Between producing power supplies, fan controllers, cases, and headsets, Corsair has entered the gaming laptop market with theCorsair Voyager a1600. Our particular review unit was a custom-made Voyager a1600 by Origin PC featuring a custom skin on the lid. For a long time now, it has seemed like the gaming laptop market has been in a bit of a cryogenic state, lacking cool features and strong competition; however,Corsairseems to be introducing a few new tricks with the Voyager a1600.
The Corsair Voyager a1600 is a laptop that is trying to be a jack-of-all-trades PC and essentially become a full-on desktop replacement, delivering a few neat features that come together to make a Corsair mini-ecosystem within this laptop’s chassis. Featuring high-end components, a sturdy frame, and an incredible screen, the Voyager a1600 certainly comes close to doing it all but does undercut its achievements in a big way with performance. Corsair’s first laptop is so close to reaching greatness, but it might be worth considering a sale before buying the Voyager a1600.
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Corsair Voyager a1600: Build Quality and Design
That’s not to say that the Corsair Voyager doesn’t earn its price point in a few key areas. This laptop is head-and-shoulders above the competition in terms of build quality and feature set. The Voyager features a sleek profile that, while large, can nicely fit in almost any backpack. The laptop features a 16-inchIPS screenoffering a crisp 16:10 1600p picture at 240Hz. Additionally, the screen makes use of AMD FreeSync technology to produce a tear-free image. In motion, the Corsair Voyager’s screen looks incredible, reaches excellent brightness, feels responsive, and has surprisingly inky blacks for being an IPS screen. There is little to complain about with the screen overall.
Surrounding the panel is a set of thin bezels that are unobtrusive and keep the screen looking the best it possibly can. Moving further down the laptop, the Voyager features a full-sizemechanical keyboardoffering up responsive and clicky Cherry MX switches under the hood. Given the prominence of membrane keyboards - even among the highest-priced gaming laptops on the market - the inclusion of a full mechanical keyboard in a compact form factor such as this is a sublime experience. This is hands down one of the best typing experiences users can find on a laptop. Even further down is the Voyager’s trackpad, which is large, responsive, and reliable. Regarding function, ergonomics, and user experience, the Corsair Voyager a1600 hits every mark.
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However, the Corsair Voyager really demonstrates how good its build quality is with its chassis. The Voyager a1600 features a full aluminum chassis that refuses to bend and twist no matter how hard users try. Those seeking a hearty laptop that can take a bit of a beating will likely be very pleased with the Voyager.
Next is one of the most overlooked parts of a gaming laptop: the hinges, which often tend to break far before the computer gives out. While the Voyager a1600 uses a hinge design with only two points of contact, these hinges are thick, reinforced, and are smooth, and easy to open and close. These shouldn’t break any time soon. Overall, the Corsair Voyager a1600 earns itself plenty of praise in build quality and design and sets the standard for what apremium laptopshould feel like.
Corsair Voyager a1600: IO and Feature Set
Regarding ports, Corsair has outfitted the Voyager a1600 with two USB4 ports, one USB-C port, one USB 3.1 port, an SDXC card slot, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The shift to an almost fully USB-C compatible layout is nice, but the lack of an Ethernet and HDMI port on such a large computer is certainly disappointing. The lack of both ports means users will have to purchase one or more external hubs or connectors to turn this into a desktop replacement, which many are keen on doing at this price point.
Those who are Corsair loyalists will likely be ok with a simple IO, thanks to the Voyager’s unique Corsair Slipstream chip placed right above the power button. This is a proprietary wireless chip that easily connects multiple Corsair products to the laptop and manages them without the use of Bluetooth or external dongles. The chip works great and has practically no latency when tested with aCorsair Virtuoso wireless headset. While the total number of Slipstream-compatible products is still low, those in possession of one will likely enjoy this minor feature. The Slipstream chip feels like a nice bonus for those who are integrated into the Corsair product ecosystem.
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However, the Voyager has one killer feature still in store. Corsair, now the owner of Elgato, has broken new ground by including a Stream Deck in a gaming laptop. Across the top of the laptop’s keyboard is a set of ten programmable Stream Deck macro buttons that can be configured to the user’s liking. Depending on their situation, some owners may not find much use in this feature besides streaming; however, theElgato Stream Deckis still a macro keyboard that can be programmed to do whatever users want it to do if they’re clever about it. Those who like to edit videos, work in Excel, or simply want to open up an app quicker will find plenty of use with the Stream Deck. It’s practically the centerpiece of the Voyager a1600.
Corsair Voyager a1600: Specs and Thermals
Inside the Corsair Voyager a1600 lies an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS CPU, a Radeon RX 6800M GPU, and 32 GB of system RAM. This is a full-onAMD powerhouse system, and as far as gaming laptops go, one of the highest-end laptops on the market right now. Looking at the gaming laptop market more broadly, this has been a space where Intel and Nvidia have long dominated the scene and only recently have full-on AMD builds truly come into their own. It is great to see Corsair take a chance on AMD and deliver some competition in an often stagnate market, but there are some setbacks here.
