[Review] HP Victus 15-fb0028nr | Great PC? Yes. Superb PC? No

Although there's an ongoing global chip shortage which has increased the prices of most gaming laptops, well-known brands like Hewlett-Packard have tried to fix that problem by releasing reasonably-priced gaming computers, including its new Victus 15 lineup with the price-savvy buyer in mind.

Having said that, in this review of the HP Victus 15-fb0028nr, we will learn in-depth the most appealing features of a highly praised gaming laptop packed with a powerful Octa-Core AMD Ryzen 7 processor, a surprisingly good 144 Hz display, and a mid-tier NVIDIA graphics card. All that for an unrivaled price.

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Unlike most flashy gaming laptops, the HP Victus 15-fb0028nr features a solid and minimalist dark grayish chassis made out entirely of enduring plastic with an elegant chrome-plated Victus logo placed on the lid, fitting perfectly in both gaming and professional environments.

Like the already reviewed HP Victus 15-fa0025nr, this laptop weighs just 5.06 pounds, so you'll be able to carry it around when needed. And although it operates at a reasonable noise level, its dual-fan cooling system will prevent it from reaching high temperatures when doing resource-demanding tasks.

Furthermore, we've got a stunningly thin-bezel with a 15.6-inch diagonal and a Full HD display with a fantastic 144 Hz refresh rate, so you won't miss a single detail when playing your favorite shooters, e-Sports, battle royale, or real-time strategy games.

Also, to enhance your daily productivity, it comes with an anti-glare layer and IPS technology, allowing you to work with a good picture quality from almost every viewing angle.

And as reported by several users, the full-sized keyboard is very comfortable, and its bright white backlight is perfect for playing in dim environments whilst also avoiding the classical RGB backlight that's typically associated with gaming laptops. The touchpad, on the other hand, is well-sized and compatible with multi-gesture, so you can easily navigate through the Windows 11 user interface.

Regarding the key hardware components of the HP Victus 15-fb0028nr, this model packs an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor powered by 8 cores and 16 threads, reaching a burst frequency of up to 4.40 GHz from a base clock speed of 3.20 GHz. There's also 16 GB worth of DDR4 RAM, which can be easily upgraded.

With up to 25% better performance than the AMD Ryzen 5 5600H processor, this hardware is designed to work on demanding tasks such as photo/video editing, web programming, and CAD design, as well as lighter daily tasks including streaming movies, voice/video conference calls, spreadsheet editing, working on cloud-based software running multiple programs at a time and more.

In the gaming arena, the mid-tier 4 GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics card is powerful enough to run smoothly many of the most popular AAA games out there, including F1 22, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Ghostwire Tokyo, Cyberpunk 2077 1.5, and GRID Legends.

As for storage, it comes with a respectable 512 GB SSD drive that will enhance your productivity from day one due to its faster loading and booting times when compared to the older HDD drives that you might have used if you haven't upgraded your laptop in a few years.

Moving onto connectivity options, the 15-fb0028nr features an RJ-45 port to never lose your connection when playing, two full-sized USB-A 3.0 ports, and a single USB-C 3.0 port. There's also an HDMI 2.1 output, an SD card reader, and a headphone audio jack. It goes without saying that this gaming laptop features a built-in HD webcam for video calls and streaming.

Honestly, we're quite happy with the set of connectivity options. These days most manufacturers don't include neither an ethernet port nor an SD card reader, so it's nice to have those features available without having to go out and buy a dongle.

Moreover, it features Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi 6 wireless connections, so you'll be able to get more range when connecting your peripherals, as well as surf the web and download content substantially faster than you could with the previous Wi-Fi 5 protocol. That is, assuming you've got a compatible router. 

And now that we're on the subject of Wi-Fi connectivity, you might have noticed that the Wi-Fi Alliance changed the Wi-Fi protocol names, so now the Wi-Fi 802.11ax stands for Wi-Fi 6, while the Wi-Fi 802.11ac is now known simply as Wi-Fi 5.

As expected for most budget gaming laptops, the battery life of the HP Victus 15-fb0028nr isn't as good as we'd like it to be since its 70 Wh lithium polymer battery can last around just 4 hours of non-strenuous daily tasks, reaching up to 5 hours of video playback.

When gaming, you can expect roughly 2 hours of battery. And if you need more battery when working outside, you can get a little over 50% charged in just an hour. That's not bad for a gaming laptop. However, we're hardly thrilled. 

Overall, the HP Victus 15-fb0028nr boasts a very sleek and eye-catching design with a good enough performance to play most AAA games and do many productivity tasks smoothly, as well as all the connectivity options one could ask for. 

Also, its high-refresh-rate display - 144 Hz -, discrete backlit keyboard, and NVIDIA graphics card will be your main allies on the battleground, allowing you to immerse yourself in your gameplays like there's no tomorrow.

Ultimately, be it for professional use or for hardcore gaming, the HP Victus 15-fb0028nr is one of the best options in the market within its price range, and if battery life is not an issue for you, then you won't be sorry. 

Buy Now!