For a balance of performance and portability with a lower midrange price, the HP Victus 15 is a solid choice, offering decent gaming and engineering capabilities with its Nvidia RTX 3050 and Intel i5 processor. It's lighter and has better battery life, making it suitable for on-the-go use. However, if you prioritize top-tier performance, especially for demanding tasks like gaming, 3D rendering, or machine learning, and you don't mind a heftier, less portable laptop, the MSI Raider 18 HX is the way to go. It boasts a powerful Intel i9 processor and Nvidia RTX 4080 graphics card, ensuring superior performance, albeit at a high-end price point and with a larger, heavier design that's less travel-friendly. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the HP Victus 15
Good portability
Advantages of the MSI Raider 18 HX
Very good for general use
Best in class for engineering and design
Excellent for gaming and AI
Very good for software development
Excellent for content creation
Excellent overall display quality
Good battery life
Very good speakers
Key differences
General Use
7.3/10
8.8/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
262.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
1000.0 nits
5.5 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
9.0 Hours
7.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
7.0/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
5.0/10
The MSI Raider 18 HX is very good for general use, while the HP Victus 15 is good.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Gaming and AI
6.4/10
9.0/10
3.0/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.7/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
144Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
Yes
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
7.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
8.0/10
The MSI Raider 18 HX is excellent for gaming and AI, while the HP Victus 15 is only fair.
PerfectRec’s Gaming and AI Score strongly emphasizes graphics processing capability, while also taking into account other factors that impact suitability for gaming and AI work.
Engineering and Design
6.7/10
9.6/10
8.3/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
3.0/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.7/10
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
The MSI Raider 18 HX is best in class for engineering and design, while the HP Victus 15 is only fair.
PerfectRec’s Engineering and Design Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for graphic design and 3D rendering work.
Content Creation
7.2/10
9.1/10
8.3/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
The MSI Raider 18 HX is excellent for content creation, while the HP Victus 15 is good.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
7.0/10
8.8/10
8.3/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
7.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
The MSI Raider 18 HX is very good for software development, while the HP Victus 15 is good.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Screen Quality
6.9/10
9.4/10
15.6in
SIZE
18.0in
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
144Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
262.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
1000.0 nits
The MSI Raider 18 HX has a better screen than the HP Victus 15 for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
PerfectRec’s screen quality scores take into account various important factors that are relevant for different use cases.
Battery
5.5 Hours
9.0 Hours
The HP Victus 15 has 5.5 hours of battery life. The MSI Raider 18 HX has 9 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Good
Poor
15.6in
SIZE
18.0in
5.0 lbs
WEIGHT
7.9 lbs
0.9in
THICKNESS
1.2in
The HP Victus 15 has good portability, while the MSI Raider 18 HX has poor portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Cost
$650
$3,999
$0
$1,000
$2,000
$3,000
$4,000
The HP Victus 15 has a price of $650 and the MSI Raider 18 HX costs $3,999.
Olivier Martin, Ryan Lim, and Yannick Khong | March 2023
"The HP Victus 15 is great for gaming. It's available with Intel 12th Gen. CPUs and NVIDIA discrete graphics, which are powerful enough to provide a smooth gaming experience in demanding AAA titles at 1080p. It has a nice keyboard and a fast SSD, as well as Wi-Fi 6 and Ethernet connectivity for low-latency online gaming. Unfortunately, its 144Hz display has a slow response time causing noticeable ghosting, and it doesn't support variable refresh rate to reduce screen tearing."
Get a great deal on the HP Victus 15 or the MSI Raider 18 HX
About HP
HP, also known as Hewlett-Packard, is an American technology company that develops personal computers and computer peripherals. In the laptop industry, HP is known for its entry level Essential series laptops, its mid-range Pavilion, Envy, and Victus series, and high-end Omen and Spectre series, in addition to its business-oriented EliteBook, ProBook, and Dragonfly series laptops. HP laptops generally undercut other mainstream competitors in terms of price, placing itself as the value-oriented mainstream brand.
About MSI
MSI, also known as Micro-Star International, is a Taiwanese technology corporation. MSI is known for their wide range of gaming devices. Their series include the entry-level Cyborg/Thin and Sword/Katana series, the mid-range Bravo/Delta and Crosshair/Pulse series, and their high-end Vector, Raider, Stealth, and Titan GT series. At every performance level, MSI offers a variety of devices with varying balances between performance, battery life, weight, and price, making them a solid option to consider at every price point.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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