Disclaimer: I'm not a PC expert or gamer really, so apologies if I make inaccurate claims about hardware/specs. Feel free to correct me, comment with your take, or just yell at me because this is the internet.

Where I'm coming from: My daily driver until now has been a Microcenter refurbished, 5-yr old model, HP Envy x360 15" convertible with i5-8250U, 8GB DDR4 RAM, and integrated UHD graphics. It's been incredibly solid for what I needed, but now gradually showing its age. The battery longevity was shot, the processor and RAM were becoming obsolete, and the hinge was beginning to break/pop off and be generally obnoxious.

In the past I've been an exclusive user of cheap or budget PCs, because... money. And I've been a non or casual-gamer only due lack of decent hardware, despite growing Steam and Epic libraries. But no longer. Now I was looking for a newish, powerful machine that would be on my desk 95-99% of the time, future-proof for work/browsing, but also potentially game-worthy. My budget was roughly $600 - $1000 USD... I was flexible on desktop vs laptop, notebook vs 2-in-1 vs gaming, new vs open-box vs refurb. I just wanted good performance and value for the money.

Then I saw the $1099 (now-expired) HP Victus Laptop deal at Costco, and the specs just really caught my eye, so I did some research... and decided to stretch my budget and pull the trigger. Below are my impressions.

The CPU is possibly my favorite thing: It has a latest-gen, Intel Core i7-13700HX, admittedly power-hungry (55W base power) laptop processor with 16 physical cores that seems to outperform most/all comparable laptops in the price-range.Benchmark websites indicate it can seriously compete with 13th gen i7 desktop CPUs as well. Also, the HX suffix code indicates that it's an unlocked CPU! If you know what you're doing (I don't and I won't touch this with a 10-foot pole) you can go into the BIOS or install Intel overclocking software and adjust consumption/performance/temps to your liking.

Then there's the memory and graphics: 32 GB DDR5 RAM, double the 16 GB minimum that everyone recommends, and what is typically for sale in that price range. Still unsure if I can potentially expand this to 64 GB after my warranty expires, but either way it's nice. A solid laptop graphics card (Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB GDDR6) with a respectable 144 Hz anti-glare 1080p display for browsing/work/gaming needs. It also comes with a 1 TB SSD, with an additional empty slot for another SSD if one chooses.

The combination of powerful processing, memory, and graphics just makes this computer a complete beast for most workloads, and plenty of gaming (seems to run Rocket League and GTA V on high settings with no problem). It reminds me of powerful desktops I've used in the past, but never had the opportunity to own until now. I can open up dozens of browser tabs all running Youtube videos simultaneously, or open lots of different memory/graphics-greedy programs, and this machine just won't break a sweat! Stuttering/pausing on startup, opening apps, or moving things across my multi-monitor setup is close to nonexistent, and this thing is just buttery smooth in virtually every respect. I'm not much of a settings tinkerer, but I have it running Windows 11 battery settings set to "High Performance", and the GPU set to "Performance" / "Auto-switch to ECO Mode (Power Mode)" / "Auto Thermal (Fan) Control" in the OMEN Gaming Hub, since I'm almost exclusively plugged into the power supply. Here you can manually adjust RPMs on the fan for different CPU or GPU temps if you want as well. Right now it's idling at a quiet, barely noticeable 1800 RPM, but it can kick up all the way to a loud 5800 RPM fan speed. The best part is it's technically a laptop, and therefore portable and easily movable between rooms or locations. I say technically because it does have...

Battery life drawbacks: Because of the power-hungry CPU & GPU, it only lasts 2-3 hours max on a charge for me, and I wasn't shocked by this. It is the tradeoff you make with this machine, which comes with a massive 230W power adapter to feed its hungry internals: the CPU has 55W thermal design / base power, and the GPU is 35W to 115W total graphics power. You can get much better battery life from ultrabooks/2-in-1s/notebooks that are cheaper because of energy efficient CPUs, but they will likely lack a discrete GPU for games. And there are probably gaming laptops above/below in price, with better battery life, but different and possibly less desirable specs. I still need to experiment more with switching to battery saver mode and using hybrid/integrated-only graphics when I'm without the power cord. My gut feeling is it will help a bit, but not a ton.

The USB-C port has 5Gbps signaling rate (USB Power Delivery, DisplayPort 1.4, HP Sleep and Charge) but is NOT a Thunderbolt port! This might be a deal-breaker for some, who expect to deliver input charging power at 230W, run two separate 4K monitors at 60Hz, AND feed a multi-gig hardwired ethernet connection all through a hub connected to a single USB-C, high-bandwidth thunderbolt port. Thankfully I didn't need all this, and FWIW the Victus successfully functions with a USB-C hub that can deliver my 500 Mbps ethernet connection, two 1080p external monitors at 60Hz, a wireless mouse and keyboard, and an external SSD, without noticeable stuttering or impairment. Some people claim it supports up to 100W power delivery charging via USB-C, which may be enough for light work that doesn't engage the discrete GPU. I haven't tested this as yet.

The underwhelming/poor battery life and lack of Thunderbolt 4 support are the main reasons this machine does not get the fancy-looking "Intel Evo Platform" sticker, which is an Intel marketing phrase/term/ploy for consumers to recognize more premium-level laptops that meet minimum requirements for a good, well-rounded specs, form factor, and battery life. While this Victus clearly isn't that... for my purposes it's a crazy powerful desktop that happens to have a built-in monitor, portability/moveability, and battery life to some degree. A portable desktop!

Display and aesthetics are acceptable but could always be better. The lack of touchscreen, higher-resolution, or taller aspect ratio may be a turn-off to some, but I use external monitors so I largely don't care. Coming from a glossy, glare-filled touchscreen laptop, I love the anti-glare display on this thing. It has a (only) uniform single-zone, color-changeable RGB backlit keyboard. For people who care, you can't seem to make different keys different colors. The keyboard looks and feels nice to type on, and the trackpad is solid and responsive/easy to click, although could still be better like most laptops I've used. The body build quality feels neither like premium macbook quality, nor cheap crapbook quality, but nice and solid. Plastic because it's already 5.11 lbs with the internals, and I'm grateful for that. I like the "mica silver" (seems like an off-black) color, and the lack of conspicuous coloring or styling on the body that seems to plague so many gaming laptops. There is a giant, black and glossy looking "V" on the back of the lid that I personally think looks dumb, but I'll live with it. Maybe I'll cover it up with a more obnoxious looking sticker at some point?

Summary: given the purchase price and value, pros/cons, and what I was personally looking for in this price range (high performance machine, not a portable notebook) I would definitely recommend HP Victus to anyone considering a new machine for work and/or gaming.

Hey everyone,

I'm in the market for a new laptop and could use some suggestions. My main work involves data engineering and network engineering tasks, so I need something robust and reliable. Here's what I'm looking for:

• Minimum 32GB RAM

• 1TB SSD

• Budget: $700 to $1200 USD

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

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