Best thin gaming laptop under 1500:HP Victus 15.6 gaming laptop

I have been searching far and wide for a best thin gaming laptop under 1500 that I could recommend for shoppers looking in the sub-$800 range. I was hoping and praying that the HP Victus 15.6 — which has been one of Best Buy’s most popular products this year — would be it.

Review “Best thin gaming laptop under 1500:HP Victus 15.6“

After using the HP Victus 15.6 best thin gaming laptop under 1500 (Core i5/8GB/512GB/GTX 1650 model) for a few days, my impression is that it falls short of my expectations. While the low price point is attractive, the GPU in our test unit is outdated and doesn’t deliver the desired frame rates for modern gaming. However, this doesn’t necessarily make the Victus a bad purchase.

It’s important to keep in mind that with budget best thin gaming laptop under 1500, it’s crucial to have realistic expectations before making a purchase. Additionally, if you can find the Victus on sale, it may be an even more enticing option.

Design And Weight:

Should be noted that the Victus boasts an understated design, with a predominantly black color scheme and subtle backlighting. The laptop’s lid features a simple “V” logo, though it tends to pick up fingerprints easily. Unlike some other gaming laptops that are more flashy and colorful, the Victus is designed to be more versatile and suitable for use in professional settings. It weighs in at 5.06 pounds, which makes it fairly portable for a best thin gaming laptop under 1500, but still heavier than most regular laptops.

Basic Features:

The Victus comes with a decent selection of ports that should cover most users’ needs, including two USB-A, one USB-C, one audio jack, one HDMI 2.1, one Ethernet, and one full-sized SD reader, in addition to the charging port. It’s worth mentioning that the laptop doesn’t have Thunderbolt 4, although this isn’t a deal-breaker given the Victus’s price point. As for the touchpad, it’s the one area where the laptop could use some improvement. It tends to collect fingerprints easily, and the click can be quite stiff.

The Things You Want:

Since the Victus is primarily a gaming laptop, its gaming performance is undoubtedly the most crucial factor to consider. In my opinion, the gaming performance with the included GTX 1650 graphics card is “acceptable.” While it’s certainly possible to play games on the Victus, the value for the money isn’t exceptional in this regard.

What we Get on Microscope:

Less demanding games such as League of Legends and CS:GO were able to take full advantage of the Victus’ 144Hz display with ease. Even Over watch 2 performed well after some tweaking, achieving a respectable 78fps on the Epic preset with medium graphics.

However, more demanding games proved to be a challenge for the HP Victus 15.6, and I would suggest opting for a laptop with a better GPU if you plan on playing these games frequently. Red Dead Redemption 2 averaged only 38fps on its highest preset and 45fps on medium. Cyberpunk was even more taxing, only averaging 39fps on medium and 24fps on ultra. On the bright side, the HP Victus 15.6 is capable of running RPG games such as Elden Ring at around 45fps on maximum settings, and bumping down to medium allowed for a smoother gameplay experience at 60fps.

One of the biggest challenges with this generation of Intel gaming laptops is battery life, and the Victus is no exception. In my testing, I was only able to get an average of two hours and 19 minutes of regular work use with brightness set at around 200 nits and Battery Saver mode enabled. When it comes to gaming, battery life is even shorter, with only an hour and 13 minutes of League of Legends gameplay on a single charge.

While some users may not intend to use their gaming laptop on-the-go, I do believe that a two-hour battery life will make the HP Victus 15.6 an unsuitable primary device for many users. It may not even last through a single movie, let alone a full work day, without needing to be plugged in. For those on a tight budget, purchasing a secondary portable device for non-gaming purposes may not be a realistic option, making the HP Victus’s battery life a significant issue.

2. Review: Alienware m15 R7 (best thin gaming laptop under 1500)

If you’re looking for a high-performing best thin gaming laptop under 1500 with a powerful CPU and GPU, there are many options available on the market. While there are budget gaming laptops available for under $1,000, Alienware’s m15 R7 is one of the best thin gaming laptops under 1500.

Unlike the Victus, the m15 R7 features an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H processor, 16GB of dual-channel DDR-4800 RAM, a 512GB PCIe SSD, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, all powering a 15.6-inch 1080p display. At $1,449.99, the m15 R7 is not cheap, but it delivers exceptional performance and attention to detail that make it a worthwhile investment.

