Is this HP Victus the cheapest gaming laptop that’s actually worth buying?
For under $500? It’s hard to complain
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
If you’re a gamer on a budget - and we meanreallyon a budget - then one of the cheapest gaming laptop deals we’ve ever seen is the HP Victus 15 on salefor just $479.99 (was $729) at Best Buy.
For just under $500, this machine surprisingly manages to pack in a 7th gen Ryzen 5 chipset, a Radeon RX 6550M graphics card, 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD, which is pretty impressive. Aside from the relatively small helping of RAM (a relatively cheap upgrade), this machine is a damn cost-effective way to get gaming on a budget.
Best Buy has the RX 6550M listed as a ‘high-end’ graphics card on its product page but it’s important to set expectations here. The RX 6550M is roughly the equivalent of Nvidia’s RTX 3050 graphics card, which means it’s best suited for running games at a 1080p resolution with relatively modest settings.
That’s not to say it can’t max out the settings onsomegames, but don’t expect it to run everything at a smooth 60 frames-per-second if you decide to crank up the options. Still, for $500? It’s hard to complain here.
Cheap gaming laptop deal at Best Buy
HP Victus 15 gaming laptop:was $729now$479.99 at Best BuyProcessor:AMD Ryzen 5-7535HSGraphics card:Radeon RX 6550MRAM:8GBSSD:512GB SSDThis HP Victus has been $500 at Best Buy previously but the retailer’s latest discount brings it down even further to a new rock-bottom record-low price. If you’re simply looking for a gaming laptop to cover the basics, this machine’s combination of a 7th gen Ryzen chipset and RX 6550M chipset will get you started on the right foot. Sure, it’s not a world-beating machine by any stretch of the imagination, but this Victus will still play a surprisingly large array of games pretty well at 1080p resolution.
A good option for college?
OurHP Victus 15 reviewawarded this budget gaming laptop four stars out of five when we tested a previous iteration. For the price, it’s a great option with its sturdy build, excellent selection of ports, and decent display. We’re not a huge fan of the relatively plain design, but it’s a good option if you need something that will double up as a work laptop - for college, for example.
At under $500, this could be a good all-rounder for students heading off to college later this year. Yes, it will struggle to max out all the latest games but it’s got plenty of power for all the basics and more than enough for casual gaming. If you’re just going to be set up in a dorm room, the relatively bulky design of the Victus 15 shouldn’t matter too much either.
Check out ourback-to-school salespage for more excellent machines for students. Alternatively, head on over to ourcheap gaming laptop dealspage to see more premium options that will handle higher settings a little better.
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
Alex is TechRadar’s deals editor, specializing in getting our readers the bang bang for the buck on the tech that we know and love. He’s a dab hand at covering retailer events like Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day having over seven years of e-commerce experience at Future PLC; including bylines at our sister sites T3 and GamesRadar. Alex’s expertise touches on most areas of TechRadar but he has a particular love for phones, laptops, and cameras, being an avid photographer. Outside of work, you’ll find him indulging his love for street and travel photography, at home working on music, or down at the local climbing gym.
This super-cheap HP Victus 15 gaming laptop just dropped to its lowest price yet
This Acer Nitro V with an RTX 4060 is one of the best-value gaming laptops right now
This new malware utilizes a rare programming language to evade traditional detection methods
