PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

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S

ittingbelowthe Omen series
inthe HPhierarchy,the
Victusstillpacksallthe
important attributesofa
gaminglaptop:quick-refresh
display,powerfulGPUand
theoption toaddmoreRAM
andstorage.Whatyoudon’tgetis
fripperies,whetherthat’sa modified
keyboardwithbolderWASDkeysor
anRGBlightshow.
It’spricedto match, withtwo
modelscurrentlyonsaleintheUK:
onefor£999witha Corei5and RTX
3050 Tigraphics,anotherwitha
Ryzen7 andRTX 3060 for £1,049.
Wisely,HPsentinthemoreexpensive
machinefortesting,because-as
discussedinthereviewoftheMSI
GL66Pulse(seep 61 ) - onlyhaving
4GBofVRAMmeansyouwillbe
foreverturningdownthe graphics
detailto geta decentframerate.
ThenewVictusisavailableinmica
silver,performanceblueor ceramic
white.My reviewunitwasthelatter,
anddespitebeingmadefromplasticit
lookssmartandfeelssolid.Toaddto
itsgreen credentials,HPusesrecycled
ocean-boundplasticinthecover,bezel
andspeakerenclosure. Therearefew
designflourishes other thantheblack
screensurroundandtheV symbolon
thelidandbelow thedisplay.
Thekeyboarddeckissolid, the
keyactionfirmandprecise,andthe
large,offsettrackpad hasnobad
habits.It’sa well-laid-outkeyboard,
too,with a fullnumericpadandno
idiosyncrasies.Theonlybespokekey
launchestheOmen controlpanel,
fromwhichyoucanaccessyour
gameslibraryandchangethe Victus’
performanceprofilebetween Quiet,
DefaultandPerformance.The

single-levelkeyboardbacklightis

lesswelljudged:bright whitelight

behinda whitekeyboardcanraise

legibility issues.

HPcatersforconnectivitywell,

withRJ-45,HDMI2.1, USB-A 3.1and

USB-C3.1portson theleft,alongwith

a 3.5mmjackandSDcardslot,and

twomoreUSB-A 3 .1portson theright.

Wirelesscommunicationsarehandled

bya RealtekWi-Fi6 cardthatalso

supportsBluetooth5.2.

Themostinteresting thingabout

thedesignisthescreensize.HPhas

donea goodjobatfittinga 16.1inpanel

intowhatfeelslikea 15inlaptop’s

chassis,andyoudonoticetheextra

size.It’sstill1,920 x 1,080, soisn’tthe

sharpestdisplay,butitsreal problem

iscolourperformance:anaverage

DeltaE of 6.44and 5 7%sRGBcoverage

meanscolourslookdrab.

Abovethedisplayisa720pwebcam

thatdoesa solidjobeveninlowlight.

There’snosupportfor biometric

login,soyou’llneedtoresorttoa good

old-fashionedPINforsecurity.

Removethebackpanel- notthe

easiest jobsincetheplasticclipsare

verystiff,andoneofoursbrokeinthe

process- andyoucanaccessthetwo

SODIMMmemoryslotsandtwoSSD

bays,one ofwhichliesempty,with

theotherhousinga 512GBSKhynix

PCI-ESSD.Upgradingtoa maximum

of32GB RAMand2TBofstorageisa

cinch.TheSSDperformedwell,

recordingsequential readandwrite

scoresof 3,140MB/secand2,685MB/

secrespectively.

TheVictusscoredanequallystrong

289 inthePCProbenchmarks,

nudgingaheadoftheMSIGL 66 and

theLenovo Legion5 (seep 60 ).It’s

justascapableingames. The

Wolfenstein:Youngblood

benchmarkreturned152fpswithray

tracingoff,and117fpswithray

tracingandDLSSbothon.Turning to

ShadowoftheTombRaider, the

Victusmanaged61fpsat highdetail

levelwithraytracingbutnoDLSS.

InthedemandingHitman 2 testit

scored47fpswithsupersamplingat

2x,but dropto1xandtheframe

ratejumps to almost80fps.

HPpacks allthisprowess

witha soundsystemtomatch.

Turnedupto11,theloud

staccatosoundofgunfirein

Wolfenstein:Youngblood

gavethings a visceral

intensitythatgenuinely

enhanced thegamingexperience.

Youcanexpectaroundeighthours

oflifefromthebatteryinless

demanding tasks,withthe70Whunit

lasting 7 hrs 4 5minsin ourvideo-

rundowntest. Butifyou’regamingfor

anythingmorethanthreehours then

you’llneedtoplugitin;fortunately

HPhas donea goodjobofkeepingthe

sizeandweightofthe200WDC

chargerincheck,withtherounded

330ghousing nowherenearas

brick-likeassomeI’veencountered.

HPhasdonea goodjobsqueezing a

16.1indisplayintoa 15.6inlaptop,and

thatgivestheVictusa pointof

differencecompared to

rivals.Italsohasstyle,

buildqualityanda decent

keyboard andsound

systemtorecommendit,

soit’sa shamethedisplay

isn’tmorecolourfuland

accurate.Ifyoucan’t

stretchtotheLegion5,orparticularly

desirea biggerscreen,theVictusisa

finechoice.ALUNTAYLOR

HPVictus 16

HPbringsamachetetoa

knifefight,withits 16. 1 in

gaminglaptopprovingthat

biggerreallyisbetter

PRICE£957(£1,149incVAT)
fromcurrys.co.uk

“HPhasdonea goodjobat

fitting a 16.1inscreeninto

whatfeelslikea 15in

laptop’schassis,andyoudo

noticetheextrasize”

SCORE

SPECIFICATIONS

8-core3.2GHz(4.4GHzboost)AMDRyzen 7

5800Hprocessor16GBDDR4-3200RAM

6GBNvidiaGeForceRTX 3060 graphics

16.1in144Hznon-touchIPSdisplay,1,920x

1,080resolution512GBM.2PCI-E3SSD

720pwebcam2x2Wi-Fi6 Bluetooth5.2

HDMI2.1USB-C3.13xUSB-A3.1

Ethernetport3.5mmjackSDcardslot

70WhbatteryWindows 10 Home 370 x

260 x23.5mm(WDH)2.5kg1yrlimited

warrantypartcode4H2Y5EA#ABU

RECOMMENDED

BATTERYVideorundown, 7 hrs 45 mins

Image

editing

212

Video

editing

284

Multi

tasking

319

BREAKDOWNSCORES

BENCHMARKS

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

OVERALL 289

BELOWHPcatersfor

connectivitywell,with

awiderangeofports

ontheVictus’sides

ABOVEHPuses

recycledplasticin

thecover,bezeland

speakerenclosure