HP is out to sea, on a voyage to corner the entry-level gaming market — quite literally out to sea, as their new gaming laptop used sea-bound plastics in its construction.
The Victus by HP [shortend to The Victus because nobody is going to ever use the “by HP” branding in the name] is after the lifestyle market of gaming, so naming it after the Latin act of nourishment is a bold move. However, it’s not one that I’m convinced will fit into your life at this point in time.
From what I know so far, The Victus will be an “admission to the party” kind of deal. It starts off with just enough to get you floating, but it’s going to require some customization if you want it for anything more than that.
Live sustainably
Victus is a 16-inch laptop with strongly understated plastic construction built from recycled plastic bound for sea — which is strangely specific and a genuine problem. There are three colours [mica silver, performance blue or ceramic white] to help you make at least a tiny bit of a statement. Aside from using recycled materials, there’s very little to The Victus that counts as pomp and circumstance, which is exactly what some gamers are looking for.
Build to suit your lifestyle
Speaking of circumstance, it would appear that the idea for The Victus is to have it be a value build option for those looking to do a build on a budget — far from an easy task in the current pandemic-pummelled market.
Performance-wise, The Victus sits pretty close to the company’s existing Pavilion entry-level gaming machine. The value-added proposition here being new an 11th gen CORE i5, or up to a CORE i7 is you choose to upgrade. If you want to knock 50 bucks off the price, there’s an AMD option as well. There’s also some updated cooling, which isn’t so much of an issue when it comes to gaming laptops, per se, but great in terms of future-proofing.
The base model on The Victus will come in at around $1,000, which is extremely reasonable for an entry-level ticket. But with only 8 GB DDR4-2933 MHz RAM (2 X 4 GB) and a mobile NVIDIA GeForce MX350 (4 GB GDDR5 dedicated), you’re limited in what you can do. The full stats are about as nondescript as the whole build. it appears to me that The Victus is a computer aimed at online gamers who are looking for something to use when they are away from their consoles or custom rigs. It looks as if there will be plenty of configurations for memory and graphics solutions. The problem is that there’s no indication of what those will set you back yet, so it could be worth the investment, or it could be a money pool to drown in.
Musings on the life of The Victus
When we have the opportunity to build The Victus into the configuration the hyperlinked list above indicates, there’s a chance that this could be a budget powerhouse. But my guess is we see this new laptop sit somewhere in the middle of HPs gaming offers. The pavilion is still the perfect choice for gamers looking for their first gaming PC or for something on the go. And Omen is still among the best choices for pre-builts and gaming laptops in terms of overall value. So I can see The Victus enjoying a perfectly average life in the middle of the pack.
“Our constant focus with gaming is to create innovative technologies that progress the medium forward for everyone, be it enthusiast-level OMEN users or newcomers to this growing and endlessly entertaining industry,” said Judy Johnson, Director of Gaming and Esports, HP Inc. “We are offering a compelling entry point for anyone who wants to game with Victus by HP, high power and performance with new additions to our OMEN line-up, and OASIS, a new feature for OMEN Gaming Hub, to optimize gameplay streaming while bringing people together.”
