Gaming laptops have always been a bit spendy, and that’s especially true of laptops with Nvidia’s new RTX 40-series GPUs. The performance sounded enticing when Nvidia announced its mobile Ada Lovelace lineup at CES this year. However, when retail products arrived, all new laptops cost over $2,000 and beyond, with some costing up to $4,000. Even laptops with an RTX 4060 GPU can cost $2,500, but HP might be coming to the rescue. This week it unveiled the 2023 version of its Victus 16 gaming laptop, which has always been its “budget” model. The big news is that pricing starts at $1,050 and that it will have an RTX 4070 GPU.
HP announced upgraded versions of its gaming laptops at its Amplify Partner Conference this week, according to The Verge. The Victus 16 sits at the bottom of its gaming laptop podium, with the Omen and Transcend models on the steps above it in pricing and performance. However, that doesn’t mean the Victus 16 is a bottom-feeder. For example, you can equip it with an Intel Core i7-13700HX or an AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS, both powerful CPUs. The Intel chip features 16 cores and 24 threads, with a P-core boost to 5GHz. The Ryzen CPU has eight cores and 16 threads and can boost to 5.1GHz. It’s available in mica silver, performance blue, and ceramic white.
For now, that’s all we know about the Victus 16, as HP didn’t expand on its various configurations. However, the current version looks like a bare-bones laptop with eight low-end configs. The most expensive, at $1,199, features a lowly RTX 3050 Ti 4GB GPU, which likely won’t hold a candle to the RTX 4070 as it has twice the VRAM and is a new architecture. GPU aside, the current Victus laptops also offer NVME storage, 16GB of system memory, and a 1080p 144Hz IPS display. Battery life is rated at nine hours for the top-shelf model, which weighs 5.3 pounds.
Though it sounds like the Victus 16 could be great with its upgraded CPU and GPU, we’ll have to wait for reviews. Our sister site PCMag reviewed the original version in 2021 and thought it felt like a cheap laptop thanks to its all-plastic design and wobbly display hinge. It also lacks a touch screen and Thunderbolt. Overall, they thought you’d be better off getting a much-improved Omen for just a bit more cash.
Perhaps HP is looking to change this perception with the updated version, though, as it sounds more premium. It’s certainly outfitted with some high-end components, and if the price is around $1,100 or so, it could be a pretty compelling laptop for those who need a well-balanced system for work and gaming. The Victus 16 is expected to arrive in the “spring,” which should be soon. Hopefully, it can live up to its promise this time.
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