gaming performance is excellent. While it isn't very powerful, most modern games can be run at low to medium settings. You can also future-proof the system by HP offering two M.2 storage slots and two memory DIMM slot, which allows you to swap or add hardware as needed.This laptop is great for gaming, but I recommend you to check out other options from ASUS and Lenovo before spending your hard earned money on the HP Victus 16.
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