Corsair Voyager a1600 Review – 2022 AMD high-end hardware in a chic aluminum case

1 - Einführung, Unboxing und Spezifikationen 2 - Verarbeitung, Haptik und Optik 3 - Response Times und E2E Latenz 4 - Color-Performance 5 - Benchmarks allgemein 6 - Gaming-Performance 7 - Temperaturen, Lautstärke und Features 8 - Zusammenfassung und Fazit

Summary

The Corsair Voyager – in the variant I tested – comes with quite potent hardware and is extremely well made. The notebook is bedded in aluminum and visually focuses on understatement. That really surprised me, because Corsair is a newcomer in the laptop market. But so was Corsair in the monitor market, and Corsair could deliver very well there as well. The built-in display can basically meet the gaming demands, the only weak point: The pixel response time beyond 144 Hz, which should be faster in my opinion. Ghosting! Maybe it would have been better to limit the panel to 160 Hz instead of 240 Hz?

When it comes to image/video editing in the SDR range – especially in the sRGB color space – the panel delivers well. The white point is missed, but a delta E of 2.2 in terms of color accuracy is okay. If you want more, you have to calibrate. Corsair advertises the Voyager as a gaming laptop. And the AMD hardware delivers really well. You shouldn’t forget that Ryzen 6000 and Radeon 6000 are still installed here. Nevertheless, you have enough power to play well on the go. As long as you are plugged in! Without a power outlet, the battery would quickly run down and the FPS would drop. The hardware is not fully extended in battery mode.

As for the battery itself, it lasts up to four hours when you only do a little office work. That’s completely okay, because you shouldn’t forget that the battery can’t exceed a certain size, otherwise you won’t be allowed to take it on an airplane. Thus, the manufacturers have to make compromises.

Conclusion

Corsair delivers a gaming laptop that can keep up in the upper class. Not only in terms of price. However, technical highlights like an OLED panel are not installed. For the Corsair Voyager a1600 with the Ryzen 9 6900HS and the Radeon RX 6800M with 2 TB SSD, you currently have to put about 3,500 Euros on the table. From my point of view, this is basically justified because you get very good hardware and I do not only mean the CPU or GPU. A high-resolution QHD panel in 16:10 format, the Corsair Slipstream technology and an Elgato Stream deck are also included in the price. My personal highlight is the built-in mechanical keyboard, which is a matter of taste, but I would like to have it in every notebook!

The built-in speakers are also really good for a laptop. You can actually speak of sound. Hats off! The Corsair Voyager only has real weaknesses in terms of possible ghosting (more than 160 Hz / FPS) and of course the volume. But the competitors can’t score there either. Because in gaming – without a headset, it always gets weasel-hairy for laptops. Corsair has implemented everything else rock solid. In the end, it’s always the customer who decides what you spend your money on. That’s also the case here, because you can get other notebooks with up-to-date hardware for 3,500 euro. Or you wait for Corsair’s next throw, because there will surely be something else.

The Corsair Voyager a1600 was provided to me by Corsair for testing – without obligation and without conditions. There was no influence on the tests or the results. There was also no obligation to publish the results and no compensation was paid. The notebook is (unfortunately) going back to the manufacturer!