HP’s Victus series of gaming laptops aims to bring a better gaming experience with at a lower price. It sits just below the flagship Omen lineup. The HP Victus 16.1 comes with pretty decent specifications with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050, and a 16.1-inch 1920 x 1080 IPS display running at 144Hz.
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 5800H |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 |
| OS | Windows 11 |
| RAM | 16GB DDR4, 3200MHz |
| Display | 16.1-inch IPS, 1920 x 1080, 144Hz, 300 nits, 7ms |
| Storage | 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD |
| I/O Ports | 1x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C, 3x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x RJ-45 Ethernet, 1x AC Smart pin, 1x SD Card Reader, 1x 3.5mm Combo Jack, 1x Dci-In |
| Connectivity | WiFi 802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Battery | 70Whr, 4-cell Li-Polymer, 200W Power Adapter |
| Audio | B&O Dual Speakers, HP Audio Boost, Dual Array Microphones |
| Others | 720p Webcam |
| Dimensions | 370 x 260 x 23.5mm |
| Weight | Starts at 2.46kg |
| Colors | Mica Silver, Dark Chrome Logo |
The HP Victus 16 has the bare essentials when it comes to accessories. The notebook ships in a black cardboard box with the Victus branding. Inside is the notebook itself and its 200W power adapter.
The HP Victus 16 is a tastefully designed gaming notebook compared to some of its peers in the market. The laptop looks clean but still has some aggressive angles on the chassis to give it a bit of flair. It has a dark blue paintjob with hints of black on the display. It looks like it can blend in offices and gaming caves instead of being an overly garish gaming device.
The chassis itself is made out of hard plastic, which feels rather premium thanks to the smooth paintjob. The 16.1-inch frame is slightly larger than 15.6-inch notebooks in the market measuring in at 370 x 260 x 23.5mm. It is quite hefty as well weighing in at around 2.4kg. There are no RGB lighting on the chassis – which some enthusiasts might dislike.
The notebook sports a 16.1-inch IPS 1920 x 1080 display running at 144Hz. There is some anti-glare coating to keep reflections off the IPS panel. Resolution and refresh rate are fairly average but some devices in the same price bracket are sporting slightly faster 165Hz panels.
Bezels at the sides are kept thin while the top bezel is slightly larger to make space for its 720p webcam. Panel performance is good with even colors and 99.10% sRGB coverage. AdobeRGB and DCI-P3 coverage is average for a gaming notebook at 72.40% and 74.40%, respectively.
Brightness is average at a peak brightness in the middle of 387.37 cd/m2. There’s an 11% difference from the brightest point at the center compared to the lowest at the upper left portion. Contrast Ratio is good but not fantastic – as expected from an IPS panel.
Its speakers run across the width of the notebook and has been tuned by Bang & Olufsen. Audio quality is good. Volume can get loud at maximum and vocals and treble sound clean and powerful. Bass, however, lack punch which is expected from most notebooks.
HP manages to fit a 90% keyboard on the Victus due to its relatively large formfactor. It has a dedicated number pad at the right-hand side along with shortcuts for the Omen Gaming Hub and calculator app. The keys at the left-hand side, however, are slightly shorter to accommodate more keys. The power button is in a rather terrible position just above the backspace key.
The keyboard has chiclet-style switches and they feel great to type on. Keys are tactile when activated but there is some slight mushiness when bottoming out. There is some rattle in the stabilizers used on the larger keys but it’s more apparent in the backspace key.
The trackpad is large and has a slightly shade of blue than the chassis. Its surface is smooth while tracking is excellent. It supports gesture controls like most modern notebooks. Both left and right buttons have deep tactility when pressed.
Most of the HP Victus’ ports are located at the left-hand side. It comes with a DC-in port for its 200W charger, an RJ-45 Ethernet jack, a full-size HDMI 2.1, a USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A, and a USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-C port that supports DisplayPort and USB PD charging, a 3.5mm combo jack, and an SD Card Reader.
The right-hand side is a bit less cluttered sporting only two USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A ports. HP has pretty much bundled everything you need from the notebook even a full-sized SD Card Reader for transferring media from cameras.
The HP Victus 16 comes with Windows 11 already pre-installed. Bloatware is minimum but it does have a trial copy of McAfee. The only notable software bundled with the device is the OMEN Gaming Hub. As its name suggests, it’s a hub to control and monitor key aspects of the notebook. It can boost system performance by closing unused apps and clean unnecessary files.
Streamers can go live with Oasis Live. System vitals like temperature can be monitored via the app. It can even synchronize RGB lighting with other HP peripherals connected to the system even if the HP Victus itself has no RGB lighting.
The notebook runs on and a Zen 3-based AMD Ryzen 7 5800H CPU with 16GB of DDR4 RAM running at 3200MHz and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050. There are some variants, however, getting faster RTX 3050 and RTX 3060 cards available.
Storage is provided by a variant of the Micron MTFDHBA1T0TDV-1AZ1AAB NVMe SSD. The drive is pretty fast but pales in comparison with other NVMe SSDs in the market. Sequential Read and Writes are capped at around 2,657MB/s and 1,824MB/s, respectively. Again, respectable and fast for an NVMe drives but far from being a performance giant.
The HP Victus 16 will be run against a battery of CPU and GPU tests. These will include synthetics, rendering, file compression and decompression, and gaming to see what kind of performance the notebook can provide its users.
The AMD Ryzen 7 5800H remains a contender in the mobile CPU space. The 8-core, 16-thread part can still provide good performance across the board. It constantly places within the first 1/3 of the list placing it within the faster performing CPUs for mobile gaming devices regardless of workload.
While the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 can be considered an entry-level GPU, it is an immense upgrade from integrated graphics. It won’t be able to run everything at Ultra settings with Ray Tracing, it can still chug along at consistent 60fps when heavier settings are lowered.
The Victus’ intakes are at the sides while the exhaust blows air out the back of the chassis. This keeps heat away from the keyboard in heavy workloads. The CPU and GPU are cooled enough at idle with minimal fan noise. The former, however, will reach a peak of 93°c in rendering workloads. The former is a bit more relaxed sticking below the 70°c mark while playing.
Powering the HP Victus 16 is a 70Whr Lithium Polymer battery. Longevity is fairly average at around 4 – 5 hours for light workloads like browsing the Internet or work. A bit short but it’s typical for a decently specced gaming laptop. Gaming while on battery should last around 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Charging is done through a 200W power brick. The notebook does not support USB PD charging, unfortunately. The 70Whr battery will be fill in around 1 hour and 45 minutes if the notebook charges from 0% to full.
Starting at PhP 75,990 in the Philippines, the HP Victus 16 (2022) carefully balances price, performance, and design. It doesn’t look like your average gaming laptop and will fit in regardless of scenario. Its AMD Ryzen 7 5800H still packs a punch while its RTX 3050 dedicated GPU can run most games without any problems.
It does lack RGB lighting and USB PD charging. Display is average but makes up for it with 144Hz refresh rate and even colors. The speakers can get loud but doesn’t deliver enough punch in lower frequencies like bass.
Overall, the HP Victus 16 (2022) is a solid gaming notebook for the price and offers good performance. It won’t be a game changing device in its price category but a decent enough offering from HP.
The HP Victus 16 16-e0094AX with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H and RTX 3050 is now available in the Philippines for PhP 75,990. There’s also a Victus 16 16-e0094AX with an RTX 3050 Ti up for grabs for PhP 79,990.
The Victus, its variants, and other HP notebooks are available through authorized retailers nationwide and online through its official Shopee store and other official online channels.