Additionally, Dell and Alienware coupons may be available to help reduce the cost.

Design and Weight:

I see. It’s worth noting that the Alienware m17 R5 actually features a larger 17.3-inch display, not a smaller 15.6-inch one. The m17 R5 also features the same Legend 2.0 design as its predecessors, but with updated elements such as a new honeycomb ventilation pattern and a redesigned hinge. The “Dark Side of the Moon” colorway is available for both the m15 R5 and m17 R5, and features a matte black finish with a subtle iridescent sheen.

The design of the Alienware m15 R7 includes an RGB alien head logo on the lid and an etched-in “15” to indicate the size of the display. The full-size keyboard with honeycomb cutouts is located on the deck, with an RGB alien head near the top right that doubles as the power button.

The right side of the chassis features two USB 3.2 Type-A Gen 1 ports, while the left side has a 2.5 Gbps Ethernet port and audio combo jack. The majority of the ports are located at the rear of the laptop, between the two honeycomb-styled exhaust ports, including one USB 3.2 Type-A Gen 1 port, one USB 3.2 Type-C Gen 2 port, an HDMI 2.1 port, and the proprietary charging port.

The Alienware Command Center software handles all the RGB color configurations. The m15 R7 has a plastic chassis that is well-constructed and does not feel cheap, weighing 5.53 pounds with an 86 WHr battery in the review unit. The laptop measures 14.02 x 10.73 x 0.94 inches, which places it between the MSI Sword 15 and Asus TUF Gaming F15 in size.

The Thing That You might Want:

It sounds like the Alienware m15 R7 offers excellent gaming performance, with its AMD Ryzen 7 6800H CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, and 165 Hz, 1920 x 1080 display. In the reviewer’s own testing, they were able to play the game Overwatch 2 at 1080p on the Epic setting and achieve around 200 frames per second with V-Sync off. This is an impressive result that shows the laptop can handle demanding games with ease.

It seems like the Alienware m15 R7 with its AMD Ryzen 7 6800H CPU, 16GB of DDR4-4800 (dual-channel), 512GB SSD, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU and 165 Hz, 1920 x 1080 display performed well in gaming benchmarks.

In Over watch 2, it achieved around 200 fps at 1080p at the Epic setting with V-Sync off. In the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark (1080p Highest), it ranked third at 69 fps, while it took second place in Far Cry 6 (1080p, Very High) with 84 fps.

It performed better in Grand Theft Auto V (1080p, Very High) and Borderlands 3 (1080p, Badass settings), taking first place with 95 fps and 72 fps, respectively. In the Red Dead Redemption 2 benchmark (1080p, Very High), it achieved 60 fps, just ahead of the Asus TUF Gaming F15 with 59 fps.

The Alienware m15 R7 was also put through a stress test with Metro Exodus (1080p, RTX), where the Ryzen 7 6800H averaged 3,390.7 MHz during the test and hit a maximum frequency of 4,666 MHz. The GeForce RTX 3060 GPU hit an average frequency of 1,807 MHz, and the average temperature was 64 degrees Celsius. However, fan noise was noticeable during the stress test and when playing games, which could be solved by using noise-canceling headphones.

What we get on Microscope:

Our Alienware m15 R7 has an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H CPU with a base frequency of 3.2GHz and a max boost frequency of 4.7GHz. This is an 8-core processor capable of executing 16 threads.

Geekbench 5 is a synthetic benchmark used to measure CPU performance, and the Ryzen 7 6800H just doesn’t have the muscle to compete with the Intel-backed competition (Core i7-12700H on the Alienware x14 and Asus TUF Gaming F15, Core i7-12650H on the MSI Sword 15). The m15 R7 put up a single-core score of 1,526 and a multi-core score of 9,336. While its single-core performance put it in third place ahead of the X14 (1,471), its multi-score trailed all challengers.

During our 25GB file transfer test, the m15 R7 fumbled, coming in last place at 529.78 MBps. The next-fastest performer was the TUF Gaming F15 at 607.46 MBps, while the x14 took first place at 1,156.07 MBps.

The m15 R7 took 5 minutes and 36 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p resolution with Handbrake. This put it in third place behind the TUF Gaming F15 (4:49) and x14 (5:04).

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