HP Victus 15: Two Minute Review
The HP Victus 15 is what you should imagine when you think about what a budget gaming laptop should be.
One of the latest models in HP’s growing line of low-cost gaming machines, the Victus 15 starts out extremely affordable without sacrificing too much on specs and only rises moderately in price as the specs get higher. It’s certainly a no-nonsense option that lacks a lot of sophistication, but you get at least three simple color options (mica silver, performance blue and ceramic white) for the chassis, so it’s not a bad-looking laptop either.
The Victus 15 is sturdy and a bit thick, so bags not made to carry larger gaming laptops will have a harder time fitting it. The HP Victus 15 has a good range of ports and the 15.6-inch display is pretty good for the price, with solid images and resolution even in higher settings, and the 144Hz refresh rate is surprisingly good.
The bezels are fine, but nothing special, and the webcam is quite clear, so it’ll treat you well during streaming sessions. The keyboard is as simple as the outside of the laptop and there is no backlighting of the keys, which makes gaming in the dark a bit more difficult. On the plus side, there is a ten key numpad on the right side. Meanwhile, the keys are a good size and easy to type, but they’re a little too smooth, allowing you to stumble every now and then and make more typos.
The Victus 15 comes with an AMD Ryzen 5 or an Intel Core i5 for the CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 mobile GPU, the latter of which really helps keep the price down. Despite the lower specs, it runs graphically intensive games quite smoothly, even if it doesn’t play something like Cyberpunk 2077 on Ultra settings very well.
The battery life is comparable to many of the other best gaming laptops, ie not great at all. If you’re lucky, you can keep it alive for about four and a half hours, but it’s much safer to just keep it on the charger. The charging time is decent in any case, so you won’t have to wait too long if you’re using the off-the-shelf charger, but it may be worth investing in a USB Type-C charger if you need something faster .
For those looking for the best cheap gaming laptop that offers a great gaming experience at a seriously affordable price, the HP Victus 15 is one to check out. While it’s a simple design and a bit bulky, its specs will run almost any title in your Steam library at at least 30 FPS, balancing out other work or school-related tasks.
HP Victus 15: price and availability
- Excellent price
- Currently limited availability outside the US
The HP Victus 15 starts at an incredibly low price of $599 (about £490 / AU$865) in the US with the lowest specs. The price rises with additional upgrades such as an AMD Ryzen 7 or Intel Core i7, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, 16GB of memory or a 512GB SSD, with the highest price around $1,200 (about £980 / AU$1,730 ).
In the UK and Australia, this laptop appears to have very limited availability at the moment and we’re not sure if or when it will be available in those regions. We’ve reached out to HP for clarification and will update this review if we hear from the company.
HP Victus 15: design
- Sturdy and well built
- Solid screen and keyboard
- Good port selection
If you need an exterior that’s made of sturdy material and has a solid weight, the HP Victus 15 is definitely for you. Weighing in at five pounds, it has some weight, which is great because it can take quite a beating, but can also be a drawback if you have to carry it. This is a laptop that, thanks to both its weight and size, is likely to challenge most users’ bags.
HP Victus 15 Key Specifications
Here is the HP Victus 15 configuration sent to Ditching for review:
PROCESSOR: Intel Core i5-12450H
Graphic: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650
RAM: 8GB
Screen: 15.6-inch FHD IPS LED display, 144 Hz
Storage: 512GB SSD
Ports: 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 1 x Power Port, 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x SD Card Reader, 1 x Combo Jack, 1 x Ethernet Port
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
Camera: 720p
Weight: 5.06 lb (2.3 kg)
Dimensions (W x D x H): 14.09 x 10.04 x 0.93 inches | 357.89 x 255.02 x 23.6mm
An interesting feature of the HP Victus 15 is that it is made in part from recycled and ocean-bound plastic, uses water-based paint and has fully recycled packaging.
Still, the recycled parts don’t seem to affect the overall quality of the laptop. The paint job is well done and good quality, which is quite disappointing considering how simple the three color choices are.
There’s a good range of ports, including two USB Type-A ports, a Type-C port, an Ethernet port, an SD card slot, an HDMI port and a combo jack. It makes for a versatile laptop that is great not only for gaming, but also for work-related tasks.
The screen itself is 1080p and it looks great when playing on high and ultra settings with other graphics features enabled, especially thanks to the 144Hz refresh rate.
