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HP Victus 15 adds an all-AMD option with improved battery life

HP’s Victus gaming brand is the more budget-friendly alternative to the Envy lineup. Now, the HP Victus 15 adds an AMD graphics option for those who want an all-AMD machine.

The HP Victus 15 is the latest in the company’s budget gaming line that started with the Victus 16. The Victus 15 comes in two flavors depending on your tastes. You can choose between an Intel/Nvidia combo or an all-AMD model if you prefer Team Red.

HP Victus 15 gaming laptop in three colors.
HP

The first comes with a 12th-gen Intel Core i5-12500H and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti. The all-AMD option contains an AMD Ryzen 5 5600H and Radeon RX 6500M.

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Other than the CPU and GPU, the specs between both models are largely identical. Both have 8GB of DDR4 RAM and 512GB of PCIe NVMe SSD storage. Both also have the same Wi-Fi and Bluetooth specs, Bang & Olufson speakers, and 720p webcam.

Port selection includes one USB Type-C and two USB Type-A ports, all of which are USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports. There aren’t any Thunderbolt ports, likely to keep costs down. An Ethernet port, combo headphone/microphone jack, HDMI 2.1, and power connection round out the impressive array of ports.

The 15.6-inch 1080p screen is also similar except that only the Intel/Nvidia model includes a 144Hz panel and a 9 millisecond response time.

However, the AMD model is rated for much better battery life than the Intel/Nvidia version. HP says the Intel version gets about 6 hours and 45 minutes in mixed usage while the AMD model gets almost a whole hour more. Video playback is also two hours better on the AMD model.

This is likely due to the power-sipping nature of AMD’s mobile Ryzen chips. You’ll likely get more power out of the Intel chip, but that will come at the cost of battery life.

The Victus 16 featured a 16-inch 144Hz panel, an 11th-gen Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060. The $1,250 price was surely tempting for those who wanted a competent gaming laptop and didn’t want to break the bank (considering the specs).

The Victus 15, though slightly weaker in GPU horsepower, seems to be just as competent as its bigger brother with its better CPU options.

We don’t yet have pricing or availability, but it will most certainly cost less than the Victus 16, which was already a pretty decent deal.

David Matthews
David is a freelance journalist based just outside of Washington D.C. specializing in consumer technology and gaming. He has…
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