One of the first major downsides of the Corsair Voyager is its acoustic profile. In fairness, gaming laptops aren’t known for being the quietest systems customers can buy, but still, the Corsair Voyager a1600 sometimes seems a bit too loud. When plugged into the wall, it can draw upwards of 230 watts while gaming, and at that point, the Voyager screams as the fans kick into high gear. The biggest issue with the Voyager’s fans is their jet-engine-like squeal under load that is often more intrusive than the more pleasant “whoosh” sound that computers should strive towards. The Voyager’s speakers are loud enough to drown out that jet-engine noise during gameplay, but the pitch is still high enough to pierce through gaming headphones most of the time and can get very annoying.
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The upside to the fans working overtime is that the Voyager a1600 does stay cool while gaming. We kept the fan profile on the “Balanced” preset to deliver a good mix of performance and noise, even though the fans were still quite loud at this preset. Throughout our benchmarking runs, we only saw the laptop get to a maximum of 88 degrees Celsius in the most intense scenarios, and it could regularly stay around 65 degrees Celsius in less intense scenes. The Corsair Voyager does a great job at staying below the dreaded 90-degree throttling threshold, and its large size certainly goes a long way in efficiently dispersing the 230 watts worth of heat that it can pull from the wall.
Corsair Voyager a1600: Gaming Performance
However, the Corsair Voyager a1600 disappoints with its gaming performance. We matched the Voyager a1600 against the Asus Zephyrus G14 2022–another full-on AMD powerhouse laptop, except with an RX 6700S GPU and 16 GB of system RAM. The Zephyrus G14 has been a popular choice for gamers looking for a high-performance notebook with an excellent price-to-performance ratio that doesn’t slip into the $2,000 territory that the Voyager occupies. Naturally, this would be a good comparison for a customer looking to get the most out of their money and see how much better the Corsair Voyager a1600 is over other lower-priced but stillhigh-end gaming laptops.
For our test suite, we ran the Voyager and the Zephyrus throughDead Space,Hogwarts Legacy, andCyberpunk 2077. Both laptops ran each benchmark at a native 2560x1600 resolution, using each game’s Ultra preset and with no upscaling solutions to help boost performance. InDead Space, the Corsair Voyager averaged 45 fps within the Ishimura’s interior and averaged 35 fps throughout the game’s later, more intensive, exterior portions. InHogwarts Legacy, the Voyager averaged 38 fps throughout the resource-intensive Dark Arts Tower section of Hogwarts and stayed in the low 30s throughout Hogsmeade. At first, this doesn’t look too bad considering the laptop’s mobile chips and lesser power draw compared to its desktop counterparts.
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When booting upCyberpunk 2077, the Corsair Voyager started to take a turn for the worst, and it only got worse when compared to the Zephyrus G14. InCyberpunk 2077,the Voyager averaged 33 fps at Ultra settings using the game’s built-in benchmark, which seems impressive for such an intense game but ended up being below the Zephyrus G14’s results. The lower-tiered Zephyrus G14 averaged 30 fps inDead Space’s indoor sections and 28 fps in outdoor areas, 35 fps inHogwarts Legacy’s Dark Arts Tower and 35 fps in Hogsmeade, and a surprising 35 fps inCyberpunk 2077, all at the same settings and using the same benchmarking conditions.
For a computer packed with the highest-endAMD componentson the market right now, the Corsair Voyager a1600 certainly doesn’t feel powerful, especially considering its power draw and roughly 7-hour battery life. The Voyager barely outperforms the weaker and cheaper Zephyrus G14 in the most recent games and actually loses to it in the two-year-oldCyberpunk 2077. We tried troubleshooting with a handful of drivers to create ideal testing conditions and see if there was some reason that the Voyager wasn’t performing how it was supposed to, but nothing changed. In the case ofCyberpunk 2077, turning settings down made performance worse in one instance. Ultimately, the Voyager just doesn’t perform how it should for its hardware.
This leaves the Corsair Voyager a1600 in a strange spot. The laptop’s positives include having a solid, sturdy chassis and a premium design with a beautiful screen. Additionally, the Voyager’s Cherry MX mechanical keyboard is fantastic while the built-in Elgato Stream Deck and Slipstream chip are lovely additions that take this laptop to another level, making use of neat features that shake up an often dull gaming laptop market. However, the one huge negative is that its gaming performance is remarkably weak for how much customers are expected to pay for it.
The Corsair Voyager’s gaming performance is simply not worth $2,350 when considering that most users will likely want to buy this to play the latest and most resource-intensive games. To make matters worse, the Voyager is outmatched by weaker, cheaper hardware and is astoundingly loud even at its “Balanced” fan settings. Corsair is onto something good with the Voyager a1600, but unless users need the extra features or the laptop goes on a deep sale, most customers looking for a high-end gaming laptop can skip the Voyager and find something else or wait for a better iteration.
TheCorsair Voyager a1600 Origin Editionis available now. Game Rant was provided a review unit for the purposes of this review.
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