The bezels offer decent screen real estate, but aren’t particularly thin or efficient in terms of preserving screen space. The webcam is unfortunately 720p HD, and while it’s not the best resolution, it still gets the job done.
It shows you facial cleansing while streaming during a gaming session, as well as for video conferencing. There’s no backlighting for the keyboard, which is otherwise very simple and sensible with a large trackpad, limiting gaming to well-lit areas.
HP Victus 15: Performance
- Can play the most demanding games just fine
- Good ventilation for heat dissipation
- Works great as a school or work laptop
While it’s a budget gaming laptop, the HP Victus 15 takes air circulation seriously, with a dual-fan setup and a much larger vent on the bottom of the laptop than in previous models. Even during more intense gameplay segments, it barely generated any real heat.
In terms of gaming performance, this is a budget laptop and as such there are certain concessions to be made at lower specs. For example, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Laptop GPU that equips the lowest-spec HP Victus 15 laptops only comes with 4 GB of VRAM.
During our test run with Dirt 5, both benchmarking and normal gameplay, errors occasionally popped up to warn that the VRAM is getting too low. And this is despite the game itself running at 30 FPS on the highest setting and at about 75 FPS on the lowest.
HP Victus 15 Benchmarks
Here’s how the HP Victus 15 performed in our series of benchmark tests:
Cinebench R23 Multicore: 10.082
3DMark night raid: 30,805; Fire Attack: 8,935; Time spy: 3.645
GeekBench 5 (single core): 1,596† (multi-core): 6.897
PCMark 10 (Home Test): 6.361
Battery Life PCMark 10: 4:33
Battery Life (USA Health Reports Movie Test): 4:14
Total War: Warhammer III (1080p, Low): 82 fps† (1080p, ultra): 34 fps
Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p, Low): 48 fps† (1080p, ultra): 24 fps
Dirt 5 (1080p, Low): 76 fps; (1080p, ultra): 31 fps
The low VRAM issue didn’t show up in other test runs with titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Total War: Warhammer III, and Hitman 3. On the lowest setting, Cyberpunk ran at 48 FPS, which sounds bad, but the game still looks good and runs impressively. But you certainly won’t get the most out of your settings for this title.
Total War: Warhammer III runs at an average of about 34 FPS on Ultra and 82 on Low, so if this kind of game is more your problem then feel free to crank up the settings, but Medium is where you get the best balance of framerate and graphics.
Hitman 3 was a real surprise considering how demanding it is to run. During our test, we were able to crank up the setting to the second-highest preset, and the VIctus 15 still ran above 60 FPS on average. This machine loves Hitman 3 and it shows.
Among other things, the HP Victus 15 outperformed gaming laptops in the standard benchmarks such as Cinebench, Geekbench, PCMark10 and 3DMark. But there wasn’t a major discrepancy between those scores, despite the machine we tested had much less powerful technology compared to other budget laptops.
In other non-gaming related tasks, the HP Victus 15 performs well. It can juggle multiple tasks such as streaming movies, voice/video conference calls, editing documents and more. If you’re looking for a well-balanced laptop, this is a good option.
HP Victus 15: Battery Life
As with many gaming laptops, the battery is by far the worst aspect and the HP Victus 15 is no exception. In both of our battery tests, the laptop lasted just over four hours, which is half a working day. When we used it for non-strenuous daily tasks, it took about the same amount of time. For gaming, the battery drains much faster, which would limit sessions to a maximum of two hours.
The charging time isn’t bad though when using the included charger, it takes about an hour to get just over 60% charged. That time would be faster if you use a USB Type-C charger, and something we’d recommend if that option is available.
Should I buy an HP Victus 15?
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
Also consider:
| Where the | The HP Victus 15 is easily one of the cheapest gaming laptops you can find on the market, and even the more expensive options are very affordable. However, its availability in other regions such as the UK and Australia poses a problem. | 4 / 5 |
| Design | The budget aspect of this budget laptop comes at the expense of any style or flair. But it’s a well-built machine that’s also made with durability in mind, which makes it worth having an otherwise simple design. | 4 / 5 |
| Performance | Even at the lowest possible specs, the HP Victus 15 will run most graphically demanding games quite well, as long as you’re willing to set the settings for them to Medium. It is also a well-balanced machine that performs other work and school tasks well. | 4 / 5 |
| battery life | This battery is pretty bad, with a life of just over four hours when performing a normal task and much lower when gaming. Fortunately, the charging time is not terrible with the standard charger and can be improved with a USB Type-C charger. | 2 / 5 |
