HP Victus 15 review: a solid budget gaming laptop with some trade-offs
In this HP Victus 15 review, we test out the gaming laptop's real-world performance, battery life, and more
Review Summary
Expert Rating
The entry-level gaming laptop segment has decent competition. Brands like Infinix, Lenovo, and others offer capable gaming machines at reasonable prices. However, HP may have an edge with the Victus 15 (FB0147AX) when it comes to pricing. It is one of the most affordable gaming laptops we’ve reviewed, so read on to find out if it’s worth your investment.
Table of Contents
Design and display
HP’s Victus 15 resembles a standard notebook at first glance, but the prominent chrome Victus logo on the back reveals its gaming genes. It comes in a subtle blue colour, lending a minimalistic aesthetic that contrasts with the glossy logo. You can easily open the laptop with one hand, though the bottom lifts slightly, and there’s a bit of flex when typing. Since it’s not built using metal, the build is not very rigid.
There’s a large mesh vent underneath that helps with air intake, while hot air is expelled from the rear vents. The raised design at the bottom also improves airflow, enhancing the laptop’s cooling efficiency. The Victus 15 features dual fans for cooling that become audible as they ramp up during gaming or demanding tasks.
Opening up the laptop reveals these dual fans and heat sinks for cooling, along with dual-channel 8GB RAM (2x 4GB sticks). The RAM modules are not soldered, but upgrading the RAM requires replacing both sticks. Similarly, only one SSD slot is available, limiting storage expansion to replacing the existing 512GB SSD with a larger one.
HP launched the Victus 15 with a 15.6-inch IPS LCD display that features narrow bezels on the sides. It offers FHD resolution (1,920 x 1,080) with anti-glare and 250 nits of peak brightness. While the brightness level is average, making it suitable for indoor use, it may struggle in brighter outdoor conditions. Additionally, the display covers only 45 percent of the NTSC colour gamut.
The biggest drawback of the Victus 15 is its lack of a high refresh rate screen. It comes with a standard 60Hz panel, which is disappointing compared to competitors like the Lenovo LOG 2024 and Infinix GT Book, offering 144Hz and 120Hz refresh rates, respectively. For a gaming laptop, this could dissuade hardcore gamers, especially those who play competitive titles like Counter Strike 2 and Valorant. That said, the screen is decent overall. The colours are satisfactory, and it offers good viewing angles, making movie watching and media consumption a pleasant experience.
Ports and audio
There’s a healthy selection of ports on the HP Victus 15. You get 1x USB Type-C port (DisplayPort 1.4, HP Sleep and Charge), 1x USB Type-A port (HP Sleep and Charge), 1x USB Type-A port, 1x AC smart pin, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x headphone jack, and 1x RJ-45.
HP’s Victus 15 features speakers located just above the keyboard, enhanced by HP Audio Boost and Audio by Bang & Olufsen. While the speakers aren’t particularly loud, they offer good sound quality. Although they lack bass, they are serviceable for an affordable gaming laptop.
Keyboard and trackpad
Since it’s a 15.6-inch laptop, the HP Victus 15 features a full-sized keyboard with a numpad, offering a pleasant typing experience due to ample key spacing. It includes an LED backlight, although you can’t adjust its brightness. One minor drawback is the power button layout, which initially confused me when using this model.
Just below the keyboard, you get an enlarged trackpad that is both accurate and responsive. It provides satisfying click feedback for both the left and right buttons.
Performance
HP equips the Victus 15 with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600H processor and Radeon RX 6500M graphics. This configuration includes 8GB of DDR4 3200MHz RAM and 512GB of PCIe Gen 4 M.2 SSD storage. While the CPU and GPU pairing is solid for a budget gaming laptop, 8GB of RAM feels insufficient by today’s standards. Before running the benchmarks, we made sure that we were on the latest build of Windows 11 Home for the Victus 15.
In the graphs, we compare the HP Victus 15 with two other budget gaming laptops: the Lenovo LOQ 2024 (Review) and the Infinix GT Book (Review). Both of these alternatives are priced over Rs 10,000 higher than the Victus 15. While HP’s budget gaming laptop performs well overall, it is noticeably slower than the other two models, trailing by about 15 to 20 percent. But within the Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 category, the laptop outclasses models like the ASUS Vivobook 15 and Vivobook Go 15 OLED in terms of performance. However, those laptops weren’t built for gaming.
Gaming on the HP Victus 15 was quite good. Competitive titles like Valorant ran smoothly, rarely dropping below 200fps. However, the laptop struggled with newer AAA titles that are more demanding. I could only play Alan Wake 2 by setting everything to low at 720p, and even then, it barely managed 30fps. In contrast, Cyberpunk 2077 reached 30fps with high settings and Ray Tracing on Ultra, though lowering the settings significantly improved the experience. GTA V achieved a respectable average frame rate of 104 fps with the High preset.
It is worth noting that the Radeon 6500M only has 4GB of VRAM, which means that some games might not launch altogether. Throughout this gaming session, the HP Victus 15 had robust thermal management, rarely exceeding 80 degrees Celsius, and even the keyboard deck didn’t get too warm to the touch.
Battery
The HP Victus 15 is equipped with a 52.5Wh battery pack and comes with a 150W AC power adapter. This is smaller than the batteries in both the Lenovo LOQ 2024 (60Wh) and Infinix GT Book (70Wh), which is reflected in its battery life. In the PCMark video battery test, the Victus 15 lasted around 4 hours and 29 minutes at 80 percent brightness. While this isn’t terrible for a gaming laptop, it’s definitely an area that could use some improvement.
Verdict
HP offers a solid entry point into the world of gaming laptops with the Victus 15. It brings solid performance for casual play. While hardcore gamers who love to play online competitive titles may see the 60Hz screen as a drawback, gaming isn’t all about the frames. HP has crafted a capable and affordable gaming laptop that can run most modern titles effectively. The 60Hz display also helps keep costs down. the Victus 15 provides decent value, making it a viable choice for those looking to enjoy both multiplayer and single-player experiences without overspending.
Editor’s rating: 7 / 10
Pros:
- Robust build
- Good gaming performance on a budget
- Decent thermal management
Cons:
- 60Hz display
- Mediocre battery life
- 8GB RAM by default
